A food drive is a great way to promote social awareness.Drop-off locations for food items are open to many businesses and facilities.To see how you can make a difference, find out which items are needed in your community.Advertising is a must for a successful food drive.Many charities and food banks can help you maximize the number of donations you receive.
Step 1: Who will you be asking for donations from?
Would you like to collect donations from your work or church?Are you going to advertise to a general audience?As you go along, making concrete decisions about this will help you stay organized.Stay small if you're new to organizing food drives.Go to your office, church, or civic organization to get a feel for the process.Make a note of what worked and what didn't for future food drives.If you feel confident in your ability to grab the attention of a larger audience, you can expand to your neighborhood or town.These people won't be donating because of your relation to them.Incentives will need to be created for the participation of mass numbers of community members.If you organize a show or broadcast the results of the food drive on the local news, you can make larger audiences feel appreciated.Larger venues can raise more food.It is easier to organize a food drive in a smaller venue.When dealing with donors you know personally, the risk of failure is smaller.
Step 2: Search for volunteers.
It is easy to form a special committee with others if you organize this through a church or work.To help with the food drive, look to family, friends, or neighborhood associations.Spreading the duties around will help you keep a positive attitude.
Step 3: A date range is what you should pick.
You won't be able to nail down a specific time or place until you contact potential venues.You should have a time frame in mind.Pick a couple weeks and have a reason.The Halloween food drive should be in the last two weeks of October.
Step 4: Find out what's needed.
Donate the goods to a charity, non-profit, food bank, or government agency and make contact with them.They can tell you what is needed in your area.They will be a great source of information.Larger food drives can be done with the help of national charities and nonprofits.Look for community food banks for smaller food drives.Feeding America has a website where you can find your local food bank.
Step 5: You have to come up with a strategy.
A food drive that serves a purpose is what you want to organize.They will feel better about donating to your food drive if you communicate your goals clearly.You could organize a food drive that collects canned beans and green vegetables.A food drive could collect more specific items like soups or chowders.
Step 6: Have a slogan.
This is a simple way to get the attention of people.It is easy to communicate your goals and strategy to potential donors.No one is left in the dark about the meaning of the slogan if there are puns and pop culture references.You could call it a food drive that collects soup in February.
Step 7: You can set a goal for the food drive.
Can you tell me how many boxes or trucks of food you want to fill?Staying on track and organized will be helped by this decision.It can be another aspect that you present to the public if you are creative.There are ways to make your food drive interesting.You could fill your car with cans of soup.You could collect enough to fill the bed of a pickup truck.These can be used to communicate your goals to the donors.
Step 8: Decide where you will take the food.
Most of the time, you will take the food to the charity, non-profit, government organization, or food bank you made contact with.If you want the food to be picked up by a food bank, be sure to ask.They can tell you the procedures for handing off the food.
Step 9: Decide how you will get the donations there.
This may seem obvious, but it can get lost in the planning.Make sure you have enough cars to transport the boxes you fill if you want to reach your goal of 10 shopping carts.It's easy to transition from the food collection phase to the drop-off if you pick a receptacle on wheels.
Step 10: Pick a few places where you could accept donations.
Since not all venues can host a food drive, have some backup plans.It makes sense to have it in your workplace if it is organized.You may need to ask for a host if you are asking for donations.
Step 11: Contact the local businesses.
Pick locations that are easy to get to.Let them know who you are and what you do.Many businesses and churches are willing to host food drives.You can choose a local business that is open to the public.Some businesses have advertised as sponsors in the past.It is likely that they follow a certain ethos in running their business.They may get tax cuts or other benefits if they donate time, resources or facilities to your food drive.To find out how to speak to the general manager, visit their website, email, or call.They are the only people authorized to make decisions about charities.
Step 12: Contact the local schools and universities.
This is a great way to increase your exposure.You should get more donors outside the intended group with regular foot traffic.Many schools and universities allow people to organize food drives.You will most likely speak to the principal to get approval.It is a good idea to go through the secretarial staff for initial contact.There is an event planning office for universities and colleges.Even if the office has to coordinate with many facility managers throughout the campus, many campuses concentrate all their event scheduling books in one office.If they are not in charge of the venue you are interested in, the event planning office can tell you who to contact.
Step 13: Check the company's policies.
Make sure you know your policies if you want to have a food drive.It's a good idea to set up the food drive in a place that is accessible to a lot of people.Make sure it is safe.You don't want food to be damaged or stolen because of inattentiveness.It's possible that your company doesn't have a human resources department.Let the office's secretarial staff know that you want to organize a food drive.They will be able to get you to the right people.
Step 14: Pick a set of dates or a date.
You need to decide on a date once you have a venue.They will have you on their books if you schedule the food drive through the venue.If you want people to know where and when you will be accepting food, start printing materials with the exact dates.If your ideal venue is booked on the first date, you should have a range of dates.Venues may have a deadline for booking their facilities, such as a number of weeks or months in advance.It is a good idea to start planning early so that you have enough time to advertise your food drive.You will not get as many donations if you announce a food drive in the same week as you plan to complete it.
Step 15: Raise awareness.
You will need to spread the word about your food drive.Many charities and non-profits can provide basic poster and art supplies for food drives.You can use media to communicate your event to as many people as possible.Emails.You can organize the food drive through your company.If you want to reach a larger audience, reach out to community organizations.There are posters.Posters should be put around the area.Posters should be put up in the facilities if the food drive is for your company or church.For community or town-wide food drives, look for bulletin boards at public facilities like community centers, libraries, pools, farmer's markets, etc.Radio, TV, and newspaper.If you want to spread word of your event, look for cheap or free ad space.Your ad will be announced for free by many public radio stations.
Step 16: There are regular announcements about progress.
Your donors will want to know how their contributions are progressing.You can thank all present and future donors again.It's a way to get people excited about meeting the goal and encourage them to donate more.When donors bring food, you might have them sign a ledger.Set up a listserv for the food drive and have them list their contact information.If you wish, keep everyone updated on the progress of the food drive every week.
Step 17: There are containers for people's food.
If anyone is unsure how they would transport food, have containers available.It's a way of removing doubts about donating.You are dedicated to making this convenient and affordable for everyone.Milk crates are a great option for smaller food drives.They are easy to pick up.You can ask kitchens or cafeterias to donate them.It is easier to transport larger quantities of food in larger containers.Large plastic storage containers or coolers can be used to make fewer trips back and forth from the transport truck.
Step 18: It's important to communicate your goals clearly.
Don't stop talking about what you're trying to accomplish.The charity seems more about the people it will serve, not the organizers.It shows people that you can accomplish your goal.
Step 19: Incentivize with a competition.
This will be easy if the group you are asking for donations is already made up.If you have multiple drop-off locations, keep an eye on how many items are in each of them and encourage them to donate more than the others.The tactic of getting people excited about a friendly competition will result in more donations.Material reward can be a motivator.Local businesses can contribute to your prizes.They don't feel like you need to explain what a food drive is to them.You may have to sell them on why yours matters.Tell them your goals and scope.To retain the spirit of charity, try to keep prizes small and specific.
Step 20: Thank you for donating food.
It is important to thank your donors after the fact.You want them to be proud of what they did.They will remember how easy it was to donate food to your food drive when you hold future food drives.You can split your company into departments.Human resources, sales, and accounting are competing against each other.