In addition to having a board member (or members) act as the "clearinghouse" to coordinate the solicitation efforts, your group may find it helpful to determine which committee/activities/functions should receive priority based on the potential impact on your organization's revenue.

For example, if the school carnival revenue accounts for 50% of the organization's annual income in comparison to a bookfair that brings in 15% of the income, the carnival committee would receive first priority on approaching businesses of their choice for the services/donations needed.

Also, the length of time a particular committee has to pull together their activity/function will figure in to WHEN they can begin soliciting businesses. If the carnival is in May but the bookfair is in October, the bookfair committee's "priority level" moves up a few notches as that committee has less time to pull together their activity.

Naturally, there should be a spirit of cooperation amongst all the committees so that no one "powerful" committee (because of the income they bring in) is allowed to run roughshod over the others in the process.

We have one board member who has oversight responsibility for all the donations. So, you're supposed to go to that person in advance of asking for anything, so that we don't get into a situation where two people approach the same company for the same thing. That person is also in charge of then compiling a list of all donations that we submit to the school at the end of the year, because they have some sort of report they need to do on community support of the school.

It's not perfect, but it has helped since we put that rule in place.

Not sure what to tell you about donations handed directly to a parent. While it's preferred that everything go to the school, many donations are made because a parent is sitting there in someone's face. So, it's not unusual for something like coupons to just be handed over then and there. Maybe if you say they need to be turned in to school by the parent right away so that the parent group can send out a thank you letter, that will help. If someone knows you are going to send out a thank you letter for the 5 coupons received, you're more likely to get all 5 turned in.

Does anyone have a policy in place as a guide for members when they solicit on behalf of your organization? In the past we have had a parent and a board member solicit from the same business within the same two week period?!?

We currently have a very energetic parent that has solicited for our group over the past year. Some questions have been raised recently as she has shown up with some of the "free" coupons that she said were leftover and still at her home. Is it built into your policy for solicitation of businesses that ALL donations must be sent to the school? (This is common sense to me, but obviously not.)

If anyone can share their group's policy on how they handle solicitations, it would be greatly appreciated.