Donations??

[newtodis]

I continue to find myself in the position of having to search for donations from various groups - both locally and nationally and was curious if any DISsers have had any luck with a specific chain or national group. I'm in the middle of requesting donations right now and as I get responses back, I'll be glad to update this thread with my findings.

If we can try the following format to keep things simple to find, I think that would be helpful:

Company Name:
Contact Name:
Contact Information (address, email, website):
Donation Received (yes/no):
Donation (what you got):

Thanks for trying to help make this an easier process for everyone trying to hunt down donations!!

 

[MarilIncredible]

I continue to find myself in the position of having to search for donations from various groups - both locally and nationally and was curious if any DISsers have had any luck with a specific chain or national group. I'm in the middle of requesting donations right now and as I get responses back, I'll be glad to update this thread with my findings.

If we can try the following format to keep things simple to find, I think that would be helpful:

Company Name:
Contact Name:
Contact Information (address, email, website):
Donation Received (yes/no):
Donation (what you got):

Thanks for trying to help make this an easier process for everyone trying to hunt down donations!!

What kind of donations are you talking about? Stuff for a school or a day care to use at a silent auction or in gift basket they raffle off, items to be used as contest prizes, or something like that; or cash donations to a particular charity.

Because I really cannot see anyone posting their donor list in the latter situation on a message board.

 

[mking624]

Keep in mind that with chains/national groups, you will likely need to talk to someone at a corporate level and in some cases need to go through a process to get approved as some places only donate for specific purposes.

 

[newtodis]

What kind of donations are you talking about? Stuff for a school or a day care to use at a silent auction or in gift basket they raffle off, items to be used as contest prizes, or something like that; or cash donations to a particular charity.

Because I really cannot see anyone posting their donor list in the latter situation on a message board.

I would never ask anyone to post anything they were uncomfortable in posting. If they don't want to share the donations they've received, that's fine. Specifically right now, I'm working on requesting donations for a breast cancer walk our group is hosting in October so I've been contacting local and national businesses requesting donations for our event.

Keep in mind that with chains/national groups, you will likely need to talk to someone at a corporate level and in some cases need to go through a process to get approved as some places only donate for specific purposes.

Hopefully we can figure out those places with this thread. If you've contacted your local McDonald's for example and they directed you to the corporate office, it would save some others some time in just contacting the corporate office instead of their local establishment (I don't know if that's McDonald's practice or not - just an example).

 

[JimmyPicker]

OP, it completely depends on what type of donations you're asking for, as someone previously pointed out.

 

[Becky2005]

Keep in mind that with chains/national groups, you will likely need to talk to someone at a corporate level and in some cases need to go through a process to get approved as some places only donate for specific purposes.

Exactly! If it's something local, you will have better luck going to the smaller local companies.

I'm in the midst of it right now, I'm doing what is called a 3rd party fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals. I have the letter with their approval to hold it but since I, myself, am not a 501(c)3 (? - I always mess that up), I can't request things from the big national companies.

Some national chains say it's up to the local mangement for local things, so you can talk to the store manager though. As your example, McDonald's was one that the corporate has certain charities they sponsor (Ronald McDonald House comes to mind.. ) but it did say that store managers can use their discretion, such as say sponsor a Little League team.

What I did is go to the local Chamber of Commerce sites and target the companies that I thought would get the most benefit/exposure by sponsoring us because we would be attracting people that most likely would be customers of their product, etc.... Then, also went with everyone else. I sent out several mailings since some of the companies are not stores to easily just go in to talk to them, etc.... and the person I'm working will will be going out tomorrow to talk to the other local businesses.

I also went on a lot of the corporate websites and just read what they choose to sponsor (some donate to educational causes, some hunger relief, etc...) and how to go about it.

In our case, we need both monetary donations & product/merchandise donation -- so we asked for either/or and are happy with whatever they give.

Good Luck.

 

[mking624]

Hopefully we can figure out those places with this thread. If you've contacted your local McDonald's for example and they directed you to the corporate office, it would save some others some time in just contacting the corporate office instead of their local establishment (I don't know if that's McDonald's practice or not - just an example).

The best thing is still to contact the local branch and go from there. Sometimes a corporate office may allow x amount of something to be donated at the local manager's discretion. Sometimes you need to contact regional office. Sometimes you'll have to go all the way up to corporate. And depending on what the answer is, you may also be told that only specific donations are given and/or to specific charities. It's helpful to look for advice on here, but your definite answers will only come directly from those you're looking to get donations from.

 

[newtodis]

My attempt was to create a list of places that have donated items for various events. I know it can be done: http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/35-auctions/151264-the-ultimate-donation-list. I just thought with the huge variety of people on the DIS, we'd be able to get a really great contact list together and probably things that haven't been thought of yet...

 

[Acklander]

I'm sure the OP's intentions are good, but as someone who had a company that would donate generously in the community I'd be horrified to find out that someone I had donated to, had posted my contact information on a message board to share with others looking for donations.
I just thought you might think of this from the other side before going through with the project.