25 March 08
You want me to donate a bag?
It doesn’t happen very often, but I occasionally get an email from someone asking me to donate a bag for their silent auction/raffle. As long as the organization has a mission that I’m supportive of, I’m happy to help out. Its why I started my business after all. However, just because I make bags, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to custom-make a bag for your organization, especially for an organization with a mission that I am not in line with. I’ve got some conflicted feelings about gun ownership (having lived in a very rural area, it seemed necessary). But I got a request today for a woman’s gun rights organization having a fashion-show fundraiser and they wondered if I would use some of my “sexy, sassy” fabric to make a fashionable bag for toting a rifle. Now, I’m all for people making their every-day bag needs attractive, and I’m not going to shame someone for owning a gun, but I’m also not going to make a custom bag to donate to a “weapons rights” organization. (Do the weapons really have rights? Pardon my semantical snark.) So I sent a polite decline thanking them for thinking of me be but apologizing for not being able to participate. I’ve sent this email before and have mostly not gotten a response, or I’ve gotten a “thank you for letting us know” email. Since I’ve heard from several people that donation requests are out of bounds for some business owners, I decided to type out some things to think about in case you’re an employee or volunteer for a nonprofit and you’re seeking donations.
1) State early if your request letter when you need to have the item in your hands. Just stating when the event is, isn’t enough. And please keep your request letter short. If you can’t give us all the necessary details in a page, give us the most important ones and then direct us to your website for the rest.
2) If you have a personal tie to the business, state it. “A friend of mine Sue Sueington suggested I contact you.” or “I bought a bag from you and loved it. Would you be willing to help us.”
3) Instead of just giving a link to your organization, give a short synopsis of what the organization does: “We empower women in developing countries by providing education, micro-loans, legal assistance, and infrastructure support of their ideas and plans.” A vague, “we’re a women’s rights organization” is okay, but a concise description is better.
4) If your fundraiser is a barbecue for motorcycle owners, or a black tie event for CEO’s, state that. If I’m donating a bag, I want to make sure the item will fit in with your audience so you get the highest price possible.
5) Feel free to send me to links online, but only send Word attachments if I request them. I rarely open a Word document from someone I don’t know very well. There are a lot of viruses that will affect all of my files if you send me one. (This hasn’t happened from someone requesting a donation, but it has from other people.)
6) Having information about your organization online, or at least sending me a link to a newspaper or magazine article will make it easy if I want to write a post about how great your event is to try to send people your way, too.
7) Make up a simple donation form, collect the information, and list some of this on a sheet near the item, or tuck it in with the raffle packet. This donation form should at least include:
Biz name, Biz email, Biz website, Owner’s name, mailing address, value of donated item, name of donated item, description of donated item, brief description of company/person making the donation. Ask the donor to send you business cards to place near the donation. I’ve had several people pick up my business card at a fundraiser and say “I didn’t win the bag you donated to Rape Victims Advocates, but I’d love to order one from you.” Because of my gratitude for them taking the extra time to support me, I donate a portion of the proceeds from all these sales to the nonprofit.
8) Send a thank you note. I know this is really, really difficult for small nonprofits. And I honestly don’t think less of organizations that aren’t able to do this. But for tax purposes, it really is easier for the donor to get a letter stating “Thank you for your donation of a fuzzy pillow valued at $44. This donation helped us to raise $5,000 that will help us support the health of caterpillars in the greater Chicago area.” Places I get this letter from make me feel warm and fuzzy. But, more importantly, getting these letters means I’m more likely to put them on my calendar to donate an item for the following year. “Rachel, last year I donated a bag for your “Raising Cane” fundraiser. If you’ll be doing that again this year, let me know when you need a donation.” Since nonprofits tend to have a lot of turnover, having people come to you to offer donations makes your job easier.
Hopefully these few tips and ideas will make their way into the hands of non-profit organizations. And if you work for a non-profit that supports women’s rights, poverty solutions, reproductive health care, or other lefty aims and you want a donation, let me know. I’ll do my best to work something out with you.
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