If our event is March 2013, when should I send out letters? I know many have yearly limits, meaning you have a better chance beginning of the year, but then again they often need 90 days notice for donations. What should I do?

Our auction is over and we had success with several of the things I found on this post.

Items received from:
Red Box (arrived late)
Dick's Sporting Goods - $20
Stampin' Up - $300 value
Highlights - Subscription
Cabot Cheese - $25 Value
Portrait Innovations - $100 Value
Green Mountain Coffee - $25 Value
4 Disney Hopper Passes
Flynn & Ohara - $100

We also got a package from Cancun vacations, but we were skeptical to use it. My PTO chair wanted to get more info. We didn't include it in the auction.

I also applied on line and got 2 round trip tickets on JetBlue.
Fatheads said no.
We decided against the Hot Air Balloon trip thing.
Total Wine & More - Wine Tasting for 20 - apply on line if there is a store near you
Best Buy - Didn't hear back from local manager
Staples - We didn't get approved
HHGregg - No response to the online submission (gave opportunity to purchase at cost)

Overall we had 90 items and attendance was about 150. Tickets were $25 each and included Casino Night Gaming, food and beer/wine (donated!). Final results aren't in, but we raised about $8000 after expenses. More than last year mostly due to the increased effort we put on the silent auction.

Hi everyone-- just wanted to thank you all for some great suggestions! I live in Canada so a lot of the companies I've been approaching are different but your suggestions have given me inspiration to look for similar donations here! One idea that I have had success that I wanted to share was to approach any organizations that your school has had a relationship with-- like places you've gone for field trips, any lunch or food vendors, school clothing suppliers, anyone that runs a workshop or after-school program in your school etc. Most have been very willing to assist with a donation since we have already 'done business' with them. Happy hunting everyone!

We've had a lot of luck this year with our areas minor league teams and ticket donations. The major league sports teams have mostly donated memorabilia. The minor league teams have really come through on the tickets though.
17 days til our event and counting. Whoo Hoo!

Thank you Cheryl and Marie,
I have decided to start the bidding at $100 each for the three vacations we were offered. Good luck to you all with your auctions!

A recommendation for everyone that I haven't read yet on this page. Ask your school for a lot of school gear (teeshirts, sweatshirts, shorts, hats, etc). Every school has these items stock piled (trust me) and it is an easy thing for them to write off as a simple expense with no loss to the school. I also contacted the maker of our teams gear and they provided hundreds of dollars worth of clothing that our teams wear that I hope parents will go nuts over.

Good luck again.

Re Elite Resorts

Our event is Friday and we are also starting the bidding low - $100 for each of the four packages we got. We too clearly spelled out the additional inclusion expense. I would rather make sure they sell, so we started really low to get people engaged with the bidding. We also pre-advertised the opportunity so people had a chance to go online and research the resorts before they bid on Friday.