(updated 12/15/23)
We’re very proud that most new clients of Tom Dwyer Automotive Services find us through our existing clients… people telling their friends and family what they’ve found with us. We used to say ‘thank you’ for your Referrals with certificates for our Minor Interval Service, but in 2014 Tom started thinking… if a client has a self-interest in making a referral, doesn’t that ‘taint’ it a little? Even unconsciously? That was the start of our Referral Reward program and now we say ‘thank you’ by making a donation to any charity (or other non-profit group) you choose. It’s a win-win-win… we still get to show you how valuable your word-of-mouth is, a deserving charity gets a little boost, and you can recommend us with absolutely no conflict of interest! This month we thought we’d share the details of the Referral Reward Program with any new clients, introduce you to some of the groups who’ve benefitted so far, and explain why you may not have gotten a Referral Reward call from us even if you’ve referred someone…
The Takeaway…
Before we dig deep, we want to focus on two basic ideas…
Since the Referral Reward Program started in 2014, we’ve donated $37,957.55 to hundreds of organizations large and small. (as of 12/15/23)
and
It’s easy for YOU to participate!
Referral Reward Program details
- For each new client you refer to us we’ll donate 20% (up to $50) of the qualifying purchases from their first invoice to the non-profit group of your choice.
- We’ll be thankful for everyone you send us, but oil changes, tires, and batteries won’t count toward their qualifying purchases.
- At the end of the year our clients vote on a Yearly Winner from all the groups we donated to through the year. We make an additional donation of $1,000.00 to that cause.
- The person you refer must have a 15-years-old-or-newer vehicle of a type we service. Sorry, but our 15-years-old-or-newer policy still has to apply, and we can’t help with their Lamborghinis or semi-trucks. (We should remind you that the “15-years-old-or-newer” restriction applies ONLY TO NEW CLIENTS. If you’re an existing client and we’ve been servicing YOUR older vehicle, we’ll gladly continue to do so!)
- Referrals don’t have to come singly; you can coordinate your group to come in as a whole. In fact, we have a sample letter you might want to use to tell them about the program.
- You can pick any group or organization, preferably with a 501c3 designation, but that’s not required. They can be political, social justice, environmental, recreational, religious, educational, or any other purpose YOU care about.
- We prefer (but don’t require) donations to smaller groups. Big groups like the Red Cross, Mercy Corps, or Oregon Food Bank do amazing work. Many of our clients choose these groups and we gladly give to them, but our donations aren’t huge (max $50) and may get lost in the noise of their bigger donations. Smaller, usually local, groups don’t have the operating budgets or ability to go fund hunting, and $50 to these groups can be a huge boost.
Are there groups you WON’T donate to?
We reserve the right to say ‘no’ to any group for any reason, but we’ve only rarely had to do it. Our Referral Reward program is designed to THANK you, so we do our best to donate to any group YOU care about. If for ANY reason we decide not to accept them we’ll have you pick another; in the unimaginable situation that we couldn’t find ANY group you wanted to give to then we’d turn your Referral Reward into an in-shop credit for future services. Like we said though, our goal is to give to the people YOU think need it most.
- We won’t donate to a group that won’t ACCEPT our donation. For example, several clients wanted us to donate to Bernie Sanders but the Bernie campaign isn’t allowed to accept corporate donations (and Tom Dwyer Automotive is a corporation). We found a ‘support Bernie’ group instead, BerniePDX, which worked out even better… one client is now an active member of the group!
- We won’t donate to a group if we CAN’T FIND them. One client wanted to donate to a small relief group in Nigeria (which sounds like a scam, but turned out not to be). After several attempts over about two months we finally gave up and donated to Mercy Corps instead. International donations can be tricky; we’ll try if you want but we’ll recommend a US-based (or at least large and well-known international) charity instead.
- No one’s ever asked and we don’t expect our clients ever would, but we won’t donate to hate groups. No KKK, Proud Boys, Nazis, or suchlike. If you want to pick one of these groups then you can go pound sand. We’ll give you a coupon for an oil change at a Quick Lube (because we’re still grateful for your referral) but you’ll never hear from us again.
Why haven’t I gotten a Referral Reward? I’ve referred lots of people!
First, we’d like to apologize… your word-of-mouth keeps our doors open, and we would love to be able to thank EACH person individually! Unfortunately, we don’t always know who’s doing the Referring. The only way we know how a new client found out about us is to ask them on their first visit, and we use their answer as their Referral source. Even if you sent someone to us they may not give your name as the Referrer. While they may have first heard about us through you, they may have later checked us out on Yelp or finally decided to come in just because we were convenient. When we ask, they may tell us “Web search” or “convenient location” instead of your name, and then we don’t know there’s a Reward to issue. We can’t guarantee all your Referrals will give your name as a source, but if you want the charity you care about to get your Reward then it’s up to you. Make sure your friend knows to “tell ‘em I sent you!”
What groups HAVE you donated to?
We’ve tried to round up a complete list of everyone we’ve given to (below), and it’s pretty thorough but we apologize if we missed someone. Every group name is a link to the groups’ website, so please click and get to know them. They can ALL tell you exactly why your money would be so well invested with them!
Here are the recipients of our Quarterly and Yearly Referral Rewards…
2014- The Program was just starting, and we didn’t have Quarterly Awards yet.
2014 Yearly Award – Oregon Food Bank
2015 Quarterly Awards – Artichole Music, Janus Youth Services, Madison High School, RoseHaven
2015 Yearly Award – HealthCare for All Oregon (HCAO)
2016 Quarterly Awards – Medical Teams International, Randall Children’s Hospital, Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
2016 Yearly Award – Planned Parenthood of Columbia/Willamette
2017 Quarterly Awards –Dougy Center, ACLU of Oregon, no 3rd award
2017 Yearly Award- Southern Poverty Law Center
2018 Quarterly Awards- p;ear, Multnomah County CASA, no 3rd award
2018 Yearly Award- We ended quarterly awards, and increased the Yearly award to $1000. Our Yearly Winner was Immigration and Refugee Community Organization
2019 Yearly- Pongo Fund
2020 Yearly– Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
2021 Yearly– Sellwood Middle School Foundation
2022 Yearly– Meals on Wheels People
2023 Yearly– Voting is going on NOW!
And here are the recipients of our past monthly Individual awards…
ACLU Foundation of Oregon Act Blue Alex Rovello Memorial Fund
All Classical Public Media, Inc. American Diabetes Association American Heart Association
American Red Cross Amnesty International Animal Rescue Care Fund App Camp For Girls
Aris D. Bishop Memorial Scholarship Fund Artichoke Community Music
Artist Mentorship Project Audobon Society Autism Service Dogs of America Bark
Basic Rights Oregon Bernie Sanders 2016 Blanchet House
Best Friends Animal Society Bicycle Transportation Alliance
Bonneville Environmental Foundation Boys and Girls Aid Society Bravo Oregon
Breast Cancer Society, Inc. Camp Tamarack CASA Cat Adoption Team
Cancer Society of Oregon Catholic Charities Center for Appropriate Transport
Central City Concern Center for Biological Diversity
Children’s Book Bank Childrens’ Cancer Association Community Transition School
Clackamas County Children’s Commission Head Start Clackamas Women’s Services
Clay Street Table Clear Fund (Givewell) Cleveland High School Foundation
Community Music Center CYO Camp Howard Doctors Without Borders
Dove Lewis Animal Hospital Doernbecher Childrens Hospital Dougy Center
Dzogchen Shri Singha of Portland Equine Outreach Esther’s Pantry Food Bank
Eugene Waldorf School FACT Oregon Family Dogs New Life
Fences For Fido Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon
First Book Friends of Columbia River Gorge Friends of Menucha
Friends of Trees Friends of Tryon Creek Fund for Portland Public Schools
Future Educational Films Generation Serve
Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington GreenPeace
Greater Portland Bible Church Grout Elementary School
GROW Healthy Kids and Communities Growing Gardens
Habitat For Humanity HHH Memorial Foundation, Notes Of Hope
Help Holley fight Leukemia GoFundMe Hygiene 4 All Immanuel Lutheran Church
Indigenous Women Rising Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization Junior League Portland
It Gets Better Janus Youth Programs JOIN PDX Juvenile Diabetes Research
KBOO Radio KMHD Radio Lake Oswego School Foundation
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Lewis Elementary PTA Lifewater International
Little Sisters of the Poor Living Stages Llewellyn Elementary School Live Love NW
Madison High School Make-A-Wish Oregon Matunda Orphans Community Center
Meals on Wheels Medical Teams International Menucha Retreat and Conference Center
Mercy Corps Moms Demand Action MoveOn.org Civic Action
Multnomah Animal Control Multnomah County Animal Shelter Multnomah County Library
Multnomah County CASA Multiple Sclerosis Society of Portland
Multiple Sclerosis Yoga Program Native American Youth Association
Natural Resources Defense Council Nature Conservancy New Avenues for Youth
Northwest Pilot Project NW Sarcoma Foundation Northstar Civic Foundation
National End-of-Life Doula Alliance OHSU and Doernbecher Foundations
OHSU Partnership Project Operation Nightwatch Open Adoption & Family Services
Oregon Buddhist Temple Oregon Cultural Trust Oregon Dog Rescue
Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Humane Society Oregon League of Conservation Voters
Oregon Outdoor School Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Tradeswomen
Oregon Wild Oregon Zoo OSPIRG Our House of Portland Outside In
Paying It Forward Store Peninsula Children’s Learning Center PETA p:ear PetPartners.org
PHAME Academy PFLAG PKD Foundation Planned Parenthood
Pixie Project Pongo Fund Pet Food Bank Portland Animal Welfare Team
Portland Community College Foundation Portland Playhouse
Portland Refugee Support Group Providence Children’s Health
Portland Rescue Mission Portland Waldorf School Portland Women’s Crisis Line
Project Lemonade Pixie Project Protect Our Winters
Q Center RAINN.org Randall Children’s Hospital Raphael House of Portland
REAP, Inc. Red Cross of Portland Ride Connections Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
RoseHaven Rotary Club Foundation St. Johns Center for Opportunity Sam Day Foundation
Salvation Army Shadow Project Self Enhancement Inc. Shriners Hospital
Sisters of the Road Café SMART SOLV Oregon Southern Poverty Law Center
Special Olympics Oregon St. Andrew’s Nativity School St. Jude Children’s Hospital
St. Mary’s Academy Susan G. Komen Foundation Street Roots
Surfrider Foundation Tucker-Maxon Oral School TVW Inc.
Trevor Project Underdog Railroad Rescue Union Gospel Mission
Urban Excursions’ IndieGoGo program Urban Gleaners Volunteers of America
Wallace Medical Concern Well Arts Institute Wendy Davis for Governor
Write Around Portland Wild Salmon Center Willamette Riverkeeper
Wireless Education Action Willamette View Blue Heron World Central Kitchen
Work For Art World Wildlife Fund Wounded Warrior Project
XRAY-FM Zenger Farm
We’d like to thank all our clients who have been making referrals for so many years and congratulate all the groups we’ve been able to donate to so far. We hope YOU and YOUR group are the next participants in our Referral Reward Program!
