$10K Donation Created $300K Problem

During a recent cost reduction project for a nonprofit client, we stumbled upon a sales document from a copier dealer that promised a $10,000 donation as part of a proposal for nine new copiers.

The client accepted the donation and assumed the good will would extend to the copier leasing agreement. It did not.

In fact, the donation was part of a deliberate sales tactic to fleece the nonprofit of money, loaded with excessive profiting for the dealer.

The nonprofit was oversold with equipment they did not need, at rates that failed to offer them special pricing that charities are entitled to receive.

The damage resulted in nearly $300,000 excessive profits being paid to the copier dealer over five years instead of being used for their mission to help their cause.

A former employee of the copier dealership confirmed the tactic was deliberate. The source told me that in fact the "donation-tactic" was frequently used to sell equipment at rates higher than possible in "for-profit" industries. For this reason, charities were a "hot target" to receive "large commission checks".

To assure your board of directors that your nonprofit is not being fleeced, DocuFrog offers a free Copier Contract Snapshot that will benchmark your payments to what you could (and should) be paying. This report will bring peace of mind and allow for corrections to made if problems are present.

DocuFrog eliminates the pain of paper documents. With approximately 97% success, we typically save clients over $12,000 per year at each location by renegotiating equipment leases. Where savings are realized in 45 days or less.