Well I used to think that in-person was better then asking by a letter. But this year we took the plunge and sent out letters to big companies that it was impossible to go in person to. I can say that the response has been great. My safe is full and our PTO storage building would hold much more. I hope that things continue coming in up until the day of the auction. So I guess it doesnt hurt to send those letter to bigger companies. You never know what they will send back.

I have found that it is better to solicit in person, rather than submitting forms. Merchants are more willing to say yes to your face,than saying no to a piece of paper. It will take more time, but it is worth the effort.

Hi Dottie;
Our school gets 99% of it's donations from the small business' in our community. I find that most of the larger business' require that you fill out quite a bit of paperwork in order to request donations. Where as the smaller bussiness' only require that you provide them with a donation request on letterhead. They also will accept a "generic" letter that is addressed to merchant and within the letter you explain who you are, what you are doing and don't forget to add a touch relating to "community support" to the children. Just a suggestion,but a great place to start is in your local yellow pages. GOOD LUCK !
LORI

anybody be willing to trade what corporations they have had luck with getting donations from? I mailed 500 plus letter a few weeks ago and they are starting to come in. We are having our first annual auction in April and are in need of more donations but it seems the bigger the corporation the less chance of them giving us something. Anybody had any luck?