Company History
In June 2006, high school math teacher Rich Morrison was lamenting to one of his former students about the effectiveness of a recent school fundraising program. The familiar program, in which students sold lollipops, candles, and gift items at marked-up prices, had been a total nightmare.

Organizing a sales campaign across Morrison's large student organization consumed countless hours in paperwork alone. Morrison's concern only increased when he realized that some eager students were carrying large sums of money and merchandise on their walks to and from school each day. On top of it all, Morrison felt guilty that so many parents, teachers, friends, and community members had paid such high prices for these low-value products simply because they wanted to support his students.

At the conclusion of the program, Morrison calculated the profits: just a few hundred dollars. He also tabulated the hours that he and his students had spent on organization, bookkeeping, sales, and distribution. When it was all said and done, he and the group had earned less than $3 an hour for their efforts. There had to be a better way.

Morrison's former student, Robert J. Moore, agreed. Moore suggested that a website connecting groups like Morrison's with online stores willing to give cash back to loyal customer groups could enable a new breed of fundraising program—one uninhibited by paperwork and the risks of student-run sales teams. Why force supporters to buy overpriced candles when they could instead be purchasing anything they want at competitive prices? The two had discovered a smarter way for school groups, community organizations, and other charitable causes to raise money. Moore pulled out his laptop and the SmartRaise story had begun.

The SmartRaise Advisory Council
Shortly after SmartRaise was conceived, Morrison began enlisting the support of friends and colleagues who shared his concerns about the existing fundraising landscape. He assembled a team which included eight public school teachers, four administrators, and a handful of students, parents, and community members. This team would be known as the SmartRaise advisory council. Their job was to make sure that SmartRaise stayed true to its purpose: to enable the easiest, safest, and most efficient way for groups to fundraise. This council helped co-found the business and remains a key piece of SmartRaise operations today.

Our Pledge
We pledge to always help our member groups before we help ourselves. As long as we operate our business by this principle, everything else falls into place. Here are some examples of decisions that have been made based on this policy:

• We will never use any form of Spyware or Adware (including pop-ups) in connection with our website.
• It will never cost anything for groups or shoppers to join our website.
• We will always be responsive to customer questions in a timely and helpful manner.