Some of the books I asked authors on their own websites or at their contact address but I also asked a cuple agents and a couple publishers and some of all of these were succesful but I did gain the most response from authors directly. Also remember to look up who are some local authors of your region they are more than happy most of the time.
Also I just heard from Strider bikes and we are getting a donation fom them. Also one thing I did was go to google or whatever search engine you choose and type in donation request and there will be a massive amount of companies that show up yes you will have to look at the sites and is time consuming but this alone got my school lots of donations becouse he only lists companies with clear donatuion policies .
Found a hugh success with a lottery tree donated for our auction! Made using a styrofoam tree with pins holding $57 in lottery tickets and $43 in cash!
Easy to make- go to local craft store and buy a large styrofoam tree (ours was made using the one shaped like a christmas tree.
Purchase however many instant scratch off lottery tickets. Pin them to the tree using regular straight pins. Fill remaining area with money pinned on the tree any denomination!
The person that made ours spent $100. They donated it to us. We grossed over $400 for the tree in raffle tickets!
Google money tree or lottery tree. Can be made many different ways!
We were able to get donations from 3 local backs. 2 just gave us money and 1 gave us a visa gift card. 1 bank is were we have the PTSO checking account so we just called and asked. 1 bank is where I do my banking and I know one of the loan officers. The other bank, one of the teachers knew a bank executive so she just called and asked. The bank were I was able to get a donation, I was told that they budget for their donations the quarter before. But he said he could get me a "little something last minute." So just ask. It is my first year as co-president so I am learning a lot. I know that you need to start asking for donations before school even starts. So far what we have got for our fall festival is, $35 - walmart, $40 from a local garden center, $25 from one bank, $50 from 2 other banks, $200 from a local company that makes explosives for the US military, kroger - $25, plus we just asked parents to send in donations from $1 - $5.
And a side note about walmart. The local manager told that in order to get a big ticket item to auction or raffle off that they had a paper that we could fill out and send into the home office. He said would be the easiest way. He told me he doesnt have a large monthly donation budget.
For those of you in Michigan.. We received a VIP tour and Wine Tasting at the Chantel Chateau Winery. this is the link on their website for the donation request. Took about 2 weeks to receive it, after request submitted.
I have been having great luck contacting local artisans on etsy.com If you are not familiar with the site, click on buy, then on location and you can put in your area. I have found many are very excited to help because it gets there name out there for the cost of whatever it takes them to make their products.
I've also had luck with: Keurig, Your True Nature, Cuttingedgestencils.com, CrazyDogTshirts.com, and cardsdirect.com
This list has been a wealth of information. Thank you to all who have contributed.
