"Really good for collecting donations online"

Interview with Michael Röllin. Photos by March Marmots

 

 

What’s your organization’s mission?

March Marmots is an up-and-coming eSports (electronic sports) club that offers a semi-professional team and player base and actively promotes young talent. Our members are highly motivated competitive gamers. March is a district in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, in the Obersee region near Zurich.

Originally we were a small group of friends who wanted to take their shared passion a bit further. As time went on we were regularly joined by new members, and we added more and more different games and sports. We currently have 43 members, and we’re still growing steadily.

We cover the whole range of classic eSports titles, such as Rocket League, Overwatch, Hearthstone, MTG Arena, Super Smash Bros or Call of Duty.

What challenges led you to RaiseNow?

At the beginning, financial matters were straightforward, because we were just a circle of friends. But we did already have a club bank account. Later I found out about RaiseNow TWINT through my work. I work at a bank, and of course TWINT is something we’re familiar with there. And that’s how I heard about the solution for clubs and associations, and about TWINT QR codes. So I looked at the product more closely and found that it was a really great idea for our club. Everyone reacted positively at the next committee meetings, and we started using it straight away.

 

What challenges did you face at the beginning?

I found the setup process very easy to understand. It was also really simple to create QR codes, or to order stickers or stands. And it’s nice that you can download the QR codes directly as a PDF file and start using them straight away.

Later, too, when we got a new treasurer, I showed her how to use it and everything, and she also found it easy to understand.

What has changed for you since starting to use RaiseNow TWINT?

In the past, we collected membership fees by traditional bank transfer, but with RaiseNow TWINT we can offer an option that’s much easier to use. You log in to the TWINT app, scan the QR code, and that’s it. As well as for membership fees, we use RaiseNow TWINT for payment processing when people order jerseys.

We were really impressed with the ease of use and the invoicing. In the transaction overview we can see at a glance who’s already paid. We can manage the accounts all the way through to paying the money into our bank account. The whole process is really a great alternative to the traditional bank transfer.

 

Do you still receive cash payments?

Cash not so much, because our club is mainly used to doing things electronically. So the members are very tech-savvy and were very pleased that we were introducing payments with RaiseNow TWINT. They’re glad that we can now pay using QR codes and that it’s so easy. All our members come from Switzerland, and almost all of them were already using TWINT for private payments. So it simply made sense, because it meant we didn’t need to start introducing additional solutions. RaiseNow TWINT is really a great product and we like it a lot. We’re even thinking about where else we can use QR code payments.

A certain number of payments still come by bank transfer, and it’s our goal to handle the majority of them using the RaiseNow TWINT QR solution. It’s very practical, especially compared to online banking, where you first have to log in, enter an IBAN, etc. That just takes a lot longer.

 

Read more after the photos ↓

How did you collect the membership fees?

Our club has its own group chat with a text channel where the committee can share information with members. We sent the payment request and QR code digitally on that channel, so members could simply scan the screen with their phones.

We also have a stand that we use in our club premises, for example at the general meeting. So members can scan the QR code and make their payments right then and there.

 

Have you also used RaiseNow TWINT for an event?

We once did a donation stream on Twitch. As our club logo is a marmot, we wanted to support one in real life. So we adopted a marmot at Zurich Wildlife Park and collected donations for that. To motivate our members we set up a gaming stream, so that they had something entertaining to watch. And anyone who wanted to could donate right there in the stream, using a QR code. We collected 600 Swiss francs in one evening that way, which means we can support the marmot for three years. When the adoption period runs out we plan to do another donation stream to raise more money.

For the stream we used the QR code version where you can also collect personal data such as name and email. That way we could see who’d sent which donation and send them a thank-you mail later. RaiseNow TWINT is a great way of collecting donations online: data privacy is guaranteed, but we can still always communicate one-to-one with the person.

 

What do you like about RaiseNow? You mentioned the dashboard earlier...

Yes, the dashboard is very good. I’ve got nothing but praise for the clear overview of incoming payments, and for how you can display all the payer and payment details after each one.

What I also find really great is that if a payment doesn’t go through for some reason, I can see it in RaiseNow Hub. So I can contact the payer and make sure that no payments get lost.

So to sum up, it works brilliantly: it's fast, direct and error-free. From my point of view, it’s a great thing.

 

Are the fees for RaiseNow TWINT worth it?

The fees don’t bother us, because good products don’t come for free. The service costs something, the employees behind it, etc. You have to cover it somehow. We simply calculate the fee into our pricing, and our members are fine with paying a tiny bit more, for instance for the membership fee. Everyone knows it’s a small price to pay for a service that saves us time and effort, and is therefore worth a lot.

 

Do you have any tips for other organizations?

We’d like to encourage other organizations to try out RaiseNow TWINT, if they’re not using it already. We find it very practical and easy to use.

In particular traditional payments such as membership or entry fees can be processed faster and more easily using RaiseNow TWINT – whether online or in person.

 

What’s the next big project or campaign where you plan to use RaiseNow TWINT?

We want to create a better version of our website, including a donation option.
Then, for future fundraising efforts, we want to try out the PayLink version, where donors can request a donation receipt directly.

In general, we want to use the solution for various events, for example our LAN tournaments. Perhaps we’ll have a stand at one of the big conventions like Fantasy Basel or Zurich Pop Con. Then the idea would be to perhaps collect donations using a QR code stand on the table.

We also have a few ideas for other events, like a barbecue evening, where members can pay for their drinks using QR codes. That would be easiest, and we wouldn't have to deal with cash.

 

 

 

Michael, we thank you very much for your success story and wish you and your club continued success!