Yes, mass mailings do work and with very little effort. Just a mail merge and stamp.
We sent ours out 3 weeks ago and have gotten 44 positive responses, donations totaling $2900.
As stated previously, most of us are done with our directories and fall fundraisers and are working toward our auctions.
The list posted needs to be dynamic and allow input from various sources. I don't have a clue how it would be managed on this kind of scale.
I understand your hesitancy with putting something like this on the website but truthfully, we would all benefit from it.
I have used information from the lists and found that several will send a donation. The lists are interesting in that it gives you a wide variety of resources to choose from. In soliciting donations, it really just depends on the timing and how many requests that companies have received whether they can donate or not. I have found book publishers to be very generous. I have gotten negative responses from some companies that have sent donations to other schools. It would be nice to have a central spot for posting addresses for companies who have and have not send donations. It is also a good idea to check the company's website for any specific requirements that you have to meet to qualify for a donation (i.e. some companies only donate to schools in a certain area; some require an additional form to be completed to accompany your request letter). At our school's auction last March, I sent out over 400 letters (most from information that I received on this site) and we received over 100 donations for the auction. We made over $16,000.00 at the auction. For our next auction, I have sent out so far over 500 letters and have already received 63 autographed pictures and 139 books.
i thought Tim was collecting info to do a general list of Bussiness and Celebs that donate and I keep looking for it cause I would like to share our info too.
Tim-
Many of us are now entrenched in soliciting for our auctions. I am frustrated by all these 'me too' e-mail requests for donator lists. Is there a way for us to post our respective lists to a central spot on this website?
I am happy to share mine, as I have done several times on various threads of this website. I live in the northeast and would like to see other contacts from different areas of the country.
I am sure other PTO'ers would benefit as well.
