I see so many good things on these posts. It's odd in my situation because when I write local companies (like I'm supposed to) such as Books-a-Million, Home Depot, McDonald's, Burger King, Circuit City, etc., I do not receive a response. In any event, I'd rather take a negative response than no response at all. At least I know that way rather than think my letter was thrown in the trash by some clerk.
Why doesn't anyone ever talk about their local Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart offers matching and bonus grants for schools and local charities. You will need to go in and talk to the grant coordinator. Not all stores will have someone specifically for this position, however, the store manager should be able to point you in the right direction. The only thing w/ WM is that you need to go talk to them during the month of February. If you can go on the 1st it's the best time. Just like other companies, we too will run out of money. WM is only given so many $$ to spend in the communtity. I would suggest strongly that each person that is reading this mark your calendars and go talk to Wal-Mart. If you already have a fundraiser set up, use the matching grant. They will match up to $1000.00. Also, if ANYONE in your school has a parent/brother/sister/uncle...etc working for Wal-Mart, those people need to be in your school volunteering!! Wal-Mart will donate $250 every 6 months to those who volunteer for 25 hours. Please have these people who you know work for Wal-Mart do a little research and get your school's PTO/A some money. $500.00 a year isn't bad money when you would be there regardless. I have already put in well over 25 hours along with my husband and I will have received $1000.00 by year's end to our PTO just for volunteering and turning it in at work. Please tell anyone that you know who works for Wal-Mart that the VAP Award really does work! If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I've been w/ WM for over 10 years...
B
April, you did state that for those businesses and I appreciate the time you took to make those posts. I can't even imagine the volume of solicitations those places get.
I would think that corporations that have a local presence would be good for soliciting. For example, Conagra makes a huge donation because we have a local plant as well as Tyson.
The one thing I can't seem to get donated is our pickles for the Pickle Walk. We have had a family donate the pickles and seal them for us but it would be nice to have pre-packaged pickles again.
I did say in my post that all of the declines that I have gotten were from the corporate HQ or main office. I understand that I will probably get a donation from Coke, Burger King, KFC, Kroger and McDonalds from the local manager, but I thought I'd give it a shot at the corporate level first. Our auction isn't until July and I can walk into and talk to all of the managers locally. Just starting at the top.
pottsvillemom hit it dead on. A lot of these places are franchises (sp?) and their "owners" dictate to who and what to give. Send letters to local business, I'll bet that they will give locally.
Just because you get a "no" on a corporate level doesn't mean you can't get something from these companies.
The one that really stood out to me was Coca-Cola. Most school districts have a contract with either Coke or Pepsi. Contact the local bottler. We get TONS of Coke product for fundraiser.
The other is Burger King and McDonalds. We always get donations from both in our town. Talk to the local manager. They have some discretion.
We also got a donation from the Clinton Library. I contacted them by phone, but we also are in the vicinity.
We also get donations from both of our local Kroger stores (sizable).
What I would like to know is what kind of donations you are getting from these mass mailings. Are the "Yes"'s worth the effort? I was just wondering.
