Our friends at Cone this week shared that Jiffy Lube had already reached more than 65 percent of its $1 million national fundraising goal for the 2010 Maintenance Partners for Life campaign.

Thanks to customer support at the register for a $3 savings book, the fast lube franchise has already raised $658,655 for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement in just three weeks, as of February 22. More than 1,700 Jiffy Lube locations across the U. S. are participating in the campaign that kicked off February 1 and runs through March 14.

I love this program because it highlights a few key points I always talk about on my blog.

Point-of-sale works. Pinups, savings books and register programs in general are not sexy or cool but they can raise a boatload of money.

Combine cause with coupons. I’d have to ask Cone if they track this info, but my team and I are strong believers that cause combined with savings and coupons at the register give shopper that added incentive (and just reward) to make a gift.

Fast lube businesses are great partners. I’ve written all about them here. But you need to set realistic expectations. Here’s why.

Locations + Foot Traffic = $$$. The fast lube companies we’ve worked with average 50 to 60 customers a day. That’s a not a lot of traffic compared to say a supermarket, which can checkout 100 customers or more an hour. Fewer customers means fewer asks at the register, and fewer asks means less money for your cause. Fortunately, Jiffy Lube, like the other fast lube businesses I’ve worked with, has committed employees, skilled sales people and a whopping 1,700 locations to drive fundraising.

Lots of locations is why Jiffy Lube will raise a million dollars  for AHA. Lots locations AND lots of foot traffic is why Chili’s raised $6.4 million for St. Jude. Either way, both are great partners. But you should know how to measure what you can expect from each.

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