donations chair for dd's elementary school

[nicurn]

hey guys, yes I got suckered into this, any suggestions on where I can get donations? I'm not picky at all. We do several "fun" family events including bingo, fall dance with raffles, holiday shoppe (yes that would be a christmas shop for the kids to buy stuff for their family without the parents seeing it), and a fun spring event (and I'm sure we do other stuff, can't recall at the moment, um, reading month (reading under the stars night)... Anyhow, I have faxed. written, dropped off letters to our local restaraunts, hotels, attractions and would now like to branch out a little. Any suggestions would be welcome. thanks, maggie

 

[soccerchick]

I'm assuming you are looking for all types of donations from $ to whatever...my experiences are a few years old now, but McDonalds and Starbucks were VERY generous to my newspaper staff at the school where I used to teach.

Good luck...I always hated this type of job. I felt like a beggar.

 

[janette]

I'd also send a letter to the parents saying basically what the fund raising plans are and ask for direct donations. Easy and saves them from feeling obligated to participate if they'd rather just donate.

 

[Twigs]

Ds's school has a teabag fundraiser. The PTA sends out a letter asking for donations as Janette mentioned above, but a tea bag is stapled to it, and it reads something like "Sit back, relax have a cup of tea on us and think about writing us a check". I don't really remember the exact wording, but I could find out if you want.

 

[bskts4bj]

Don't forget your local Target store -- they, I believe, are very generous when it comes to school donations. Walmart too.

Good luck!
Brenda

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Two ideas - send a letter (but plan a follow call or better visit) to the local retailers. Many times the single unit neighborhood retailers are ready to support the local school.

Also send a letter to the parents as already noted. But in addition to asking them to write a check include a note on checking with their employer about a donation. Many times an employee asking goes a lot farther than a letter and request from essentially a "stranger".

Deb

 

[WDWMom]

Find out if any parents own their own business and ask them to donate cash or buy something (or buy a gift cert) and donate.

DH owns his own business (he's a home builder) and we do this for school and church. We'll go out and buy a Target GC and donate it. We will get a receipt back for the donation and a tax deduction.

Also ask people for a service they provide. Maybe a free makeover from a Mary Kay consultant or a free crop night from a CM consultant. Think out of the box and I bet you can come up with things.

What about someone who builds shelves?? Maybe they will offer to custom make one for the highest bidder???

Good luck!

 

[chessie]

Walmart was very generous with my Relay for Life team. They gave us a check for $1000. from headquarters and several gift cards. We were really only asking for a gift card so that we could buy paper goods for a fund raiser dance we were sponsoring. They forwarded our request to corporate and gave us an additional check.

 

[soccerchick]

A few more ideas...

Are you going to plan fundraisers, or just seek out donations? One really cool fundraiser I saw about 2 years back was at Horizon Elem. in Cascades. They had baskets made up and then auctioned them off. These were huge, displayed in the library, and had all sorts of themes ~ book lovers, movie night, game night, action hero, tea party.I'm not sure exactly how it all came together, but a call or e-mail to their PTA/PTSO would probably provide all the info you need. These baskets were AWESOME!! I really wanted to go to the auction, but had a conflict. I probably couldn't afford to bid now w/ being part-time and having baby #2.

Dont' forget about the Redskins.
Don Pablo's also gave us gift cert,. in the past.

When I coached, we did an easy fundraiser for new uniforms w/ a soccer ball juggle-a-thon. Kids got sponsors for x cents per juggle. I had them juggle, certified their form, then they collected $$. Several high schools do this w/ weight lifting and running too. The elem. kids could do somthing along that line. Think about what kids in elem. could do and maybe make it a grade project.

You could also sell sponsorship/patron recognition for special events-- advertise names adn businesses who donate to the cause. Very easy.

 

[mrp4352]

http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/DIY/index.html

Give this site a try - I've been the fundraising chair for my church choir and my department at work for the last year and a half. We've had some real success with a Valentine's Day dinner, limited-chance raffles and ice cream novelty sales.

I agree, it's hard to ask for donations, but I've found that if my committees go out and talk to their friends/co-workers, we usually find 'someone who knows someone who knows someone' and we end up with really cool donations!

Good luck!
Michelle

 

[JulianneP]

HMMMMM! It's this the same Maggie that was not going to do volunteer again for you child school! LOL

How about a scrap a thon. Get some CM and those great stores to donate supplies and have parents rent a table to scrap the night away. I heard of few schools starting to do this.

A high school around here does a Home shopping day. Where parents that run home busniess (pampered chefed, tuperware, sothern living etc..) rent tables at school and sell there stuff. It usually is around Novembe and then I thn they give a small portion to the school as well. the advertise in the paper and get a big crowed.

These are easy and you are not asking for anthing.

 

[DisneyArk]

Are there any corporate headquarters near you? If so, you might check with them. We are located near the Wal-Mart headquarters and they donate a lot to our project to let the kids shop for their families.

I remember reading that one Junior League in VA was able to get a lot donated from Lillian Vernon. You never know until you ask!

Good luck!

 

[clh2]

The Pleasant Company will make a 1-time donation to a non-profit organization of a doll. We did this at our PTA several years ago. They were WONDERFUL!!! Just call the regular 800 number, and the customer service rep will give you further information. If I remember correctly - we needed to write a letter to a specific department at the corporate office. They don't guarantee that they will meet any request. My thought on that is - if they will make a 1-time donation - I would have kept asking until they finally gave us one!! We used the doll for a raffle - and it was very successful. If you're not familiar with the dolls - they cost about $90 or so.

Other ideas - Kripsy Kreme has fundraising opportunities if there is one near you. You may want to chekc their website.

Michaels Craft Stores will also do a donation - they used to have info on their website - but I think you need to call their corporate office for the details.

Our PTA also did the basket raffle. We raised about $2000 each of the 2 times we have done this. With what we did - each class had a theme, and students were asked to contribute something to the basket - about $5 or less, or to make a small cash donation. Themes were sometimes related to a particular hobby or interest of the teacher. The themes we've used have been - cooking, chocolate, movie night, family game night, science, fun-in-the sun, reading, winter games, golfing, splish-splash I was taking a bath, scrapbooking & stamping, and others which I can't think of now.

We have had success with local business donating things like a month membership for a fitness center (the YMCA), restaurant gift certificates, bowling alleys etc.

Good Luck!