I am sad for all those people who are now unemployed. I guess it makes the rest of us feel lucky that our family memebrs are working and we are surviving this horrible economy. I just wanted to mention that our school used Jeannine Fundraisers. They are wonderful to deal with and with the closing of GIFTCO sent out an email to assure us that they had a few items from them in their catalog and were working on replacing them as closely as possible. I thought this was wonderful as we didn't have to worry about contacting them for teh information. Just wanted to share what I thought was great customer service!
I just received an email from one of our companies about this issue (we are currently looking at 3 for next fall). I emailed one of the other reps and have yet to hear back from her. I do know that they use GIFTCO for the MAJORITY of their items, so I already know that her answer will not be a good one.
This leaves me reeling a bit for what to do in the fall for our major fundraiser.
I just want to clarify a few points... If your a school that is in the process of a fundraising effort... it is possible that you have chosen to work with a company who may NOT be able to provide a majority of the products you have seen in their brochure/catalog. Be smart, do your homework, protect yourself, and your school...ask your fundraising company how may giftco items do they have in their catalog? Ask them how the intend to deliver products which aren't available????
Hello everyone! I want to address a sad event that has taken place in the fundraising industry this week. A major fundraising products supplier called GIFTCO closed their doors as of March 18th 2009. This company provided products to a majority of the fundraising companies across the county. Giftco has been the leading supplier in fundraising for 40 years. Hundreds of families are effected and our hearts go out to all those involved, including the friends we have known at Giftco for all these years
What this means for you and your organization is that when you are choosing a fundraising company, it will be in your absolute best interest to ask them how effected they will be by the closing of this major company. Some fundraising companies rely heavily on GIFTCO products while others source their own items through a 3rd party manufacturer and will be minimally impacted by this terrible event. As a school, you may have already committed to using a fundraising company who gets items from GIFTCO. You and your supporters will be at risk for not receiving these products. Be careful of companies who tell you they can reproduce the giftco product!
Some companies are more effected then others...please contact your fundraising company or fundraising representative to find out more.
