Benefit Your Community by Hosting a School Supply Drive

As parents, students and teachers begin counting the days (whether in excitement or trepidation) until the start of the school year one thing is on everyone's mind: "How are we going to afford all these school supplies?"

School funding has been on the chopping block for decades, causing entire courses to be cut from school curriculum. Physical Education, Art, Music, Home Economics and Woodworking courses are all in danger of being lost by schools indefinitely. Even the undisputed necessities of Math, English, History and Economics are being pared down by school committees and planners due to a lack of funds and supplies.

What this means for community groups, local businesses and service providers is a great opportunity to be visible to customers and clients. Hosting a school supply drive is one of the easiest ways to gain positive exposure with schools, teachers, parents and students; and keep your group in the limelight all winter long.

Step 1: Decide Who You Are Collecting School Supplies For

The first thing that you have to decide when you are planning to host a drive to collect school supplies is who you are going to send them to when you're done. There really isn't a right answer as to who your school supply bounty should be given to, and it may be great to get employees involved by asking them for suggestions. As you are trying to decide what direction your school supply drive should take, here are some things to consider:

- Do you want to help support basic learning, or is there a specific class or school that marries well with your organization? If you are an accounting firm you may want to collect school supplies like rulers, calculators and graph paper; if you work in a gym you may want to collect balls and jump ropes; if you own a gallery you may want to collect school supplies that help the creative arts.

- Is there a school within walking distance of your business? Typically people shop within just a few miles of where they live and work and chances are they live near the school their children go to. If you have a school within 1-5 miles of you, consider contacting the school administrative office and see if the school has any particular school supplies that they need help acquiring.

- Do your employees need help? Chances are that if you employ primarily minimum wage workers, those with families may need assistance collecting school supplies for their children. This will depend on the type of relationship you have with your employees of course; before you decide to collect school supplies for your employees families it is in your best interest to poll them to see if they as a group are interested in the concept and that you don't have a group that is so proud that you end up not having any takers.

Step 2: Decide How You Are Going to Collect

Once you know who you are collecting school supplies for, it's time for you to sort out how the collection process is going to go. Collecting school supplies can be as simple as having a barrel at the front of your store with a sign that reads, "Donate School Supplies Here", or as complicated as offering customers a discount on purchases in trade for certain types of donations (for example, 5% off for a ream of paper or $15% off for a graphing calculator). Some great examples of ways to collect school supplies are:

- Take two empty 50 gallon barrels or drums and cover them with wrapping paper or packing paper to cover any imperfections. Put signs on the barrels that read, "Donate School Supplies Here" on them, along with a letter from your organization to your customers explaining who the drive is for, the types of supplies they need and the date that you will be delivering the collected school supplies. Place one near the entrance of your store, and one near the register where they are highly visible.

- Have a "Giving Tree". Similar to what many gift-giving charities do at Christmas, set up a tree in a visible place in your store. On cards the size of tree ornaments, write two to three school supply items needed for a student. An example might be: 1 Pair Safety Scissors, 1 Ream 3-Hole Punch Paper, 1 Box 24 Count Crayons. This is a great way to go if you want to collect school supplies for individual students instead of an entire classroom or department.

- Make a list of what your school needs, and have a percentage of customer transactions fund the purchase of school supplies. This is an easy way to run a school supply drive without having to keep track of donations. Instead, inform customers that a percentage (5%-10% is generally acceptable) of their purchase will go to school supplies. Encourage your customers to buy more by making a chart that shows what your goal is, and how much has been collected so far.

Step 3: Advertise Your School Supply Drive

Before you get going on collecting school supplies, take the time to do some basic advertising to let your customers and community know what you're doing. This is a great add-on to any marketing campaign that you already have running, or is a fantastic way to spur on a new advertising campaign altogether. If you don't normally advertise your organization, here are some easy ways to get the word out:

- Print out flyers to hand out to customers and hang on your store windows. Flyers should be easy to read and outline how your school supply drive will work, who the supplies will go to and the starting and end dates of the school supply drive. A low-cost way to make your flyers eye-catching is to do black and white prints on brightly colored paper. You will end up saving 50%-80% over the cost of doing a color print on white paper!

- If you have a Facebook or Twitter page for your organization, use the power of Social Networking to tell fans about your school supply drive. Doing it this way is basically free aside from your time, and you can even post a note for all of your fans to read listing the supplies needed.

- Use your Mailing / E-mail lists to contact customers and tell them about the school supply drive. Sending a mailer to all of your customers within a 3 to 5 mile radius will help prevent much of the waste of sending mail that is deemed as "junk", and help customers to know that you are dedicated to making sure their local students have the school supplies they need.

Step 4: Start Collecting

Once it's time to start collecting school supplies, make sure that everyone on your staff is comfortable with the way the school supply drive will work. Immediately address any questions or concerns your employees have with the school supply drive so that customers receive a uniform experience when they drop off school supplies or make a purchase. A few things to cover with your employees to ensure a successful school supply drive are:

- Make sure everyone is clear on where school supplies are to be dropped off by customers. Whether in collection barrels or at the register, it should be made clear to staff that any item donated for the school supply drive is not to be used in the store or taken home. At the end of the day, empty the collection barrel or bin into a box or crate that can be kept in a secure location until the school supplies are delivered to students or schools.

- Have employees include basic information about the school supply drive in their introduction when answering the phone, and add the same information to the signature line of e-mails and faxes. An example of including it in a phone introduction would be, "Thank you for calling Steve's Market, School Supply drop-off for Woodrow Elementary. This is Denise speaking; how may I help you?"

- Say "Thank You" to every customer who donates or makes a purchase that benefits the school supply drive. Regardless of whether they donate one No. 2 pencil or a dozen notebooks, saying thank you to customers will let them know that their participation is appreciated and will help them to feel good about coming back again.

By following this guide on how to host a school supply drive, you will be set up for a successful event. Not only will you be participating with your community in a positive way, but you will be helping to set up local students for their own success both in and out of the classroom.