RVDA Partner Firm Turns Dealer Expenses Into Donations – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Like most businesses, RV dealerships have a strong desire to support good causes in their communities.
They also wouldn’t mind if they could save some money on expenses for necessary services like telephone, Internet and computer systems.
As described during a webinar by RVDA partner Purpose in Expenses on Wednesday, it is possible to achieve both goals thanks to CEO Jamie Bianchini’s work with companies like Verizon and Microsoft.
Rather than contracting with the companies for service, clients of PIE secure the services through the network. Every service creates a new recurring donation to the dealership’s favorite nonprofit organizations every time a payment is made.
Providers pay PIE each month for clients the company brings in. PIE donates 50% of revenue to those nonprofits, allowing the dealerships to increase their giving levels without increased expenses.
Bianchini said the company was born out of two charity events he embarked on.
First, he was part of an effort to provide bicycle rides for people all over the world called Peace Pedalers. He was able to secure funds for buying bicycles and getting to the different countries through a system similar to what drives PIE.
In 2014, he and his wife went on an RV tour to promote their book about Peace Pedalers called “A Bicycle Built for Two Billion” using the same funding method.
“In 2020, a lot of nonprofits in our community lost their funding from corporate partners because that is when COVID hit,” Bianchini said. “My wife and I decided to try to teach people what we had done with Peace Pedalers and create a movement to actively teach people to use expenses to fund impact.”
Bianchini had developed an interest in the RV industry during his book tour and also developed a relationship with Care Camps, a nonprofit that provides outdoor experience for children suffering from cancer, which at that time was connected with KOA.
He said he admired the culture that surrounded RVing and in 2023 approached Beaver Coach Sales & Service in Bend, Ore., about joining the PIE clients.
“They were already making a lot of donations as part of their culture,” he said. “We eliminated their costs for phone and internet and created donations out of that. We have transparency so there are a lot of spreadsheets where we show you this is our revenue and these are our donations. The staff was proud to be a part of the program.”
The major benefits of the program are it creates increased donations to nonprofits without the dealership having to write a check. The price and support from the service is the same or better and it helps the business embrace its culture and improve on its brand.
Janae Cruikshank, controller at Beaver Coach, said the dealership’s relationship with PIE has helped it build on the kind of community support that already existed.
“It’s been a privilege to not only save the money internally, but that we can support the organizations that we choose to in our community,” she said. “It’s been a great partnership. We’re really thankful for the opportunity.”
Executive Director Gwynn Sullivan of Care Camps said donations coming in from PIE clients have made a big difference in Care Camps’ ability to meet its goal of spreading joy hope and healing through the power of the outdoors.
“I recently had the opportunity to visit with Lewis RV Center (Oklahoma City),” she said. “They signed on as a partner with PIE and they are donating their contributions to us. I’ve gotta say, when I first walked into Lewis RV Center, there was already a vibe. There was a culture that they had naturally created there of just wanting to give back It was really inspirational to me.”
Bianchini said he is offering a no-obligation analysis for RVDA members to see where they might benefit from obtaining services through PIE and being able to increase donations to nonprofits.
For information, dealers can contact PIE through www.purposeinexpenses.com/contact.
