Today’s post is the second of a two-part series courtesy of Isabelle Jetté, a fellow in Fenton’s NYC office.

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In this two-part series, we explore how nonprofits can leverage Groupon and other daily coupon sites for visibility, lead generation and fundraising purposes. While the first post discussed the opportunities that such sites offer nonprofits, since many of these opportunities are dependent upon a business partnership, we also wanted to outline the benefits available to businesses (the focus of this post), so that in turn you could develop a compelling ask to a prospective partner that also shows “what’s in it for them.”

For one, businesses stand to benefit from a nonprofit partnership via Groupon (or other coupon site) because they can capitalize on latent cause marketing synergies that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them if they simply wrote a check and handed it over to their cause of choice. By publicly supporting a charity via a matching gift on Groupon for instance, it allows the business partner to generate goodwill among their existing constituencies, the charity’s, as well as the coupon site’ users due to the halo effect created by their association with the said nonprofit. Groupon also publicizes its deals via a comprehensive social media network, which affords the business partner enhanced visibility and the potential for their deal to be picked up by the media (which happened in the case of DonorsChoose.org and partner Pershing Square Foundation, discussed in last week’s post). Plus, through Groupon’s crowdsourcing ability, they enjoy the potential to secure new customers, which can more than offset the costs of their donation over the long-term.

Other ways for nonprofits and partners to collaborate can also involve the partner offering a discounted offer via Groupon (or other coupon site), outlining in the deal editorial that for every purchase, a donation will be made to the charity. When users subsequently come to redeem their coupons at the partner’s business location, both the partner and nonprofit can look for ways to upsell onsite and capture data for future cultivation.

While not a substitute to traditional fundraising tactics, Groupon and other daily coupon sites do offer some exciting advertising, fundraising/gift matching and selling opportunities to the savvy, enterprising nonprofit and its business partners. Taking the time to evaluate and identify the business partners and daily coupon site(s) that align most closely with your objectives, while conducting an assessment of all potential opportunities, costs and anticipated returns, will be the key to ensuring the best possible outcome for your foray into the online couponing world.