Is anyone else bombarded by daily requests for donations??? We don't know what to do??? It's hard to say no, but the requests just never stop...this church, that church, kids sports teams, numerous walk-a-thons, health cost realted benefits, the schools PTO, and on and on!!!! We started by giving a $5 gift certificate to anyone who asked, but they are starting to really add up...and no one buys more that the $5...$4.99, and they want the penny back! We live in a small town, so everyone looks to the small business owners to carry the fundraising burden. We want to be generous, but the hand-outs are now starting to cut into profits. People assume small business owners are rich...ha! Any suggestions???

Lynn,

We have the same problem. The solution that I use is I tell them "I am not able to make donations at this time, but let me take your name, your org's name and number, and I will get back with you as soon as I am able to make a donation". This will deter them from calling back in the near future.

Hope this helps.

All my best,
Jim Rusk

Sometimes those requests are hourly.

We look to our Mission Statement to decide whether or not the request falls into our realm of being able to help.

If it is simply a sports team raising money to go to a tournament, then, so sorry... it's not in our mission.

If it is raising money for the local food bank, then it's a yes, because it is in our mission.

What we did take to doing is limiting what we are offering. We don't give out gift certificates, because just recently we had one presented twice for claim.

We will only respond to a charitable request that sends a detailed explanation of who they are and what they are raising funds for on letterhead that includes their charity number and IF we can't get a charitable receipt, we claim those donations as marketing costs.

We will only grant the request IF the request suits our mission statement. If it doesn't, it's a no.

We will only grant the request IF they come and pick up the gift in kind from our shop. If not, the answer is no.

Giving donations is one thing... getting exposure because of it is quite another. Make sure that any donation you can afford to do is based on what you believe in and that you will get marketing results because of it and your donations, when you can't afford them, will go a lot further.

HTH.

T

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!