A group of four Pennsylvania salons under the same ownership and management raised an impressive $4685 this May in their first time participating in the Vitamin D Foundation’s Natural Breast Cancer Prevention Campaign.

The Baja Beach Tanning Club locations owned by David Lengel, Paul Schonour, and Burt Dutt and managed by Amy Johnson decided to get involved after hearing about the campaign accomplishments of a separately owned Baja Beach location.

“We heard about Lori’s success with the campaign at one of our sister stores and we just jumped in, and we’re really glad it was so successful. The employees were very excited, and of course there’s always some friendly competition between the stores [that I manage],” Johnson says. “I think it’s very important to talk about vitamin D and get the message out there and show that instead of treating diseases we need to try to prevent them. Natural health is also something I’m very into personally.”

Like their “sister store,” the Baja Beach Malvern, Penn. location, that has been so successful with the campaign the past few years, Johnson and crew relied on a combination of strong incentives and promotions to push donations. They advertised the campaign through social media, email and text and offered special gifts in exchange for $5, $10, and $20 donations.

“For 20 dollars we gave them a coupon for 20 dollars off any purchase in June. It’s a great incentive to support the campaign, plus it keeps them coming back in the next month,” Johnson says.

And, of course, no fundraising campaign can be successful without support from the community. According to Johnson, their stores have many clients that are breast cancer survivors that rallied behind the campaign and helped spread the word.

“We have a lot of breast cancer survivors that tan will us so they told a lot of people” Johnson says. “They think it’s great. They think it’s good to talk about all the different strategies to prevent the disease.”