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Differences Between Affinity Groups and Non-Profit Groups

Affinity groups are not the same as Non-Profit groups. These are two separate types of groups, each with a separate focus and a different reason for being interested in participating in this program. While the benefit to each group would be similar (i.e., creating a revenue stream for their group by offering Cognigen products and services to their customers and supporters), you need to understand why and how they are different.

Overview

A non-profit group is ... well, a non-profit group. This could be a local specific group, such as a high school marching band, a church, a Boy Scout troop, a school soccer team, etc. Or it could be a regional group such as the local chapter of United Way or Habitat For Humanity, or it could be a national group such as Missing Children Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, etc. In essence, the group operates on a non-profit basis, where incoming money goes towards funding the goals, missions, and activities of the group.

By contrast, an affinity group would typically be a company, business, or organization that operates on a for-profit basis. This could be any business or organization, nationwide, or indeed worldwide, that wants to use Cognigen to produce an additional income stream for their company.

Wait a minute -- both types of groups sign up as a Cognigen agent to raise money for their organizations via the sale of products and services from their Cognigen web sites. There's no difference, is there?

Yes there is. A Non-Profit group markets their Cognigen website products and services as a fund raiser for their group, whereas an Affinity group does the same thing but markets it as a "perk" or "special deal" for their customers. In other words, the primary reason that either type of group would be interested in this program is different, although the end result is the same.

Affinity Groups

As an example, look at the affinity Visa cards that are used by some hotels and airlines. You can get a Hilton Visa card or a Delta Airlines American Express card or a Shell Oil Mastercard. Those are "affinity" products - special deals that one only finds out about by being a customer of Hilton, Delta, Shell, etc. In other words, it's a "perk" for being a customer of those businesses. The affinity group markets it as a perk for their customers, instead of stressing (or even mentioning) that the company gets a commission from all customers who sign up for any of those "perk services".

The affinity program with Cognigen works exactly the same way. A business or company becomes an "affinity partner" with Cognigen (as part of YOUR downline), and now is able to offer customers access to these special discount deals on their website as a "perk" for being one of their customers or members.

Take the example of AAA Washington. You cannot even GET to their Cognigen affinity website without first entering your AAA membership number. You see, they are "reserving" access to their Cognigen website for ONLY their members, marketing it as an "added value benefit" of being a member of AAA Washington. Some affinity partners require you to enter your customer number or membership number to get to their Cognigen site, and others simply provide the URL and/or have a link on their business home page.

The bottom line is in how the group markets the site. For a Non-Profit group, they market it as a fund raising vehicle for their group; i.e., “your purchase of any of the products or services on this page helps support the mission and goals of…”. For an Affinity group, they market it as a "perk" or "value added bonus" for being a member or customer of the group/business. But the same end result occurs in both cases: the group gets a commission from the sale of products and services from their Cognigen website, and since they are in YOUR downline, you also get a percentage commission from each of their customers, just like when any other agent in your downline makes sales.

Any business can be a Cognigen affinity partner. It could be General Motors, or it could be Bud's Plumbing Supplies. It could be Chicago Toyota dealerships or it could be Dot's Hair and Nails Salon. The "affinity" part of this is that these companies would tell their customers about their Cognigen website where they can get these great deals on products and services, and that "inside information" comes from being a customer of those businesses, thereby providing a perceived "added value" for being a customer of those companies.

Wait a minute! Getting to a Cognigen website to save money on products and services doesn't require being a Toyota customer, or having my nails done at Dot's, or buying a new faucet from Bud's -- the customer can go to ANY Cognigen website and get the same great deals, right? So is there really a benefit to a business or company for becoming a Cognigen affinity partner?

You betcha. Companies realize that providing "added value" to their customers is a "tried and true” method to create customer loyalty, because now the customer feels "special" because they got this link to discounted products and services that (to their knowledge) they couldn't get without their membership or affiliation with that business or company.

Could customers get to a Cognigen website and get the same great deals on products and services without being a member of or affiliated with that business or company?

Of course they could .... IF they knew about it! And there's the key -- how many people do YOU associate with every day who don't even know that you're a Cognigen agent, and they could get these same great deals, and that they don't need to buy a Toyota Highlander or get their nails done at Dot's in order to "find" or be "given the inside information" on this great website (like YOUR Cognigen LD.NET site)!

To summarize, the benefits to the Affinitity Group include:

• The creation of an "added value" feature to their members and customers.
• Creating additional loyalty within their members and customers by giving them this "inside information".
• Creating an additional revenue stream for the business or company.

And the benefit to you is that since the business/company is a Cognigen agent in your downline, you also get a percentage commission from each of the customers that signup for products and services from the company's affinity website!

A Cognigen affinity partner, like any other new Cognigen agents, gets a free LD.NET website. Cognigen also provides other options for the affinity partner to get a customized site. The various options and examples are shown at your Cognigen corporate site at:

http://cognigen.net/corporate/affinity.cgi?youragentid

Non-Profit Groups

Non-profit groups operate in much the same way from a “bottom line” perspective, except that their goal is to create an additional revenue stream for the group, and not (necessarily) to create any type of “customer loyalty” aspect. Just like any other agent, the NPO (Non-Profit Organization) gets a free LD.NET site. Volunteers from the NPO market the products and services to people who want to support the NPO.

Many NPO's already have a web site that talks about who they are, what they do, with some statements about their mission and goals. It would be a simple matter to add a link to their existing web site that points to their LD.NET web site, letting their customers and supporters know that any purchase made from that site will help to support the NPO. This approach can also be used for Affinity groups.

The NPO can also take advantage of the same web site options that are available to the Affinity groups with a Silver, Gold or Platinum site. However, the problem with this is that NPO's frequently do not have money to invest in a web site, since virtually 100% of their revenue is aimed towards funding the operations, goals, and missions of the group. What some agents have done is to create a web site for the NPO at no charge and offer to host it for the first year. This web site can be created with many web site creation tools, and can also be done easily using the Cognigen WebBizBuilder program. What these agents have found is that the aspect of having the NPO's web site be customized specifically for them is a very attractive option for the NPO. You need to understand that while the typical NPO rarely has excess funding to invest, what they DO have (and usually in abundance) is volunteers who will work tirelessly to help promote programs like this to create a viable revenue stream for the NPO.

As an example, visit an example customized web site for an NPO at:

http://www.lowestrateservices.com/fundraise/band.html

An aspect of a Non-Profit group that you need to understand is that they continually receive offers from various companies about doing fund raising programs. But the problem with the vast majority of these offers is that the NPO needs to invest money to get started, needs to stock inventory, needs to commit to a certain level of sales volume, needs to make delivery of products and/or collect money from the customers/supporters, etc. In other words, there are usually far too many string attached.

The good news for you that you would want to stress is that the Cognigen program eliminates each and every one of these problem areas. There is no joining fee, there is no inventory to stock, and no deliveries or collections to make.

Look at what you’ve got with an NPO like a high school marching band. You’ve got ONE Cognigen agent but within that single agent you’ve got say 150-200 mean lean customer-gathering machines. If you could duplicate yourself 150-200 times, with 150-200 different sets of “warm markets”, how many more customers would YOU have?

In addition for an NPO (not for an affinity group), Cognigen makes the deal even sweeter for the group and for you via two very important things:

1. By submitting “proof” that this is a Non-Profit Group (a copy of their 501-3C form or similar proof of being non-profit), Cognigen will increase the NPO’s starting commission from 6% to 7% or 8%, and on a case-by-case basis, even to 10% if that’s what needed to “seal the deal”. (But be aware of who in your upline is helping you with this, so that you don’t cut them out of their 1%!)

2. Some NPO’s have expressed a concern that if they do very well with this program, it could perhaps put their status as a bona fide “non-profit organization” in jeopardy. So Cognigen is willing to write a contract with the NPO, where the word “commission” is replaced by the words “donation, commensurate with the sales and usage of products and services”. The word “commission” is not found, it’s all a “donation” and therefore does not put their non-profit status in jeopardy.

Non-Profit groups will very likely need your help to understand what they need to do. Since they have a tremendous ability to gather customers to support their organizations, you have incentive to provide them the assistance they need, since as an agent in your downline, you also get a percentage commission from their customers. Many agents have created flyers and handouts for the NPO that they can distribute to potential supporters, which showcase the URL of the NPO's Cognigen website.

Cautions

Hold back on mentioning terms like “recruit”, “sponsor”, “downline”, etc. Yes, these agents can have a downline and recruit others just like any other agent. In fact, it might even make a lot of sense for the Marching Band from School A to “recruit” the Marching Band from School B as an agent, thereby increasing their revenue with that additional 1% from School B. But don’t mention it unless you are very familiar with the group leaders. You see, to the “uninitiated”, those terms are synonymous with “Amway”, and your NPO opportunity will run (not walk) in the opposite direction.

Finally, while I personally consider both NPO’s and affinity groups to be your basic no-brainer as far as a benefit to these groups and something to be aware of and pursue, don’t focus ALL your energies in this area. Keep on recruiting regular people and marketing products to build your Cognigen organization, but also be aware of these types of opportunities to grow your business.