FD-specific Fundraising companies

[gregdi]

A friend of mine mentioned that there are fundraising companies out there that create and operate an entire campaign for the FD. They do the printing, mailing, etc..

I've searched high and low and cannot find any of these companies online.

Has anyone used a firm for this purpose they can recommend?

Our existing fundraising efforts are not effective in 2008. We have to do something different to raise the bar. We've been sending the same photocopied letter out to residents twice a year, every year, forever. It doesn't work, yet the old timers don't want to change because they don't know anything different (sound familiar). I have raised millions of dollars for other entities, but am relatively new at my dept, so I don't want to rock the boat too much.

I would like to present another option at our next meeting.

TIA

[BLSboy]

A friend of mine mentioned that there are fundraising companies out there that create and operate an entire campaign for the FD. They do the printing, mailing, etc..

I've searched high and low and cannot find any of these companies online.

Has anyone used a firm for this purpose they can recommend?

Our existing fundraising efforts are not effective in 2008. We have to do something different to raise the bar. We've been sending the same photocopied letter out to residents twice a year, every year, forever. It doesn't work, yet the old timers don't want to change because they don't know anything different (sound familiar). I have raised millions of dollars for other entities, but am relatively new at my dept, so I don't want to rock the boat too much.

I would like to present another option at our next meeting.

TIA

At my former dept, we did it just once a year, and are thinking about moving it to when there are more citizens in the city.

Boot drives, pancake breakfasts, public education events all give you the chance to fundraise. Put out a boot with donations on it, sell a FD Supporter T-Shirt with that on the back, and your dept patch on the front.

[cozmosis]

A friend of mine mentioned that there are fundraising companies out there that create and operate an entire campaign for the FD. They do the printing, mailing, etc.

...And from what I hear, there are organizations out there that do it all -- including taking most of the loot. If you find a company to do your fund-raising for you, make sure your citizens are still contributing the bulk of their money to you and not to the fund-raisers.

[firefighter3419]

If you are looking to do a fund drive and your dept wants someone to put it together PM me if thats what your looking for. I could probably work it out pretty cheap for you. Just to make you aware, it is very easy to do yourself and once you do it once it's even easier to do every year after that.

[JTFIRE80]

http://www.choicemarketing.net/

They do some, but not all for us. Take a look in almost any fire service magazine and there is bound to be an advertisement of some sort.

Hope this helps!

[RFDACM02]

Carefully review the companies take vs. the FD take in these deals. Also, if their going to do telephone solicitations be very wary. Our Union and many local agencies had major issues with questionable tele-marketing practices. In fact one company is running a multi-year deal with the Maine State Federation of Firefighters (not a Union group) and the split is 85/15! Yes, the marketers get 85%, it's F***ing unconscionable! But it's easy. Oh, BTW they've had tons of complaints about misrepresentation and questionable phone tactics. Best advice do it yourselves so you can keep total control and keep 100%.

[quint1officer]

I use OCS out of Sykesville MD for our mailings. Once a year, we pick the design, have them insert our pics, change wording as needed etc. Ive put out mailings that we could never reproduce on our own (the old way of printing off 1000's, stuffing envelopes, addressing etc). They charge about $1 and change per address sent. All checks come directly to us, we deposit and return the postcards for records updates. Im very happy with their product.

[NickSBFD6]

We have used Municipal Marketing for 5 or 6 years now. I'm not sure what their take is, from my memory it's about 10-15%. Even with them taking their share, we nearly doubled our returns versus when we used to prepare the mailings ourselves. They come to thefirehouse, help you design the flyer. print, stuff mail and mail reminders. One thing we like is that the donations are mailed to us, not them. They take their fee upfront.

I didn't realize the Maine federation got such a raw deal! I do know citizens in our town and surrounding towns were none too happy about the phone tactics used by the telemarketers. This left the local depar had to answer a lot of questions about their campaign.

-Nick

[gregdi]

Thanks guys. I will look into those last two entities. We are not looking for fund drive activities, but companies that do the legwork on mail solicitations like you mentioned.