| Location |
| Buffalo, NY |
| [email protected] |
| Website |
| http://www.fyoproducts.com |
| http://www.facebook.com/ForYourOrganization |
| Owner |
| Derek Hills |
| Established |
| January 2013 |
| Payment Method |
| Cash, check, credit, debit |
I am a student at Buffalo State College and this page is for Maria Pabico's Com 336, Web Publishing and Social Media class.
Who is FYO
FYO (For Your Organization) is a company that is half fundraising and retail, geared towards finding new opportunities for profit. FYO’s focus is to offer beauty care products that are made in the U.S.A. Currently they are offering lip balm for sale. They plan on expanding their line to hand sanitizers in March and lotions in the fall. All products are manufactured through out the U.S.A and the company’s main office is located in Orchard Park, NY.
History
Derek Hills, owner of FYO, is originally from Toronto, Canada. He took a variety of classes from Centennial College and York University. Derek got a job offer in Buffalo, NY in 1997 at President's Choice International. After over four and a half years, his final title was Brand/Account Manager. He left the company in May 2000. That same month, Derek joined Mattel for about six years. His final title there in July 2006 was Director of Strategic Planning. From July 2006-November 2012, Derek held a few major positions within the company. He first started as the Director of Customer Marketing. Two years later he was promoted to the Director of Marketing For his last four years his final title was Director of New Business Development.
After completing over 20 years in the corporate world, Derek wanted to start a company based on his core values of how a business should be ran. "Having fun and doing more", was his main focus. Derek constantly looked for new opportunities but wanted to help others at the same time. His personal experience with having a son with special needs and adopting two children from Buffalo, Derek wanted to make a part of his business giving back to his community.
He then came up with the concept of offering beauty care products in that half of the company will be focused on creating product to be offered in retail, and the other half focused as a fundraising opportunity. For the fundraising aspect, any organization will have a portion of the money they raised, not out of pocket, donated on their behalf to a charity of their choice.
In November 2012, Derek quit his job and began to focus on starting up FYO.
Events
In February 2013, FYO launched their first ever promotion called “Kids Helping Kids Lip-A-Thon”. They partnered up with Kids Escaping Drugs (KED) and schools within the Erie County area. With help from their local radio station, Kiss 98.5, FYO asked that any school, or organization within that school, register with their principles permission and a representative from their school to sell FYO's lip balm. Schools could register in the month of February and the event participants will sell their product from March 1st to May 19th. For every stick sold at $2.50, .75 cents of every stick sold would go directly to their organization and .40 of that stick would go to KED on that organizations behalf. Their first promotion launch was to fully launch their company and to do a promotion that was an example of what their company was about. Also, there is no money upfront, a policy the company follows for every order. They are aiming to raise approximately $10,000 for KED when the event concludes.
Late February 2013, FYO set up their first ever booth in Columbus, Ohio. A COA cheerleading and dance competition sponsored by JAM Brands. The event had approximately 10,000 attendees. FYO was a legal vendor and had a booth set up in which they offered product and displayed samples as a marketing tool for the company. They also had a raffle in which two teams had the chance to win 500 free sticks of lip balm each which totaled to be $1000.
Photo credit: Kiersten Pukalo
On May 19th, FYO will be the event sponsor for the Kids Escaping Drugs Campaign Walk for Kids.
FYO plans on reaching out to major PR events and to partner with larger fundraising groups. FYO wants to personally go to meetings to develop a relationship with their consumers and buyers.
Fundraising
FYO makes the guarantee that for every organization that uses them to fundraise, FYO will always give back to the community by having a portion of profits raised go to a charitable cause on the organizations behalf.
The concept of the fundraising branch of the company, is to have an organization order product and customize their order and flavors to their need. An Independent Representative (IR) from FYO will be the liaison between the organization at FYO. That IR will order product through the company and deliver the product to the organization's location personally. It is standard company policy that for any organization ordering product, no tax, no shipping costs and there is no requirement of money upfront. The organization will then have 30 days to until their dues will be charged to FYO.
Products
All products are made in America.
In February 2013, FYO launched their lip balm that contains all natural ingredients. Their lip balm is also gluten-free. In late 2013, FYO will offer up to 15 flavors of lip balm.
Photo Credit: Kiersten Pukalo
Photo Credit: Kiersten Pukalo
In March 2013, hand sanitizers will be offered and they kill 99.9% of common germs. They will be enriched with moisturizers, vitamin E and are free of parabens and phthalates.
It will be standard that if any organization orders at least 1,000 lip balm sticks, they have the opportunity to have the product customized with their own logo on half of the stick. The concept is to promote confidence and personalization between FYO and its organization.
Employees
FYO wants to keep their team small and the fundraising branch to consist solely of entrepreneurs. Derek wants to teach his entrepreneurs how to work by their own rules, yet hold the right "fit" for the company. Derek feels values drive your success. So he is making “values" the number one requirement instead of the "basic standards" corporate world requires. For the right "fit", in whole, FYO wants to have employees who have a "natural drive" and "carry the same values" and "approach to life", comments Derek. FYO will always have at most 25 employees. They will leave open the opportunity to have unlimited representatives world wide.
Goals
FYO's goal is to be a recognized brand in health and beauty. Derek wants FYO to be a destination for fundraising ideas and to be a premier source for health and beauty care products. FYO will aim to cap off their line at 100 products.
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