Lori,
That's tough that you did not get a great response for donations. I imagine you have already thought of this, but given that you are down to the wire I would suggest you start calling local places that you have perhaps already mailed letters to or emailed and have not heard back from. We had a lot of places with no response. Contacted them at least two months ago and did not hear back. I called some of them and got a few donations right there and then on the spot. They were like "sure, we'd love to donate an item!". They never mentioned that we had previously contacted them. They may have been busy and tossed the letter aside or filed an email ect and never looked at it again. Again, these are local places that this happened with and were smaller businesses. Also, hopefully you can be creative and come up with ideas that don't require an actual donation. Like some of the things that have been mentioned here. The front row seats to school shows or graduation ect...Maybe give a quick call to a local radio or television station and ask if they can donate a private tour? And of course there is that last minute shout out and plea to parents and teachers to donate an item!
Wishing you the best!
Disney leaves a bit of leeway. Last year our event was end of April, this year it is 4/21. If they had been strict on the year, we were about a week shy, so it's probably once per calendar year. Most of the other "once in a year" companies do the same and we haven't been turned down for that reason yet this year.
Laura
Last edit: 12 years 4 months ago by rm9116. Reason: added last sentence
*stupid question alert*: What happens when a company (like Disney) states that you can only request a donation once per year, and no one from your PTA can recall when the last request was made. Will they just reject the request if it is inside of a year, or?
Also, does anyone know if it's one year from the date of the request, or one year from the date of the event? TIA
The last few posts makes me say wheww...that's what is happening to me. First year fundraiser for baskets for Carnival Fundraiser. Silent Auction done last year...did not turn out well. like to do a raffle.....I have raised about $6000 in donations so far and it is not until mid-april. I have sent letters and pounded the pavement to every place I could think of.
I guess i should not expect a "thanks" or "great job" from everyone. Some of these people have been members for years and I get the usual slam as soon as I bring up an idea. I had also contacted Pepsi (we have a distribution ctr right down the street and I received 33 cases of product.) for anyone out there interested. Also try your local Cadbury Schwepps (dr. pepper) and Coke (still cannot get anyone to return a call there, go figure!)
The last few posts makes me say wheww...that's what is happening to me. First year fundraiser for baskets for Carnival Fundraiser. Silent Auction done last year...did not turn out well. like to do a raffle.....I have raised about $6000 in donations so far and it is not until mid-april. I have sent letters and pounded the pavement to every place I could think of.
I guess i should not expect a "thanks" or "great job" from everyone. Some of these people have been members for years and I get the usual slam as soon as I bring up an idea. I had also contacted Pepsi (we have a distribution ctr right down the street and I received 33 cases of product.) for anyone out there interested. Also try your local Cadbury Schwepps (dr. pepper) and Coke (still cannot get anyone to return a call there, go figure!)
