What is the purpose of the National Advertising Fund for All Team franchisees?
All_Team Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
We reserve the right to reinstate the National Advertising Fund ("Advertising Fund") at some future date. The purpose of the Advertising Fund is brand recognition and acceptance of the Marks for the benefit of our franchisees. We will administer the Advertising Fund. Your contribution, on a monthly basis, is to pay an Advertising Fee of 1% of Temporary Employment Gross Billings and 2% of Permanent Placement Gross Billings to the Advertising Fund. The Advertising Fee may be used for production costs, administration, website maintenance and design, membership in industry associations, and media placement costs. These funds may be used for advertising on television, radio, direct marketing mailings, the newspaper, the Internet and other media. We have the right to determine the type of advertising and the media in which it will appear. The Advertising Fund is not, and will not be, an asset of ours. Our affiliates, if any, will contribute the same percentage for each Agency that it or its affiliates operate. We do not use any money you contribute to the Advertising Fund that is principally a solicitation for the sale of franchises.
No part of the Advertising Fund will be used by us to defray any of our general operating expenses other than those reasonably allocable to such advertising, which includes but is not limited to the cost of maintaining, administering, directing, placing and preparing national advertising materials, programs and public relations activities, the cost of employing advertising agencies and public relations firms to assist therewith, research and development and reasonable salaries, expenses, administrative costs and overhead as we incur in activities reasonably related to the administration or direction of the Advertising Fund and its advertising programs.
The Advertising Fund is intended to maximize recognition of our brand and that we will not be obligated, in administering the Fund to make expenditures for you which are equivalent or proportional to your contribution, or to ensure that any particular franchisee benefits directly or pro rata from expenditures made by the Fund. All sums received for the Fund will be maintained in an account separate from our other monies and will be used only as so provided. We will maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the Fund and will provide an unaudited financial statement of the account if you so request in writing. If we do not use all of the funds in a particular fiscal year, the remaining funds will be carried over to the next fiscal year and be included in that year's advertising budget.
The Fund shall be maintained and administered by us as follows: A National Advertising Council ("NAC") shall make strategic planning decisions. We shall retain sole right to make any day to day decisions necessary to carry out the strategic planning decisions of the NAC. The NAC shall be comprised of 4 members made up of franchisees and the Director who will be one of our employees, officers or directors. The franchisee members shall be elected annually by all franchisees of the System based upon one vote for each Agency which is in full compliance with its Franchise Agreement.
The NAC shall review and approve or disapprove any long-range marketing plans that we or other franchisees shall develop and the NAC may develop its own long range marketing plans. After a marketing plan has been approved by the NAC, we shall implement the plan without further review by the NAC. We reserve the right, in its sole discretion, to establish and modify, from time to time, the duties, organization, form, manner of operation, membership, methods of member selection, and all other aspects of the NAC (other than eligibility for voting) pursuant to such governing documents as we may prepare; provided, however that members elected by franchisees shall in no event be less than 50% of the members of the NAC. Any deadlocks in the NAC shall be resolved by the decision of the Director of the NAC.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 18–23)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to All Team's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the purpose of the National Advertising Fund is to enhance brand recognition and acceptance of the All Team marks, ultimately benefiting franchisees. While All Team reserves the right to reinstate this fund at a future date, it is not currently active. If reinstated, franchisees would contribute to the fund through an Advertising Fee, set at 1% of Temporary Employment Gross Billings and 2% of Permanent Placement Gross Billings. These funds would be used for various advertising and promotional activities, including production costs, administration, website maintenance, industry association memberships, and media placement across television, radio, direct mail, newspapers, and the Internet. All Team retains the authority to determine the advertising type and media channels.
The Advertising Fund is not considered an asset of All Team, and any affiliated entities operating All Team agencies would contribute the same percentage. The funds collected are specifically designated for advertising purposes and will not be used for franchise sales solicitations. Furthermore, All Team will not use the Advertising Fund to cover general operating expenses, except for costs reasonably related to advertising activities, such as maintaining advertising materials, employing advertising agencies, conducting research and development, and covering related salaries and administrative overhead.
All Team emphasizes that the Advertising Fund aims to maximize brand recognition, and the franchisor is not obligated to allocate expenditures proportionally to each franchisee's contribution or ensure direct benefits for every franchisee. All funds received will be maintained in a separate account and used solely for the intended purposes. All Team will maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the fund and provide an unaudited financial statement upon written request. Any unspent funds at the end of a fiscal year will be carried over to the next year's advertising budget.
The National Advertising Council (NAC), comprised of four members including franchisees and a Director from All Team, makes strategic planning decisions for the fund. While the NAC reviews and approves long-range marketing plans, All Team retains the right to implement these plans without further review. All Team also reserves the right to modify the NAC's duties, organization, and membership, ensuring that franchisee-elected members constitute at least 50% of the council. The Director of the NAC resolves any deadlocks within the council.