Publicity Hound Leah Ingram writes:
“Wouldn’t it be great if there was a website that acted as a clearinghouse of information for anyone who wanted to donate anything of value to any group that would gladly accept their donations? Thus my new website/philanthropic venture WheretoDonate.org was born.
“If I sent a press release to my local newspapers, they’ll pick it up for sure. But my goal is to get this website to grow on a national level, so that I have resources for residents of all 50 states. What would be the best way to go about getting the word out on a bigger scale? And since I’ll need good causes to find me so I can gather their information, how do I entice them to fill out the form which is available for download on the site?
“Finally, I was considering sending out with my release a digital picture of me, surrounded by all my unable-to-donate goods, just to make the point that if one person (me!) has this much stuff sitting around that could possibly benefit a good cause, imagine how many other folks are like me, too?
“Can your Hounds give me ideas on how to get the word out?”
It sounds like Leah’s site could be a fit with, or perhaps even redundancy of, craigslist.com. This international site offers classified categories for just about anything, with the whole idea of bringing needs and solutions together. (Joan — you may have heard Craig himself speak at the Media Relations Conference in San Francisco last April). Here’s what craigslist says about itself: Q: What is craigslist? A: Local community classifieds and forums – a place to find jobs, housing, goods & services, social activities, a girlfriend or boyfriend, advice, community information, and just about anything else — all for free, and in a relatively non-commercial environment.
Also note to people that these places also offer a tax receipt. This helps encourage many when you let them know it can be used as a tax right off.
Here is a list of a few places to check into:
The Red Cross: The largest organization that has locations all across the United States (if you can contact them with your efforts this would be the main contact to use)
Abuse Shelters: These women, men and children come with nothing but the shirts on their backs in most cases and start over. The shelters have storage facilities and most can also offer pick-up (they take most anything)
Goodwill Stores: They accept almost any items, things that can be resold for a small fee (most offer pick-up)
Salvation Arm: Accepts clothing, furnishings.
Local Churches: Look up chapters for each state and the variety of religions. Many have community yard sales.
Salvage Yards (also known as Recycling Centers): They have contacts that will pick up most things made of metal such as old appliances and automobiles.
Food Pantry (God’s Food Pantry): Will accept used shelves, bags, storage containers, used freezers, refrigerators …
Habitat for Humanity (building homes for low-income families): Accepts any leftover building supplies, anything from curtains, wallpaper, paint, furnishings…
There are already similar websites to yours on the Internet. To get your website to grow on a national level, you will have to network with like-minded groups that are also active on a national level. I listed some resources for you below.
It looks like you only have resources for two states currently listed on your site, so you’ll probably want to start building other resources now (before you try to get more media attention). You can either start with the northeast region and concentrate on that, or you can go for all fifty states. If you want people on a national level to recognize your website, you will need more than New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Many United Ways have “Gifts In Kind” programs for you to approach as partners. If you search for “united way gifts in kind” you will come up with a list of local programs you can contact (and send your form to).
Send a request to the Freecycle network
http://www.freecycle.org/
and when you’ve added more states to your list, try to get listed on Earth911.org (they do the advertising for you).
I work at a solid waste management agency, and there are similar governmental agencies all over the country. They are always looking for information like yours for referrals. After you build up your website’s resources, start a reciprocal link campaign targeting these agencies.
Leah, eBay would be the perfect “piggy-back” partner for your Web site. A hyperlink on the eBay site would offer a convenient one-stop shop for aficionados unable to sell their wares the eBay way. eBay’s management team may even work with you as part of the company’s community relations/philanthropic initiative.
Hi, I think that for one, you are going way too big in terms of donations overall. WHO do you want to serve? For example, do you want to serve teachers, immigrants arriving in the country, battered women?….you need to have a niche so that you can then ask for items and get people emotionally involved in GIVING…..this is what the press wants…..
For example, we know that nationally the budgets are being cut for all sorts of programs, and you are going to create a solution! Here is your hook….think of the techers’s one…those with classroom w/o enough supplies and Jane who is overrun by a room full of craft items she can’t use, etc…You could get the national associations for teachers behind you, etc…..if you want to serve them…Good luck!
Consider tapping into regional networks of non-profit organizations. In Virginia there is Connect Richmond (www.connectrichmond.org) that provides weekly news updates for non-profits and allows for groups to post their needs, questions and share resources. They are in the process of spreading their services across the state over the next few years.
There also non-profits that serve the non-profit sector with training, information and legal updates. In southeast Virginia it is called Volunteer Hampton Roads. These groups often operate out of chambers of commerce, local universities or local United Way organizations.
I would conduct a websearch of chambers of commerce in the 50 largest metropolitan areas and ask each for the regional non-profit support activity in their area. That should net a good list of contacts.