Tips
for a Successful
PRESENTS 4 PETS
Campaign
Presented by The NAPPS Presents 4 Pets Committee
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for registering your Presents 4 Pets campaign. By registering and logging your collected items you will assist NAPPS in reporting the national success of the Presents 4 Pets program and increase awareness of the needs of shelter and rescue pets, of NAPPS and of the pet sitting industry.
Please take advantage of all that your association offers to assist you in your campaign. On the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site you’ll find lots of tools, forms and documents to assist you.
A special thanks goes to those NAPPS members who shared their tips for this document.
NOTE: For ease of use, this document is set up in sections which correspond to the hosting of a P4P campaign. This will help you refer to the section that relates to the area of your campaign on which you are currently working.
Good luck with your campaign!
PLANNING
Plan ahead. Your campaign will be as good as the amount of planning and time and effort that you put into it. Remember, your campaign will benefit both the homeless animals in sheltersin your local community AND will help market your business. Hosting a P4P campaign is a WIN WIN proposition!
As soon as you register your campaign, begin reviewing the documents available for your use on the NAPPS Web site.
The most important document is the one entitled “How to Host a P4P Campaign”. This document explains in detail why and how to host your campaign.
The Hosting a P4P Event teleconference will walk you through the steps necessary to host an event.
At the end of the campaign, be sure to attend the P4P Campaign Wrap-Up teleconference, which will assist you in successfully concluding your campaign. It covers topics such asworking with the shelters to make your donations, reporting your tallies to NAPPS and gaining publicity for your campaign (and your business).
Make lists….of EVERYTHING! Keep an updated list of businesses that can be contacted to act as drop-off points, possible in-kind donors for printing, storage, boxes, etc., volunteers, shelters/rescue organizations that could be recipients, media sources for sending press releases, and the list goes on. The more thorough and updated your lists are, the less work involved in the long run.
Write out clear goals for your campaign. You’re more likely to hit a big total ifyou have a written goal that includes a big number. Your goals don’t have tobe value-based. It could be as simple as “collect 27 leashes” or “collect 100pounds of cat litter”.
Begin printing and posting your flyers, posters and marketing materials as early as possible.Don’t wait until it is time to accept donations. Contact businesses and individuals who may helpby hosting a donation box or making donations at least a couple of months BEFORE you needthem to assist you. This gives them time to plan and decide how to help you.
CHOOSING DONATION RECIPIENTS
Research the animal shelters and rescue groups in your area to determine which ones youwould like to be recipients of your P4P donations.
You don’t have to limit your campaign to a single recipient or even a recipientin your area. Choose one shelter and one rescue group, or one cat rescue andone dog rescue, or even more than one shelter. Look for the groups thatreally need the help.
Once you’ve chosen your potential recipients, contact the director and introduce yourself. Explain what P4P is and that you are hosting a local campaign. Ask them if they would like tobe a P4P donation recipient. If they answer yes, then discuss their specific needs. You don’twant to waste your resources collecting items that won’t be used.
It is always advisable to visit the shelter, if possible, to see in person if it meets yourstandards of care for the animals and to meet the staff in person. Also, seeing the location inperson can help you to tailor your donations to their specific needs and location.
If possible, obtain the shelter’s permission to use their name as a donation recipient in yourmarketing efforts. People always like to know where their donations are going and it encouragesthem to donate more.
Stay in contact with your chosen shelters throughout your campaign. Let them know thatdonations are coming in and encourage their staff and visitors to participate in the campaign, aswell. This will help get them excited about the campaign, and will encourage them to rememberwho you are throughout the year. Remember, the animals at these shelters often find homes –and then may need your services. Shelters that know you will refer to you.
Once you have donations coming in, discuss the delivery of items with the shelter or rescuedirector. Do they want items dropped off as they’re collected or would they prefer one bigdelivery? Make sure you schedule an actual time for delivery that will be convenient for theshelter.
DOCUMENTING YOUR CAMPAIGN
Take photos of your campaign from day one. Create a photographic story of your campaignthat you can use for marketing the following year, or for post-campaign press releases.
Save all articles about your campaign that appear in local papers. If a link to the article isavailable, post it on your Web site for your clients and potential clients to view.
Post information about your campaign on your Web site. Marketing studies show thatpeople are more kindly disposed toward businesses that are involved in charitable efforts. Theyare more likely to remember the businesses name and to utilize their services than otherbusinesses that don’t do community service work.
As donations come in, and you tally up your totals, keep your Web site updated with thisinformation. It shows that you are hosting an active community service effort and willencourage more donations.
If your campaign is mentioned on the TV or radio, document the occurrence. Thisinformation can be used to provide a record of your campaign for historical and even marketingpurposes.
Keep records of your donations: the types and amount of items donated, the campaigntotals, which shelters received the donations, thank you letters from the shelters, etc. Thisinformation will come in handy for planning and marketing your campaign next year.
Enter your donations into the NAPPS donation spreadsheet.This document will automatically tally the dollar value of your donations, so you don’t have to. It willalso help NAPPS to gain a national campaign tally. This will help NAPPS national P4Pmarketing efforts for next year’s campaign, which will also benefit you by raising the nationalprofile of this event.
MARKETING YOUR CAMPAIGN
Refer to the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site for P4P logos, flyers, postcards and pressrelease templates to help you get started with your marketing. These documents can bedownloaded and customized to include your business details and logo. They are a great way tomarket your campaign and will save you lots of work!
Send out press releases! Send them early and often! Don’t just send them to the big dailynewspapers. Often your best print resource will be a local weekly paper that covers your servicearea. Think outside the box and contact editors of local group newsletters, online newspapers,radio stations, television stations and online press release sites. There are several tools availableon the NAPPS Web site that will help you with marketing your campaign with the use of pressreleases.
There are both pre-campaign and post-campaign press releases available on the Web site. Both can be downloaded and customized to include your business name and information. Feelfree to make any changes to the text of the press releases to help them better serve your needs.
There is a great document available in the marketing section of the NAPPS Web site called‘Creating a Media List’. This document provides details on how to create a local media contactlist that you can use to market your P4P campaign – and also your business!
Contact media outlets and offer to do an interview or speak on-air about your P4P campaign. You would be surprised at how many press outlets are looking for just such a “human interest”story.
Offer to speak about your P4P campaign at local schools, churches, and business or civicorganizations. You may end up with some unexpected partners to help in your soliciting oncethey hear about what you’re doing!
Ask local pet-related businesses, animal rescues and shelters to include an article about yourcampaign in their newsletters and links to the P4P page on your Web site on their sites.
Attend pet-related events and pass out flyers.
Post flyers at your local dog parks and at other pet-related businesses with donation drop-offlocations or event details.
Don’t limit flyer distribution to just pet-related businesses. People with pets go to lots ofplaces so get flyers up on community bulletin boards at grocery stores, libraries, hair & nailsalons, recreation centers, colleges, basically any place where pet parents are likely to see them.
Provide local businesses with flyers to distribute to their employees and offer to come backand pick up any donations on a specific date.
37. Use social media to promote your campaign (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Flickr, etc.)
Create a YouTube video with information about P4P, your campaign, your recipients,requested item list, drop-off locations, and any other information you’d like to include. Link thevideo through your social media networks.
Make coupons on Google Places, Yelp, Merchant Circle, etc. to offer small discounts onyour services for donations of $XX amount. This will also improve your search engine rankingsand more traffic on your Web site means more business!
Plan to spend about 2 hours a week distributing flyers, posters, etc. The more your flyers areseen the more likely you’ll receive donations and the more recognized your business logobecomes in the community.
Have professional posters printed to hang in the storefronts of the businesses that are hostingcollection boxes. Professional printing gives your campaign a much more professional imagethan home-made posters.
Recognize the businesses that are participating in your campaign in all press releases andpublicity. They want to receive the same free marketing that you’re receiving and they want tobe recognized in the community as a company that supports a good cause.
Don’t forget your clients when you’re marketing! Make sure you include articles in yourown company newsletter and drop off flyers at their homes (leave extras for them to share withfriends and family).
Utilize all your resources. Always print on both sides of the paper. Make your flyers halfsheetand double-sided. You get the same amount of information out there while using half asmuch paper.
Start a P4P blog to highlight your campaign progress. A good free site is
SOLICITING DONATIONS
Refer to the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site for a business solicitation letter anddonation receipt form, which you can customize with your company name and logo.
ASK EVERYONE! Don’t assume that a business will say no to hosting a donation box ordonating goods. Don’t assume that a client or friend will say no to donating. IF YOU DON’TASK THEN THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS NO!
Inform your clients of your P4P involvement early and ask them to start collecting things todonate later. There are several flyers and a postcard available on the NAPPS Web site that youcan download, customize and use for this purpose.
Ask your clients to tell their friends and family about your campaign. Provide them withcopies of your fliers so they can help you spread the word.
Ask your friends and family to donate or host donation boxes in their places of business.
Offer discounted service for potential clients who make a donation through an existingclient.
Contact local pet-related businesses and ask them to donate pet care items to your campaign.Point out that on many of their close-out or overstock items they would be better off donatingthem for a tax break than selling at a loss!
Contact manufacturers of pet related items and pet food and ask for a donation. You’ll besurprises at how many of them want to donate to local grass-roots efforts, especially when itinvolves shelter pets.
Approach local civic or business organizations as well as schools and churches and ask themto partner with you by doing their own collections to benefit your campaign.
When you approach a business or group as a possible partner make sure youprovide complete information about your campaign including history, goals,recipients, etc.
Always speak to the business owner or general manager when soliciting a business to host adonation box or make a donation. Others may not have the authority to commit to the campaign.
Always leave information about your campaign with the business, so they know what thecampaign is about, can consider how to help you, and inform others of your efforts.
If you don’t already have a good working relationship with a local pet supply retailer now isa good time to form one. They can be your absolute best ally in your campaign.
Don’t assume that only pet-related businesses will host a donation box. Consider banks,grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, libraries, any business where people gather.
Use your personal contacts with local businesses. Ask your hairdresser, your dog groomer,your bank, etc. to host a donation box. This is often one of the best ways to place boxes, as thesebusinesses already know you and thus may be more willing to help.
If a business says no to a donation box ask if you can leave some flyers instead.
Schedule time at the beginning of your campaign to personally call each of your clients totell them about your campaign. Don’t assume that emails and newsletters have made your point.
Try to solicit your donation boxes from moving companies, mini-storage facilities, boxmanufacturers or big-box discount stores (used boxes are OK as long as they’re still in goodshape).
Before you set out your donation boxes decorate them so they’ll grab attention. Usewrapping paper and bows, paint, craft stamps, or come up with your own ideas. Visibility is key!
Contact local businesses that sell wrapping paper, bows, etc. They may be willing to donatethese items for you to use to decorate your boxes, especially if you offer to include their name asa donor in your marketing efforts (and/or on the box itself).
Consider making twice as many boxes as you have locations for. That way you can just takea full box and leave a new, empty one in its place.
Check your donation boxes often. The hosts don’t want their businesses cluttered withoverflowing donations so be considerate and keep the boxes emptied.
Log your donations as they come in and enter them on the P4P spreadsheet.That way you’re not frantically entering everything at the end of the campaign.
Contact mini-storage facilities, portable storage “pod” companies, or even retail spacemanagement companies and ask if they can donate space to store everything in until you candeliver to the recipients.
You should assume right now that your donations are not going to fit in your car for deliveryto the shelters, so contact companies that have big trucks to help you with transporting finaldonations to their destination. You could also hit up that mini-storage place that is generousenough to donate boxes and storage space for the use of a U-Haul.
71. Try to get your printed materials donated. Many printing companies will donate fliers andposters in exchange for their logo/business name printed on them as a major sponsor.
72. It’s not just goods that you need donated. You’ll also need some additional people power tohelp you complete your campaign. Ask your employees or I/C’s, family, friends, even a client tohelp you out with picking up donations, sorting & logging, distributing flyers, and anything elseyou need to do in your campaign.
Remember to include businesses that assist you in your marketing efforts. You can listbusiness sponsors on your Web site and/or list them on your press releases, fliers, etc.
Create sponsor levels of participation. Perhaps Silver for businesses that donate $ 50.00 orless, Gold for businesses that host a donation box and/or donate $ 50 to $ 100 and Platinum forbusinesses that host a donation box and/or donate more than $ 100 to your campaign.
You can list the businesses in the appropriate categories on your Web site. Businesses loveto see their name in print (or online) and creating levels of participation will encourage largerparticipation and donations.