Enter: the discount, or "value" card. Basically, the card issuer has negotiated discounts at retailers. By using the card, the consumers can save many times the amount they paid for the card, typically $20 to $40 each for the annual fee.
The math is straightforward. The issuer, or broker, gets 50% of the sale price and the school gets the other 50%. So, a school of 200 students sells 2,000 (10 each) with a "clear profit" of $20,000 to $40,000. Nice money, right? What could be easier; plus it helps endear the purchasers to the school because we've done them a "service" by helping them save money on things they were going to buy anyway.
Selling discount cards is not wrong or evil per se. It's what it substitutes for that concerns me. When presented with this opportunity last week, I was reminded that this transactional method will divert us from the relational or stewardship approach that marks our school. We would have to set aside biblical discipleship in order to develop a whole new type of relationship.
Some questions to ask when we find ourselves wrestling with our urgent financial needs:
- Why do we have these needs at all? Is there a more fundamental issue that should be addressed?
- Are our needs so urgent and desperate that we must grab the next, nearest, easiest technique? Where does this path lead us?
- How does this transaction develop generous giving?
- How does this approach reflect Christ to the community?
- Is this the best we can do to honor the Lord and to build up a community? If not, will the tyranny of the urgent always prevail?
- How or why do we expect the Lord to bless these plans?
Nothing is free, except the grace we received on the cross. Everything else has a cost. Please evaluate it before you make the next decision.
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