Can the Big Blue Swim School Brand Fund support charitable events?
Big_Blue_Swim_School Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
We will direct all programs the Brand Fund finances, with sole control over and ownership of all creative and business aspects of the Fund's activities. The Brand Fund may pay for, among other things, preparing, producing, and placing video, audio, and written materials, digital marketing, and Social Media; developing, maintaining, and administering one or more System Websites; administering national, regional, and multi-regional marketing and advertising programs, including purchasing trade journal, direct mail, and other media advertising and using advertising, promotion, and marketing agencies and other advisors to provide assistance; implementing and supporting franchisees' local market introduction programs; establishing regional and national promotions and partnerships and hiring spokespersons to promote the BIG BLUE Swim School brand; supporting public relations, market research, and other advertising, promotion, marketing, and brand-related activities; creating and implementing customersatisfaction surveys; organizing and hosting franchisee conferences, conventions, and meetings; and supporting and hosting charitable or nonprofit events and community-based activities.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 37–51)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Big Blue Swim School Franchise Disclosure Document, the Brand Fund can support charitable events. Specifically, the Brand Fund may be used for supporting and hosting charitable or nonprofit events and community-based activities.
The Brand Fund is financed through contributions from franchisees, which are capped at 3% of the School's Gross Revenue, but currently set at 2%. The franchisor has sole control over the Brand Fund's activities, including the ability to determine how the funds are spent. This means that while the Brand Fund can support charitable events, Big Blue Swim School ultimately decides which events to support.
This is a common practice in franchising, where brand funds are used for various marketing and promotional activities to benefit the entire franchise system. However, franchisees should be aware that contributions to the Brand Fund do not necessarily guarantee direct benefits to their specific location or market area. Big Blue Swim School states that it will try to use the Brand Fund in the aggregate to develop and implement Marketing Materials and programs benefiting all BIG BLUE Swim Schools, but they need not ensure that Brand Fund expenditures in or affecting any geographic area are proportionate or equivalent to Brand Fund contributions by BIG BLUE Swim Schools operating in that geographic area or that any BIG BLUE Swim School benefits directly or in proportion to its Brand Fund contribution from the development of Marketing Materials or the implementation of programs.