Download Music on FundTunes and Make a Donation to your Favourite Charity, Team, School or Club

Fundraising Using New Website Taps into Social Media Networks to Connect with Donors

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - 11/03/09) - FundTunes, in association with Universal Music Canada, the country's leading music company, has launched a new website to download digital music to fundraise for a cause. The first of its kind in the country, FundTunes helps raise money for Canadian charities, nonprofit organizations, sports teams, schools, clubs, and community and theatre groups.

Gone are the days when volunteers have to go door-to-door to sell chocolate bars, fill out pledge forms or keep track of donations to raise money for a cause. Now organizations simply register for free at fundtunes.com that features digital music downloads at competitive rates. Once listed, supporters and volunteers of the charity, organization, team, school or club take advantage of email and social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to invite their friends, family and colleagues to buy five-song and 10-song bundles at fundtunes.com on behalf of their organization.

FundTunes is powered by Universal Music Canada's download store, chooseyoursongs.com, featuring hundreds of thousands of songs from well-known artists - from U2 to Jonas Brothers. As the leader in digital music downloads, Universal Music Canada's library includes new releases, Top 100, Pop, Rock, Country, R&B, Jazz, and much more. When donors purchase their music bundles at FundTunes, they instantly receive a pin code by email and a link to the fundtunes.chooseyoursongs.com to download their digital music selection using their pin code as payment.

For every music bundle purchased by a donor, FundTunes remits $3.00 for a 10-song bundle and $1.50 for a five-song bundle to the registered organization. Cheques are sent monthly to the various organizations along with a detailed financial statement.

"Universal Music Canada is honoured to be the digital music provider for FundTunes," says Lisa Sharkey, Manager, Special Markets & Partnership Marketing, Universal Music Canada. "Everyone can relate to FundTunes as we all have our favourite songs along with our favourite causes that we like supporting. Now we can download music while raising money and making a difference for our community."

FundTunes was founded by Toronto entrepreneurs, Ed Alvarez and Justin McCartney, who have a background in high-level sports and recognized the need for a better way for local sports teams to raise money. "We came up with the concept of building your music library while helping your team, charity or cause," says Ed Alvarez. "We remember going door-to-door selling chocolate almonds as kids trying to raise money for our team. We also remember our parents buying the remaining boxes when we weren't able to sell our quota."

"Today downloading music has such mass appeal," adds Justin McCartney. "By tapping into how people communicate using email and social media networks, FundTunes is a great fundraising tool for any type of organization, large or small - from local sports teams to national charities."

Several prominent charities and organizations have registered with FundTunes including Canadian Cancer Society, Best Buddies, Give A Miracle A Chance (in support of Cerebral Palsy), MADD, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, and Schizophrenia Society of Canada.

"We like FundTunes as we feel it has great potential to raise money for Best Buddies," comments Steven Pinnock, Executive Director, Best Buddies Canada, a national program helping individuals with intellectual disabilities. "We're involved with over 3,000 university and high school students and find FundTunes an effective fundraising tool for our organization."

To register your Canadian charity, nonprofit organization, team, school, club, or community or theatre group, visit fundtunes.com, or email info@fundtunes.com, or call 1.888.803.7526.

 
Contacts:
FundTunes
Ed Alvarez
416.526.4388
ed@fundtunes.com
FundTunes
Justin McCartney
647.292.5539
justin@fundtunes.com
Universal Music Canada
Tyson A. Parker
Vice President, Corporate Communications
tyson.parker@umusic.com
Media Contact:
Burkhard Communications
Johanna Burkhard
905.642.2029
jburkhard@sympatico.ca