To the person who asked. For our event, volunteers go for free and faculty go for 50% off. We have some parentswho make donations to pay for faculty tickets. Since our volunteers go free, some pay for a faculty member to attend. They put names of faculty members in a "hat" to choose who goes free.
We got a yes from Panera Bread, Dick's Sporting Goods, Stampin Up, Green Mountain Coffee, Intrepid Air and Space Museum, NY Sky Ride, Medieval Times, Statue Cruises and Adventure Aquarium. A local pet shop donated some items and we will put that with a gift card from a local pet groomer and from a dog walker. Local bakeries and ice creams stores have been generous too. We have a couple of local jewelry stores that said they will donate an item. Not sure what yet.
We are relatively newbies at this. This will be our second annual fun fair and the second time we've done a raffle. We are in the Chicago area
The Chicago White Sox have donated 4 ticket vouchers.
A local bar donated a gift certificate, t-shirts, and a couple of mugs.
Bounce Town donated a party package
A local bowling alley donated a glow bowl party
Various local movie theaters have donated gift certificates
Stampin Up donated a $300 gift basket
Portrait Innovations donated a $100 gift certificate
The Fox Valley Park District has stated they will donate tickets to the waterparks.
We have put in requests with all the major sports teams, museums and amusement parks in the area. We're keeping our fingers crossed.
So far our only no was the Brookfield Zoo.
I've gotten sooo many ideas on this list so keep up the posts everyone. This is awesome.
WOW - Let's get this thread back on track and revisit the guidelines
I've noticed that a lot of the listings for auction/raffle donations are quite old. Both the economy and company policies change over time, so I am starting a new Thread. I have found it tedious to go through pages and pages of a thread to get what we all really want - Names and contact info of national corporate donors people have been successful with. So, I ask the following:
PLEASE:
1) Only list sources you have had success with.
2) If you have questions for a poster, please contact them directly - not through this thread. This thread is supposed to be a Listing.
3) Use the following format for your listing
COMPANY NAME
-- Mailing Address -or- URL for online form
-- How long it took you to get a response
-- What did the company donate?
-- Your comments
Ticket Liquidators has changed procedures for donations. They are now sending a link to a survey form that is used under their new formal review process. I think you'll still need to email them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so that they can send you the link.
Laura
Wow. Reading all the posts in the last few days makes me appreciate the assistance I've received this year (I am unofficial head of procurement - have had to do this non-stop for 14 months due to catastrophic events at our local level, with a shifting group of 2 - 3 parents to help) and so sad at the same time. Before I take a break for a few months, I need to make sure the other people with whom I've worked know how much their support and efforts have meant to me personally as well as to the school.
My heart really does go out to you because I know how frustrating lack of organization can be and adding to that the feeling of being disregarded. I do still want to challenge and encourage you to look for the positive and focus on the fact that you're doing this for the kids and the school as a whole . . . not just for the Chairperson. I did want to let you know that for our auction the Chairperson (parent volunteer) and the school rep that oversees things are not involved very much in the donations department since they have a multitude of other matters to attend to. Perhaps what needs to be done is to clarify the structure of your overall auction committee. It sounds to me like you need someone other than the Chairperson to act as the "Donations Coordinator" and then that person should have a committee of volunteers to help support them. For our event we have maybe 15 -20 people in charge of different areas and we basically have monthly meetings to update our Chair/school rep. Of course the committee members can consult the school rep/Chair on matters they need counsel or input on from "higher up the chain" but we're basically expected to be fairly independent. I know this year has been a very rough road for you (and other volunteers) and I think there is room to respectfully address some of the issues you have addressed but I still encourage you to not walk away in frustration . . . give it another year to see if improvements can be made. Perhaps before you commit to serving again you could politely state some things you feel must change before you commit. Try to focus on some positive recommendations you have versus simply calling out all the mishaps of this year.
