Where can I get donations?

Where can I get donations for a small town Elementary school fund raising carnival after having little luck?

• I am a mother and new member of Helping Hands at Saint Ansgar Elementary school,in Saint Ansgar Iowa.Helping Hands is a parent/teacher run organization that funds and supports many programs at our school.Helping Hands organizes an annual fund raising carnival.We do not have our students sell magazines or other products throughout the year,so this is our sole fund raiser.The funds raised from this event provides our K thru 5th grade students and teachers with playground equipment,classroom projects,school T-shirts,a sock hop,shopping with santa and much more.Everything that the schools ever shrinking budget doesn't cover.During the carnival we have raffles of items that have been donated.Last years big raffle items were two bikes that Helping Hands bought.So this year I joined and volunteered to get donations for the carnival.I thought I'd make this the BEST carnival yet,I'd go everywhere!"Who wouldn't want to help a small town elementary school raise money for the needs of the students and teachers"Right??Wrong.With Saint Ansgar being such a small town of 1,100 and only a handful of businesses my options for getting donations locally was very limited.So I went to the "big" businesses,.only to be told we aren't a "big enough" organization for them to donate to.I was just trying to get items we could raffle off,or that we could use as prizes that the kids could get with their tickets.Yet no one was willing to donate to us.After hitting about 50 businesses we ended up with,a few $5.00 off any purchase gift certificates,a few $10.00 gift cards and one $25.00 gift card all to restaurants.So I came home and e-mailed more.Only to be turned down again and again.Nintendo did say we have "an extremely worthwhile cause"But they had to decline our request for a donation,but they sincerely wish us the very best".Would donating one Wii or something to an elementary school fund raiser hurt them in anyway?As it is we still have to fix all the games,and build new ones of the games that are beyond fixing.I just don't know what else to do at this point.Living in a small town like ours is a blessing in so many ways,yet when it comes to getting donations we are considered just"too small".I thought I was going to make this years carnival Awesome.Now I truly feel like I am letting all these amazing kids down.I guess I hadn't realized how the world has changed.I'm at a dead end and am just so frustrated!I don't know what else to do.If anyone can help me out I would Truly Appreciated It!Sincerely Kathleen Curry-mother of 4 (Saints) two Saint Ansgar Elementary School students and two Saint Ansgar High School students.

• Answer:

  Good gosh, you ARE in the middle of nowhere! I hope you'll read this after all my effort (best answer gets 10 points) First, it takes some salesmanship to get donations worth raising any real funds! It's quite easy to say no to e-mailed requests. Face to face with a good sales pitch is more likely to get you better results. As for your local businesses THEY should be prime candidates for the biggest donations, tough though the economy may be. I'd suspect your nearest large department stores, home improvement stores. etc. are far away. You need a dedicated, long day or so to hit them all up - as many as you can in a day. Provide a few pics, displaying some of the good deeds these funds have provided for. Alternate ideas: Cash donations should be used to buy HIGHLY prized items that can be raffled off so as to profit from said cash. Merchandise donations from membership / interested parties. These items can be placed in auction, sold in garage sale style, or raffled. See if a local DJ or band would donate time for a dance. Charge admission & provide food and snacks for sale.