Sorry, I haven't read the post in so long! I was busy with the auction. My stats are: I sent 266 letters between the Monday after Thanksgiving and the Friday before MLK holiday. I did receive my no's but they were because of geographical area. The only one who gave me a flat no with no reason was the William J. Clinton Presidential Library! Weird??? You usually aim for about a 10% response rate of what you sent out. Ours was more around 50%. I do not have the personal time to follow up with calls, visits, etc. My philosophy was not to expect anything and to be ecstatic when I did receive things. I even received two things after the auction was over! So, I'll just stick those back. A lot of research went into the companies for foundations and community relations departments but that's were I started. WORD OF ADVICE: Don't share your damn lists or respond to these "me too" or "send me the list" post. You work to hard on your own and people should do their own legwork! I feel better now. [img]smile.gif[/img]
kmamom, I have been trying to get donations for my kids' Catholic high school. Nationally, it is had been difficult because many companies do not want to contribute to religious organizations. That bothers me, because we do not discriminate and anyone can attend our school. But, I guess companies have to draw the line somewhere, so fine. Locally, I wouldn't say that it works for or against us. We happen to have a lot of schools, organizations, etc that solicit businesses so I don't think it matters either way.
GAPTADAD, I was wondering if you'd mind answering some questions about your national donations. $1400 is impressive, let alone what you have now! How far in advance of your event did you send your letters? Did you receive a lot of no's or did companies just not respond? (I'm speaking in corporate requests, not local) We've gotten a bunch of no's, but I am still waiting to hear from many. It is has been a little over a month and I am not sure whether the companies are just not responding or if I should hold out hope. Thanks!
Chris
Wow! Thanks for the great comments since my last post. I'm really glad someone out there agrees with me and, yes, we conduct two other events during the year - an overall general health fair (February) and a more specific asthma awareness health fair (May) that draws community support - but only from the doctors. Doctors were also supportive of a program to sponsor kids to shop at the Santa Shop to ensure every kid has that chance. Oh! Believe me, I've tried to get local support for reading, music, arts, and others but NOTHING. Our one local newspaper even will not run anything from our school. However, it runs EVERYTHING from the schools on the OTHER end of the income scale - if you get my drift. So, I'm happy just doing everything in my power for our wee, little school. As long as I know deep down inside that other school's organizations are drumming up fradulent membership numbers and the only reason they have such a large network of business support is because they're pulling strings in high places, then I'm content because I'm honest about membership and honest about the support received from the community.
GAPTADAD, you're too much! I agree with you on this one.
I've found a lot depends on whether or not your business people live in town. Our business owners don't for the most part, and as a result don't really care if our PTOs/PTAs are successful. It doesn't touch them personally so why should they care? That our kids and families support their businesses means nothing to them, because they can be pretty sure they won't lose any customers. We have a couple of VERY successful restaurants that the kids and families STILL support despite them being absolute cheap pr!cks! And I'm sorry--there's just no other word for it!
Meanwhile the next town over has a large number of the business owners living in town, and as a result they seems to be very generous with their donations--even to us in a different town!
Overall I've been seeing companies, big or small, giving less and less. I had one explain to me that if you're a public school they tend to have less sympathy for you unless the money is earmarked for something specific. They generally feel the tax-dollars support our schools, so we should be grateful for that. Your explanations that the tax-dollars don't support the PTO doesn't generally move them. I've seen the Catholic Schools in our area get a much better response to their requests since they're much more dependent on donations for anything at all.
I have applied for the grat before and received $500 as well. I kind of forgot about it and it has been a few years so thank you for the reminder I will go there today.
Hey Gaptadad Congrats on your donations, I do have to say that you still sound a little bit upset about your local donations, like you are upset with your town. I mean since you didnt get local donations have you ever considered tying your community into your school in other ways. like a guest reader week, or a hobby night, have a health fair with local organizations come in. There are so many ways to get community support and I hope that the auction experinece doesn't prevent you from having that school-community tie. Good luck with your auction!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
