(Sponsored Content)
By Anna Cabrera, Post Media Content Works
Businesses and organizations in Canada are increasingly using gift cards for a variety of use cases, including customer loyalty and rewards, employee recognition and incentives, social assistance, payment disbursements, corporate perks and more.
For the recipient, receiving a gift card creates a distinct moment of value and attention, making the delivery itself an important part of the experience. For the retailer, that moment puts its brand directly into the recipient’s hands, creating a valuable point of exposure and discovery.
While it seems like a simple exchange, it’s an operation that’s actually more complex than the average person realizes. Someone must source the cards, manage card inventory, process orders, deploy digital cards and ship physical ones.
A growing number of Canadian businesses have entrusted that work to Fundstream, a company that has decades of experience in the gift card industry.
Veterans in gift card distribution and management
Fundstream is a Montreal-based enterprise that has been marketing and reselling gift cards since 2003, with its catalogue growing past 300 brands in 2020. They now offer the largest selection held by a Canadian company in the sector and supports a number of clients across a wide range of industries, including businesses of all sizes, government, social assistance organizations, fundraising groups and financial institutions.
David Nixon, Fundstream’s director of marketing, says its Canadian roots have shaped several parts of the business, including one of its most vital: language.
“We’re based in Quebec, so our experience in both official languages is comprehensive. Our platform is bilingual from A to Z,” he shares.
Another advantage Fundstream is well known for is the size of its gift card catalogue. A company can choose to entrust the gift card fulfillment part of their rewards or recognition program to easily access hundreds of brands through Fundstream rather than needing to negotiate and maintain separate agreements with individual retailers and vendors.
While gift cards are becoming increasingly digital, Fundstream still offers physical cards to buyers that want tangible options for their members. Many of Fundstream’s competitors – the bulk operating from the United States – are opting to avoid the cost of supporting physical cards, despite the fact that many Canadians still seem to prefer them.
“Not every retailer has digital gift cards available,” Nixon says, noting that Fundstream began operations when gift certificates were still commonly printed on paper.
“In general, new competitors don’t have much capability when it comes to fulfilling physical gift cards orders,” he says.
It’s these capabilities that keep Canadians coming back to Fundstream, in addition to the value of a domestic option in a sector where competitors are largely based in the United States.
Fundstream’s national scale, built over two decades, actually began with a decidedly grassroots idea focused on connection and community: help Canadian groups raise money through everyday spending.
For years, FundScrip has successfully supported many communities and organizations. After the company was incorporated in 2003, its FundScrip fundraising program launched publicly in 2004. Sports teams, non-profit organizations and schools were invited to sign up at no cost. Supporters could purchase gift cards for everyday expenses like groceries, gas and household items, with a percentage of each purchase generating donations for the beneficiary of the campaign. The cumulative amount would then be paid out at the end of the campaign.
By 2008, Fundscrip would become the most popular program of its kind in Canada, and it is now approaching $40 million raised for Canadian groups. Schools raising money for class trips and graduation remain a strong segment of FundScrip’s fundraising groups, while sports teams also rely on the program to assist in the offsetting of participation and registration costs.
Nixon says Fundstream’s story of a broader gift card business unfolded naturally, as organizations began asking for access to the same gift card catalogue without needing to run a fundraising campaign.
“In a way, we’re kind of matchmaking with the retailers who have gift card programs and with the customers who are buying the gift cards for a variety of uses,” he says.
Because of such requests, Fundstream was led into two additional lines of business.
In 2015, Gift Card Warehouse launched as a self-serve purchasing portal for organizations, and Fulfillment Services came about in 2016, which operates behind the scenes for loyalty and rewards programs. A customer may redeem points for a gift card through a bank or other program, while Fundstream handles the retailer catalogue, digital delivery and physical fulfillment under the client’s brand. In many cases, the person receiving the gift card never knows Fundstream was involved.
More than two decades after Fundstream began with fundraising, the company now supports rewards, recognition and other programs from coast to coast. FundScrip continues to help schools, teams and non-profits turn everyday spending into money for their causes.
While Fundstream now operates on a national scale, Nixon says they’ve never forgotten the same simple idea Fundstream started with: To help people support the groups and communities they care about.
To learn more, visit fundstream.com.
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of Fundstream.
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