I'm with Jim, I would write these funds off as a loss, but still pursue collection. You can try contacting these people personally, but do it in a polite and very business-like manner. You don't want them feeling harrassed or you might end up with a whole other problem on your hands.
Have you checked with legal counsel as to what your options might be in collecting the funds? Perhaps seeking restitution through small claims court? If you find that you have a way to pursue payment through the legal system, you could send a letter stating that your group has and is willing to use that option. If you choose to go this route there will be some fees and you need to keep records of your communications and details of the original transaction.
Whatever you decide, good luck. It's ashame that there are so many crummy people out there who would steal from children.
I would chalk it up to lessons learned, but not give up on collecting the funds.
It sounds like you tried the normal routes already, to no avail. Did no one send in their funds when you sent the letters or called?
I guess you could try a "not nice" letter, but face to face is almost the only way that it is going to work. I'm sure you'll never make this mistake again, but $1900 is a lot to just forget about. Maybe you could split up the families with a few other officers/committee members and then go and dung-dong them and explain that the committee is trying to "catch up" from last year's fundraising. I'm sure some families will be unhappy that a personal visit was made, but then again they should have paid up when they first received the product, received the phone call or received the "nice letter".
We were stupid (first time) and did a post collect on our fall gift wrap last year. we thought if we didn't ask for money up front, we would get more sales.
we got slightly more sales....but the merchandise went home with the kids and left us $1900 of uncollected funds.
yes this is a new year, but I have the list of these parents and due to the privacy act, we certainly can't publish their names on any announcement or newsletters to Pay Up!
We tried calling, nice letters requesting the funds, etc... to no avail.
since this is a new year, should be just chalk it up as a lesson learned or should we still continue to try to collect these funds?
