I honestly haven't been very active in my son's school for a while. Last year, I was swamped with co-op preschool responsibilities that I didn't volunteer any time at my son's school at all. In prior years, I dabbled in the fundraiser auction by some data entry at home. I worked a year on the school newsletter. I volunteered at their drop off program in the afternoon. I gave my donation and helped out when asked nicely. With these volunteer tasks, I did things that were utilizing my skills as a writer or just as someone who doesn't want to be a fixture at school.
This year, I decided to take on something out of my comfort zone-- soliciting donations for the upcoming school auction. Asking strangers for donations is really intimidating and scary. You have to put up your shield in case you get rejected. Of course, I couldn't do it face to face. I decided to go about emailing potential donors instead. Cold calling is the old term when organizations used to use the telephone to reach out. Luckily I didn't have to do that. In this technologically advanced society, some businesses already had a separate web form just to deal with the vast amounts of donation solicitations they receive.
What I've learned from this experience: If you don't shoot, you don't score! Although it takes a lot of thought and work to think of potential donors then research the contact information. I was surprised when I did get a donation. It was fully satisfying to get acknowledged and a donation pledge from each business. The overall experience opened my eyes to what is out there in terms of school fundraising.
Our sales pitch wasn't accepted by everyone. Here 's the strangest one. A travel agent replied to my email instructing me to call him that day. It sounded like promising lead so I returned his call. After I thanked him for his reply, he proceeded to justify why he wouldn't donate to our school and lecture me why I shouldn't be asking small businesses since it's money out of their pocket. Since all contributions are tax deductible, I was shocked to hear his reasoning but politely thanked him for his time. I'm surprised with myself that I was able to nicely answer this person even when I didn't agree with his attitude. Maybe my quick reaction is due to maturity or experience dealing with a lot of different people at work. My 20 year old self would not be as composed! Aside from that one person, everyone else politely declined and were very cordial.
As it gets closer to the holidays, I decided not to continue soliciting for donations. I used most Fridays (my day off) to research and email for the past month. It was time consuming because it was interesting. The other reason I decided not to continue is I was the sole person reaching out to new businesses. Hopefully someone else with volunteer in January to further this effort. I leave the task knowing I was able to bring in over $1000 in donations. A big achievement for me!!!
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