As a charitable agency, I’ll Take That works closely with other charitable organizations such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill to collect much-needed clothes for those in need. One of the current projects of I’ll Take That is a Prom Dress and Tuxedo collection drive which seeks to collect a reasonable amount of hand-me-down donations involving party clothes for young men and women from various companies and individuals. These clothes are then shared with the young women and men of lower-income families and communities. However, it is not easy to come up with the sponsorship for these types of projects. Through this paper, I plan to present my suggestions regarding how we can source donations for the aforementioned cause.
To begin with, we will have to come up with a creatively worded letter of request for submission to various clothing companies. The letter must appeal to their charitable or Good Samaritan side to convince them that donating their overrun or quality control failed clothing to our organization would be a very neighborly thing to do. Perhaps even suggesting that they work with us in developing a clothing voucher system which can be used by our member communities at a partner thrift store. Through this network, we can ensure that all the clothes donated to us by the companies will be allowed properly so that each girl or boy who needs a dress,gown, tuxedo, or coat, will be sure to receive one.
It would probably also be wise for our agency to approach the various thrift stores around the city and ask about their unsold dresses and coats in storage. Since clothing donations can be used as tax write-offs, coming to an agreement with them may just prove to be beneficial to both parties. They get their tax write-off, we get the clothes we badly need.
Another idea we can also consider is approaching the rental firms around the city and talking to them about the possibility of having them work with us in developing a clothes rental discount voucher for the communities within their immediate vicinity. Once again, the idea of the tax break should come into play and be hyped up to the company in order to get them to agree with our suggestions.
We must not also forget that “charity begins at home”. So, we should ask our relatives and children to go through their closets and see if they have any dresses or coats that still have a few good wears in them which they would not mind donating to our cause. We can divide the clothes between the number of communities we support and then maybe, raffle off the clothes so that all the teenagers will have a fair shot at getting a dress, tuxedo, or coat for themselves. The clothes can be given to the teens wrapped in company-sponsored bags. Thus making their act of charity an act of free, and I emphasize the word free, advertising as well.
Collecting clothes for charitable causes is no easy task because the companies would rather sell than donate their items. It is the job of I’ll Take That to change this mindset and show them that being charitable has its benefits. We can start doing this with the tax write-off system and keeping in touch with the companies throughout the year, constantly reminding them that our organization is always available to help them lessen their tax burdens anytime they want to.
The key here is to maintain a warm relationship all year round with the companies and individuals by convincing them that our actions help them more than it helps our cause. By doing that, we can ensure that communities we support will always have clothes to get from our organization whenever they need them.