| Collection
Strategies: Helping Your Favorite Charity
By Conrad Melancon
According to the American
Association of Fundraising
Council, in 2004 Americans
gave more that $248 Billion
to various charities. The numbers
have not been released yet
for 2005, but you can be certain
that the number is even higher.
Individuals account for more
than 75% of all charitable
giving.
There are several ways that
by donating your cell phone
you can help raise much needed
funds for the charity (or charities)
of your choice.
See if the charity you want
to support has a cell phone
donation program in place.
Many already participate in
such a program. You can find
a list containing hundreds
of different charities you
can donate your old phone to
on www.wirelessfundraiser.com.
Participating charities range
in size from the local groups
such as animal shelters, scouting
groups or private schools all
the way up to groups that address
needs on a global scale, such
as Special Olympics International.
.
If you want to donate funds
to a charity not on the list,
you can sell your phone on www.cellforcash.com and
then donate the proceeds to
your favorite charity, or you
can talk to the charity to
see if they would be interested
in starting a cell phone fundraiser.
If so, help them to sign up
as a listed charity on Wireless
Fundraiser.
Getting
started with a cell phone
collection program is easy.
Wireless Fundraiser provides
you with marketing tools, supplies
and pays for shipping. Additionally,
every phone you send in has
some value – at least
$.50. Some of the phones are
worth as much as $200.
Now that you have a charity
to work with, and a place to
sell the phones, what is the
next step?
The best
way to raise money for charity
by collecting old cell phones
is to look at how the charity
you are working with currently
raises money from its support
base. Do they send out direct
mail? Run fundraising events?
Hold car washes? Whatever
the business model is, first
try to capitalize on that – how
can you incorporate asking
people for their old cell phones
into an existing program. An
easy place to initially start
is by placing text into whatever
materials they are using to
market current events which
asks supporters to bring their
old cell phones with them.
For example,
if the charity you work with
sends out emails to their
supporters promoting an event
they will be holding – ask
them to include information
about how supporters can bring
a cell phone to the event.
Include an incentive for this – door
prizes are a great way to increase
participation.
Remember, use your imagination
when promoting cell phone recycling
to charities, see how you can
incorporate a program into
their existing efforts, and
continually touch base with
them to provide fresh ideas
and get feedback about how
they are marketing the program.
Success depends on you and
the effort you are willing
to put into it.
Please
write and let me know if
you need more ideas – I
have hundreds!
Next
month – Collection
Strategies: Working with Civic
groups.
Conrad
Melancon is the President of RMS
Communications Group, Inc. He
joined the company in November
of 2004 as the Director of
Business Development and assumed
his current position in December
of last year.
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