Description
The project is to mutually foster sustainable consumption patterns and increase independent financial resources of the organisation by launching an exclusive shopping card for at least 200 supporting members providing discounts in at least 50 socially and/or environmentally responsible shops in Budapest in 6 months. Main target groups are (1) consumers with at least some green values and (2) shops and service providers offering social or environmental surplus chosen by social and environmental criteria. As such non-profit initiatives are not known either in Hungary or abroad, the project is expected to provide a model for Hungarian and international civil organisations.
Summary of project results
The main goal of the project was to realize an already developed business plan of a membership based discount card that can recruit new supporting members for the association and can increase the share of its independent financial resources. This tool had been chosen and developed to stay in harmony with the organization's mission and policies, and as such, being capable for fostering sustainable consumption and production patterns too. Main target groups of the were (1) consumers with at least some green values, and (2) shops and service providers with social or environmental surplus. The card works as a financial incentive that links offer and demand sides: cardholders get discounts, while shops and service providers are selected and contracted by a strict set of social and environmental criteria that also functions as a quasi-qualification scheme, enabling the applicant to build up a close cooperation with (and nonetheless greening) the corporate sector. By the end of the 6 month-long project and as the result of the project activities (including networking, quality insurance, PR and communication efforts etc.) 54 service providers and/or shops have been contracted/involved, and 288 cards have been issued by which the number of supporting members of the association has got more than doubled in a single month (given that the kick-off campaing started only at the last month). The project served as the start of a new membership programme, the grantee is to work on the expansion of the scheme, mutually increasing the numbers of card receivers and cardholders.
Summary of bilateral results