We got Premier Cancun Vacation to donate (not sure what yet, but they got back to me in 1 day). We also have a local Hilton donating a weekend stay and that we just mailed away to the GM. We are working on getaways to Napa Valley, Orlando, and Key West, but that has been pretty tough.
I don't see frustration - and asking for help - as sour grapes. Some things you just have to ignore or we would all have given up years ago.
Our letter quickly states - who we are(school name), what we are doing(silent auction), and what we want(in bold print). If they are only going to read a piece of it, it is going to be the bold part. We sum it up with a thank you and a "for your records, our tax id is ...."
If you want to include more, such as what you plan to do with the funds, photos, stories - do so after the thank you. That way they can read it but don't have to.
We don't always get yes's, but we hover around 60%. it helps that we have been doing this for YEARS. It is hard at first but as time goes by you know who to ask, who not to ask, and can throw in a handful of new try's each time.
re: bidding for good- this is my first year running our auction and I am using the past chair's donation request info. I dont really have sour grapes, just looking on how to improve next years odds since it seems we are getting mostly no's from BFG request. SInce so many have gotten postive responses, it seems to be that there is something critical missing in our request causing us to get passed over.
Thank you for you help and I will gladly accept take any advise on getting yes's
My last post posted weird....but you said that you received a "yes" from your local NFL team via the Bidding For Good website. Did you have to pay a minimum amount or was it strictly them donating. How did you go about it? Please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
