Gift baskets. Just the idea of a gift basket excites me!
Gift baskets are one of the best fundraising mechanisms that I have ever done. Seriously. They can be simple or you can go all out and really put some work into them- whatever the occasion calls for. Either way, you’re going to do well. At our elementary school, I ran the Santa Breakfast for several years and although people loved to see Santa Claus, the chances of winning one of our many Gift Baskets was a huge draw. In fact, the years following my departure, the new Santa Breakfast committee retired them from their event . People were very disappointed, however, they pulled the baskets into the Fun Fair in the spring. Fun Fair is now the huge event for the elementary school and the baskets really put it over the top.
The wonderful thing about these baskets is that they can stand alone, and still do very well. Take for instance, Matthew’s swim team sold raffles for gift baskets at a swim invite. There was an incredible amount of excitement over them. Matthew was lucky enough to win the really nice Speedo swim bag which included t-shirts, markers (for swim events), chocolate bars, swim caps and many other small – BUT EXCITING extras. All for the price of $1. Just so happened, that that dollar was the only dollar I had in my purse at the time. It’s very rare, though, that people will just buy one ticket anyway. They love the 6 tickets for $5. It just sounds more appealing. The thought of getting that one extra for free. One more chance they don’t have to pay for that just might be the winning ticket.
As I said before, the raffle baskets can be pretty simple but the more work you put into each one, the more you will get in return. When we did the ones for the Santa Breakfast, each grade was assigned a basket. We asked for donations specific to that basket. I will say that the younger classes’ baskets were always more plentiful. Younger parents are always more “gung ho” to help out and do their bit. The older the kids got, the harder it was to get donations from parents. That is when you have a person or two to pass out donation letters to businesses requesting items. I am not going to say that all baskets are filled by donations. In the past, I have had to use PTC funds to fill the gaps but we made that little bit of money back easily. So when you budget, make sure you leave yourself some money for these “just in case” purchases.
When it comes to getting donations from local businesses, make sure you are specific about what you are needing. Make sure your donation letter tells them a little about the event, HOW you will let people know about their donations and what types of items you are looking for. If they offer you a gift card EXCELLENT! I always loved having gift cards in each basket, no matter what the theme. For example, if we have a Movie Night basket. Class parents may donate some movies, snackies and boxes of candy. If this is the case, then you will need to fill in items for that basket. Items like movie theatre tickets or gift cards and a restaurant gift card make it a lot more appealing. If you can get these items from donation letters that makes it a huge score.
Thank yous are one of the most important. I stated in the last paragraph when writing a donation letter, let them know how their business will be recognized for their contributions. I like signs. Businesses that make donations for the Santa Breakfast go on Santa’s “Nice” list which is displayed for all to see. A few weeks ago, AMC kindly donated an enormous bag of popcorn to us for concessions that were going to benefit Matthew’s swim team. I made signs thanking AMC for their contribution and posted the around the concession stand. I also left AMC a copy of the signs so they could see what we were doing to recognize them. Last but not least, Thank You notes. After your event, make sure you WRITE OUT Thank You notes and deliver them to each of your donating businesses. In your notes, tell them how the event went. You might include a picture of how they were recognized and then thank them for their support.
As you can see, it’s a lot of work. But Rome wasn’t built in a day either. Just remember to thank everyone for their contributions and they will be more apt to donate again the next year. The end result will not disappoint!!
Speak Soon!
take care,
~kat
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