| Collection Strategies: Working with Civic Groups
By Conrad Melancon
Working with civic groups
in your local community is
a great way to help them raise
funds to support their causes.
Additionally, it can make a
tremendous impact on the environment
by keeping harmful materials
out of the waste stream.
It is estimated that more than
130 million cell phones will
be replaced in the U.S. during
the next 12 months. Your challenge…should
you choose to accept it, is
to recover as many of these
as you possible can, keep them
from being disposed of improperly,
and generate revenue for both
yourself and those you work
with.
Millions of Americans belong
to various civic organizations
which promote everything from
healthy living, feeding the
hungry, to local service projects.
No matter what their focus,
the key thing to remember is
that in some way they are helping
to reach out and provide needed
services to their local community.
This is where you come in.
Its relatively easy to approach
civic groups - they exist to
serve the community, they all
need money to continue operations
and many of them are environmentally
conscious. By helping these
groups collect old cell phones
you can assist them in taking
care of both these needs.
Getting started with a cell
phone collection program is
easy. Wireless
Fundraiser provides
groups with marketing tools,
supplies and pays for shipping
for cell phones collected.
Additionally, every phone sent
in has some value – at
least $.50. Some of the phones
are worth more than $200.
The first step is to pick out
a group to work with. I recommend
that you find one which has
a large enough membership so
that the collection program
has a greater chance to make
a significant impact in the
community. Also, working with
a larger group is more likely
to draw media attention.
Now that you have a civic group
to work with, and a place to
sell the phones, what is the
next step?
The best way to raise money
for civic group by collecting
old cell phones is to look
at how the civic group 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 civic group
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. Additionally,
all of these groups have some
type of regular meeting. Once
a group has agreed to collect
old cell phones, find a champion
who will work within the group
and promote the program on
a regular basis.
Additionally, make sure you
or a representative from the
group contacts all the local
print, radio and television
stations so that they are aware
of your efforts. In many cases
by including the media as part
of a campaign to promote the
program you can double or triple
the number of phones you collect.
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.
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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