B-Causes: A New Discount Buyers' Club For Consumers, Businesses and Charities to Help Those in Need

    TOMS RIVER, NJ, June 20, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Imagine a consumer making purchases – at significant discounts – while also providing donations to a favorite charity.

Imagine a business attracting new, loyal, socially-minded customers by dedicating a portion of every sale to that customer's charity.

And imagine those charities – and the people they benefit – reaping the rewards of such cause-minded consumers without the need for capital campaigns or fundraisers.

Michael Benson of Manasquan, NJ has not only imagined such a collaboration, he created one.

B-Causes, Benson's revolutionary new cause-focused discount buyers' club, brings together consumers, businesses and charitable organizations in a powerful partnership committed to supporting social and environmental causes.

And with the B-Causes integrated platform, it's all so simple: Businesses and Charities can post an offer on the B-Causes' website. The consumer purchases the deal, and B-Causes distributes between 2% and 80% of the purchase price to the consumer's stated charity.

It's a win-win-win situation, as Benson says, and unlike other corporate giveback programs that designate a single charity as a beneficiary, B-Causes members get to choose their cause.

"What I really love about B-Causes as a business owner is that I am not forced to pick one charity," said celebrity chef and restaurateur David Burke. "Saying no to good causes is never fun. We are all about giving back at all of my restaurants. With B-Causes I can now support the cause that the consumer cares about. This gives every charity the opportunity to raise money with us through our B-Causes offers. It just feels good to be part of something like this!"

Charitable organizations – more than 25 have already signed up - also see the benefits in using a central platform that links consumers to businesses and charities. "No one has said no when they see the tools that we are offering at no cost to the charities" said Benson. "Our goal is to impact thousands of charities."

"The B-Causes platform allows us to provide deals and discounts to our supporters," said Jackie Moskowitz, Director of Resource Development for Autism Family Services of New Jersey, "where they receive a deal and we get revenue in return. It also gives us the opportunity to build our database organically while creating critical revenue for the programs that we provide to families with autism in New Jersey."

Consumers, meanwhile, can join B-Causes for free. Membership permits the consumer to select deals from local merchants and charities, with up to 80% of the purchase donated to the member's chosen charity.

B-Causes also offers their membership an option to purchase a $20 access card, which gives them over 350,000 offers nationwide. This allows every charity to start using B-Causes today as a way to start raising funds. 30% of the access card purchase price will be donated to the charity that the consumer is associated with. Consumers, businesses and charities can get started by visiting www.b-causes.com.

Benson is a local businessman and philanthropist who also created a foundation to help those suffering from vision loss following his own challenges with vision loss. He was born with glaucoma and underwent successful surgeries as a child, but the experience, "changed the way I approach life," he said. "It made me understand that I needed to help others."

So he created the Visual Experience Foundation (VEF), which provides memorable visual experiences - such as trips to the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls - for those battling eroding vision. Benson says the experiences "are burned in their memories forever, giving them hope and power rather than fear."

His VEF efforts also taught Benson about the difficult and highly competitive world of fundraising, which exhausts the staff and resources of worthy non-profits.

"I wanted to help these non-profits and charitable organizations to establish a passive revenue stream to help carry out their mission," Benson said of the genesis for B-Causes. "But I also saw the opportunity for businesses to tap into cause-related marketing, as opposed to the traditional discount-buying coupon method."

And cause-related marketing – the partnering of for-profit corporations and non-profit charities – has become a growing trend, especially for the socially-responsible younger generation of consumers.

For example, the Cone Millennial Cause Study found that 89% of Americans (aged 13 to 25) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with a "good cause". Earlier studies by Cone indicate an upward trend in the number of Americans who associate their own buying habits with cause marketing as well as an expectation that those companies to be "good corporate citizens".

And in a cause marketing campaign by American Express, the company saw a 17% increase in new users and a 28% increase in card usage after offering cause-marketing options.

Such national chains as Target, Applebee's, Olive Garden, Sam's Club and Foot Locker are part of the B-Causes access program. And numerous merchants in New Jersey have also joined.

For further information about the merchants and charities committed to the B-Causes mission, please visit our website www.b-causes.com.

B-Causes, a New Jersey based private business, is an integrated platform. It's simple: Businesses and Charities can post an offer on the B-Causes' website. The consumer purchases the deal, and B-Causes distributes between 2% and 80% of the purchase price to the consumer's stated charity.

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