"THE MSEr's LUCKY 777's CAMPAIGN"

lisa78

Thanks for the idea, I wrote my emails monday night and i've already had three donations for our club from some lovely people. If I hadn't read this post I wouldn't have thought of doing it.

16011996

got 4 sucessful replies and three failures, really pleased though our brownie/guides will be estatic.

Ianna

So far I've got some skin products and a mobile phone!! Also several rejection letters

How's everyone else doing?

Mae1

I'm involved in school PTA - always interested to hear about freebies that can be used for raffles etc. Any tips on writing successful letters? Do I put in a general "any thing I can use for a raffle" statement? Do I need to state what I will be raising funds for (the school)? Which companies have been happy to donate and which have turned you down?
Help needed - my success rate in the past has not been that good!!!!!!!
Thanks

Ianna

You're in a slightly better position doing it from a school because a)they're less likely to think you're a krank and b)you can offer them free publicity. Say you'll put them in the school newsletter, have a banner up during the fair or something like that.

I asked for donations for Refuge and laid on the fact that they saved my life. I also asked companies that already had my address i.e. they knew that I was honestly a frequent customer of theirs. I think that helped.

Also I made each letter personal saying my favourite product of theirs was X and I used it for Y - just little things to make it clear it wasn't a template and I reckoned a fairly informal and friendly approach might work better.

moosetastic

nothing but rejections so far for me......... must be doing something wrong

alison6692

Wow what a fab idea! I am gonna do this tonight on my night shift! Yay

Alison x

Ianna

I do this regularly since I saw this post in 2007 (crikey time's flown!) Every few months I buy some cheap envelopes, second class stamps and sit down and write a load of letters.

My top tips:

1) I've got a letter of authority from my charity saying that I'm real and not a scammer, and I put that in with my letter and a leaflet about the charity.
2) I contact companies I've got a link to, e.g. my mobile phone provider, companies that have posted goods to my address. I say lots of nice things about the products
3) I suggest things that they can give, like teabags for donation to the local refuge
4) I handwrite my letters so it doesn't look like I'm just sending a bulk template out, and I think that might help.
5) Bear in mind for every one yes you get a lot of nos, so send a few letters out to be sure of getting something
6) I ring up the company first and check who to send the letter to - having worked in offices, I know that often the post is opened by a temp who doesn't know what to do with it and the letter gets lost

Over the past few years I've had...

1) Bath goods
2) A mobile phone
3) Moisturiser
4) Pyjamas
5) Vouchers
6) Other stuff I can't remember

...and I've raised a few hundred pounds this way. I've also got a load of stuff to sell on ebay this month and think I can raise another hundred doing that.

Thanks so much to the OP for posting this thread, it's really helped me make a difference!