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Food Donations For Charity
Posted By: saunderd* on 9/28/2004 11:41 PM (CST)	500 Points
The Christian Service Center (CSC) is an all volunteer ecumenical organization located in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Center provides free food and other help for needy families in our community. A major portion of the food is donated by local churches; however, frequent shortages occur for many food items. Food needs are continually increasing, so the Center is exploring the expansion of food sources. Gulf Shores is a beach town on the Gulf of Mexico with a large real estate rental market. During the summer months, families come from all over the country to vacation on the beach. During the winter, a large number of families from northern states spend the winter here. The condos and apartments in the rental market have full kitchen facilities, so most families purchase food items and prepare meals in the rental units. When vacation is over and as families prepare to return home, the CSC would like to get them to drop off or otherwise donate unopened canned goods and other food items that they didn’t use, rather than take it back home. What is the best way to approach this? Should a flyer be posted in each rental unit? Should information be given to vacationers by the real estate offices as vacationers register in? What is the best way to word such a flyer or notice? What graphics and lay-out should we use? In short, how should we market our need? As stated before, the CSC has no paid staff and none of the volunteers are trained in marketing. Any help or ideas in promotional material development would be greatly appreciated. For more information on the Christian Service Center, go to < http://www.cscgs.com >.

Posted by: Pepper Blue	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 12:20 AM (CST)
Hi Saunderd, Your own ideas are very good. I would not worry too much about graphics and layout, just design flyer and make it simple and say what you want to say. People don't like to waste so you don't need to get into it too much The biggest thing here is to make it easy on the renter. Provide each rental unit a big plainly marked box that they fold together, put all their food products in, and set outside the door in a spot visible from the street when they checkout. If they are in an out-of-the-way location, provide a number they can call. Perishables they can just pitch. Don't forget to include a receipt they can fill out (honor system) for tax purposes. Have a volunteer drive around each day mid-afternoon and check for the boxes. This is the way that St. Vincent de Paul, Big Brothers and Sisters, and a host of others successfully do it. I hope that helps.

Posted by: Peter (henna gaijin)	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 12:38 AM (CST)
You ask about signs, but in this case I think location is more important. Make the drop off points as convenient as possible for them. Pepper Blue's idea of placing boxes at the rental units is definitely a good idea. You can also try to place boxes at locations where they may go by on their way out. See if you can get permission to put them at gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, etc. You will need signs and announcements about the boxes. Talk about both the benefit of the food to those in need (and feel free to play up on current event emergencies, such as Florida's 4 hurricanes). Also talk up the benefit to them (not having to truck the food all the way home).

Posted by: SRyan ;]	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 12:40 AM (CST)
Tim's probably right that you don't need fancy brochures or flyers... BUT you should approach a local marketing firm or even a graphic designer and get them to donate their services! Same thing for a print shop who can produce them. You might be surprised what businesses are willing to do, especially if they can put a small logo on the back of the brochure where CSC puts a "thanks to our sponsors" message. Good luck!

Posted by: telemoxie	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 12:58 AM (CST)
In addition to targeting vacationers - have you considered targeting cleaning services? Each cleaning person works on multiple rooms - and some cleaning companies employ many cleaners - you could give some sort of recognition to the cleaning company - and the cleaning company could leave a bag or instructions or something for the vacationers.

Posted by: Michele	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 1:36 AM (CST)
There are two prongs to this: the first is is to create awareness so that they want to donate the food and the second is to make it as easy as possible for visitors to donate the food. Simplifying the donation process has been well covered above, but here are some other ideas about creating awareness. See if you can link up with the local radio station and get some free air time / incorporation into chat shows. The same is true for local newspapers, magazines, outdoor media owners, websites. There is always spare inventory, and donations to charity are tax deductible - so these media owners can right these costs off their balance sheets. You could also do 'personalized' thank you notes for donors - here you can have a photo and some words of thanks from a recipient. Making it real will go a long way to adding emotional impact.

Posted by: rubukas	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 5:28 AM (CST)
.. when talking about design, theres several things to focus on ( this ofcoz, you can forward to any volunteer that perhaps CAN do the graphics). - the fist that pops to my mind, me being somewhat of a cynic when it comes to design, ad me liking to shock a little... im thinking of : - who gets the food? - the hungry and homeless - what are their needs? - EVERYTHING - what is the alternative-cost for those that will\not donate unused canned food\ dried food? so .. as i said.. the fist that popped to mind, is a part-closeup of a mid-aged female, who clearly are malnutricious... against the background of an empty run-down street ... text caption being something that " The can you're not using, can save my life " .... .. .. just my 2 cents, but from a marketers point of view, we need to get peoples emotions sstirred.. engage their sympathy.. Avoid creating too much feeling of guilt.. one needs only to stir the sympathy, and peoples will to give, to se, to know, to care..... there are a lot of good answers up here... read throuh them all, and adapt them the best way.. i am sure you wil come to a good solution... best of luck, my friend. -vidar-

Posted by: parul_joshi*	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 6:48 AM (CST)
Make a small flier with following message and attach it on the Soft/common/Notice board where the vacationers stay. Clip it at visible place Make it very personal and direct. Eg. Dear All, Christian Service Center (CSC) welcomes you and wishes you a very Happy Stay at ___________ place. We are very grateful to all the generous vacationers who have always donated unused remaining food to our organization and which has enabled us to help _____ no of people. For your comfort we have provided a Food donation box wherein you can keep Food, our representative will collect the same. We along with the other beneficiary pray for peace and happiness for you and your family. Thanking you in advance for you kind contribution Have a good vacation This will keep present vacationer haunting / reminding that even he/she is suppose to donate before he/she leaves. You can also make it look as a general practice that all vacationers follow in this units, this will make the person feel donating as his duty which he is suppose to do before ending the journey at this place. All the Best Parul

Posted by: jason.koulouras*	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 8:02 AM (CST)
There are some great suggestions here - you may also want to consider approaching the management company(ies) that clean the units post occupancy to see if they are open to having the cleaning teams collect the items and your group would pick them up for distribution Good Luck

Posted by: Stokefire*	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 9:17 AM (CST)
A few ideas/comments: * Put your flyer/ad-magnet on the fridge. Anyone that brings food in will be looking there at some point. * While the box/bag idea proposed by Pepper Blue is excellent, perhaps you could make it even easier on the renter by designating a donation shelf in a cabinet and one in the fridge. That way they can just put stuff there to begin with and take it out if they need it. I see it as removing barriers to donation. If they put something on the shelf they may see it as already donated, meaning that by packing it into a suitcase for the trip home is not only adding extra work for themselves, but also taking something away from the needy. Ain't psychology grand? This would of course require the cooperation of either the cleaning companies or the rental companies. * Make sure you're getting your message across at certain key contact points with the renter. I would think you would minimally want to be getting your message across at - Key Pick-up, Welcome Pack Lit., Night before checkout, Key drop off (have a drop-off container for items they 'accidentally' didn't leave in the house). That's it. Sounds like you're getting some great advice! Best of luck Tate

Posted by: jillm	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 2:44 PM (CST)
What about approaching local grocery stores and speciality foods stores to promote your charity? They could have donation boxes (which is win-win, as they would get more sales, and you would get more donations) in their stores, as well as flyers with information about your organization? This way, you would be top-of mind as both locals and vacationers shop for food. - Jill

Posted by: OlivierT*	Accepted Answer
9/29/2004 3:21 PM (CST)
On top of all the excellent marketing advices above, permission-based e-marketing is a great solution for you (and certainly the most efficient according to various studies). I see your website is not very visited. There are easy way to drive visitors to your site (i.e. put your website URL on your fliers, and of course do some search engine optimization) I'll be happy to make a donation of the online e-marketing software our company has just finished to design and up to 10,000 free emails per year. If you are interested, email me or give me a call (see my profile). I will be happy to set up everything for you and give you free advices. What's great with our solution is that you don't have to be a marketer or a Web designer. You just need common sense and immagination...

Posted by: Jim Deveau/Catalyst*	Accepted Answer
9/30/2004 12:04 AM (CST)
Hello: I think Tim's idea is excellent, but let me offer one build. My guess is that you do not have the staff to cover hundreds of rental units on chekout days. Perhaps you can get permission from your realtors (which most likely number in the 20's) and have 20 or so volunteers outside the realtor each check-out day (usually a Saturday) with a table and donation receipts. Use all the excellent ideas from Tim and others above - but in your note simply ask the donor to brign the donation box to the realtor along with the keys for checkout. I hope this helps.

Posted by: saunderd*	Author Response
9/30/2004 2:47 PM (CST)
Thank you so much for your responses to our question! We at the CSC cetainly appreciate all of your suggestions and comments. We will start right away working on the pointers you have given us for expanding our food donation sources. Again, thank you for your help; and if you later have additional comments or thoughts, please share them with us. Our goal is to make a difference in our community, and you have certainly contributed to this effort.

Posted by: jose04	Accepted Answer
10/1/2004 2:01 PM (CST)
Hello Saunderd Since you have a fair list of advice above, i'm sending you a rough draft effort of the actual letter you could send to each rental house in the said area. Give them a time frame to act on. My contribution is essentially an elaboration of Pepper's ideas. You could add your fillers to it, depending on your specific needs...here goes Dear____ We provide food for the needy in this neighborhood THere are _______(mention number) of people who are fed by us everyday in our community. Are you a vacationer? If so, we seek your help and participation in this noble cause One way you can help the hungry, is to donate the extra food, which you do not plan to take back home. Nothing is too small for this cause. We are leaving a carton box--labelled --'CSC-Charity' by your door. Please fill the box with your food donations and leave it outside your door. We will collect it on Saturday (or any other apt day/time) mornings between 9.00 and 10.00 Remember, your contribution will make somebody smile. We thank you in advance for your generosity. (name and signature) You could have innovative stickers (maybe lablelled'CSC Food chain') with the Smile face in Yellow and black and large enough to be noted from a distance. It can be POP material in the local stores and shops, where the renters shop around and also used on the seeable face of the collection boxes. The sticker + the above letter format can be made easily accessible in these contact points. If you are looking for serious design help, you may need a professional's help. Otherwise plain text should be fine. Let me wish you all success! Hope these thoughts help!!

Posted by: thinkmor	Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 1:02 PM (CST)
Hi Saunderd Great suggestions from everyone above. I used to arrange collection for a similar cause and co-ordinated volunteers to collect any food or items that would be potentially useful. This is what we did: Visited food markets as they were closing down and pick up the slightly blemished fruits and food from the market. Ask local cafes, supermarkets, bakers and local shops to donate their perishable goods that were up for the day - we got food from Pret-a-porter, M&S and Subway. (You can reward them by publishing their logo on your updated website as OliverT has offer for e.g - we didn't have websites then) From our 6-10 volunteers, offered volunteers double serving of lunch/dinner for the volunteer that collected the most food or items. To increase our catchment area, we used 2-4 volunteers on bicycles with a box on the back with a simple sign - Food Donations Needed for Children and they rode each to a different area on a rotation weekend. We called larger chain stores and talked directly to store managers to pick up perishable foods when they were up - we arranged to call them every week on a certain day and sent 2 volunteers. We asked volunteers to knock on doors on a weekend to collect clothes - we printed a simple badge from the charity (got this donated by a printshop) and got it laminated so they could wear their badge for identification. This is what I mostly remember. Hope it helps you. Zahid Adil

Posted by: jillm	Member Response
10/5/2004 8:58 PM (CST)
What an interesting idea: "From our 6-10 volunteers, offered volunteers double serving of lunch/dinner for the volunteer that collected the most food or items." Especially if the people that you are serving are also benefiting from the food program... I like that one!

Posted by: thinkmor	Member Response
10/6/2004 5:32 AM (CST)
Jillc Our volunteers were not the normal volunteers that everyone associates with the term. These were young guys that had come from the balkans as refugees and inorder for them to be useful we asked them whether they would mind collecting for the charity. Without an incentive, they brought back very little but when we said the best collector would get a double helping of food, as the food portions they were given were small anyway, they brought back x4 as much. Hope this clarifies your comment. Zahid Adil

Posted by: jillm	Member Response
10/7/2004 2:24 PM (CST)
It does clarify things, and I still think that it's a great idea. Thanks Zahid! :-)

Posted by: Val (Moderator)*	Moderator Response
10/13/2004 8:46 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question, since its more than 10 days old. We do this to make sure members' contributions are rewarded in a timely manner and to improve the visibility of newer questions. Thanks, so much, for participating! Val (Moderator)

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