Go with what you Know

Hello everyone! It's been a long, long time. So it goes on deployment! I'm glad to get back to the computer to write, and I hope that I will be able to do it more regularly now.

My title today might be better if it read: Go with WHO you know. I speak of raising corporate donations when fundraising. In a trying economy like our current one, I think this is even more true. Just like I'd buy a Pepsi over a brand of cola I didn't know, I'm much more likely to talk to a company I'm comfortable with than one I don't know.

There are several reasons for this, but one primary reason above the others. Namely, I have a higher chance for success if I contact a company that I know or have some sort of personal tie to than if I contact a company that I don't.

For example, during our first year of raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, I asked my hometown bank, GNB, to make a donation. I also asked a few other companies around our home in San Diego. And you guessed it...the hometown bank made the donation!

This year, I asked my dad's parent company, via my uncle, to make a donation. AZZ Corporation came through with a $1000 donation to our CFF Great Strides venture!

We are so thankful for the donations of those organizations that know us best, or are best known by us. And our greatest recommendation is to start with who you know, and go on from there!

So how have you gone about your corporate donations? Do you have any advice for the rest of us? Please leave your thoughts!