Learning how to get businesses interested in contributing!

Hi everyone,

This is my second post and I feel that even since my last post a week or two ago I am starting to learn so much more about just what it takes to be successful in certain elements of the charity industry.

Whilst working at Arthritis WA, in particular helping to organise the event, ‘Jessie’s Fun Run,’ I have had the challenge of trying to convince businesses to donate a spot prize or even a donation to help with the overall costs of the event.

When first starting out trying to contact local businesses I began typing business names that I knew of within Perth into Google and erratically calling and explaining what the event was for and asking if they would be interested in contributing in any way.

After an hour or so of this aimless phone calling I realised that I had to be a lot more focused and organised in my communicating efforts. I then began placing businesses into categories for the prizes that we needed (two junior team prizes, two senior team prizes, and individual spot prizes). Once doing so I came to find that it was much easier to identify businesses by what they could actually donate, ensuring it was relevant to the prizes needed.

Whilst using this method of directly calling businesses and asking to speak to the manager I also realised that majority of the time managers were not in the office or workplace and therefore many messages were being left (and not returned). Therefore I decided to swap to a new method. I wrote out a detailed (yet concise) email addressed to business managers giving information about the inspiration of the run, and also details on the event itself. Explaining that to show appreciation for their donations Arthritis WA would include their name in their magazine, as well as mention them on the day (giving them greater publicity).

After forming a list of almost one hundred businesses in the Perth area; including restaurants, hair dressers, kid’s fun centres, butchers, local attractions and local gyms and leisure centres I sent through email the letter that I had wrote. I find that it is working a great deal better with managers having more time to read over the information and think before responding.

Already there have been many positive replies with businesses responding to the emails with offers to help out in some way. The businesses that are yet to reply will be followed up with a phone call within the next week or two to ensure that they have received the email and to see if they too are interested.
I have found throughout this task that by remaining organised, documenting all contact with businesses in a progress table, along with all their contact details I have given myself a better chance to obtain the interest of a business. This interest will then hopefully translate into a contribution to the event!

Kendall