Best Method of Reaching Out to Companies

[GeeTwo]

Like Smith Barney used to say - raise money the old-fashioned way - earn it. Nearly every grant and donation we've received was in response to an individual (not mass-marketed) appeal. One of our mentors got us over $9,000 (yes, I know) in a single grant request to Ingersoll Rand Foundation for our trailer and its outfitting. We found a great formula this year sort of by accident. We won at Bayou, and had to raise $15k quickly to make the trip to CMP (the school board covered our enty fee; this was just bus, hotel, and meals). The school authorized 25 students to go to St. Louis, and varsity numbered 24. We offered the "wild card" seat to the J.V. member who raised the most money. We had two who each raisied over $1,000, mostly from driving to businesses (together) and speaking to managers. We had one varsity member who could not go, so both of those J.V. members got the trip. We have more money right now than we did last fall before ordering parts for this season - for the first time, our fund raising will be to support outreach and a second regional, not survival. The take aways are:

• Do individual appeals. Sure, use the internet, but the message should come from somebody the donor knows, or has right in front of them. Anonymous appeals are such a long shot that the increase in audience size doesn't even begin to cover the difference, unless you're going to launch a Nigerian-scale e-mail blitz.
• Lead with the message of how much good you're doing. If you've won a competition recently, that's good. Even better is a story about how you've changed kids' lives. Just like mentors, sponsors like to know that they are changing the world.
• Provide real incentive to student members (not a backpack or candy bar, but a field trip!)
• We skipped this step in our fund-raising blitz, but also appeal to companies for mentors and in-kind products and services. Finding a good match there can be a win-win for both the company and the team, and may be something that a "company store" can slip in even if they can't provide money. Services don't need to be technical - if they can provide help organizing your business practices, that's a major score for both of you!