Good Saturday to you all, my friends,
We've had some incredible Bash Donation Drawings over the years. For those not familiar, our annual February Anniversary Bash is not just a big party, it's our annual fundraiser. As a small token of our appreciation, anyone who makes a $50 donation during the Bash gets a commemorative mug and entry into our drawing (a free entry method is always provided as well for those unable to donate...) We'll be starting this whole process soon, so stand by :biggrin:
From just 10 donated prizes in 2005, we peaked at 42 prizes for our 10th in 2014. The drawing was originally intended as a small thank-you, it was never intended to be the point of donating. However, given that in some years we've had nearly $5000 in drawing prizes awarded, it has grown to be a cornerstone of the Bash.
We try to make the average prize value >$100, and to do that we've depended on high value donations from large and small vendors, as well as some very generous individuals. If you look back at some of the prior drawings (search my threads for "Donation Drawing" in the title), you'll see what I mean.
For various reasons, donations of higher value prizes are down this year. I believe one reason is that there is some "donation fatigue" from some of the larger manufacturers and vendors. They have generously provided prizes for MPG, MAPG, etc., and there are, very understandably, limits to what they can provide. This year, the overall prize list is a bit thin, and given that we try to provide nice pen contest prizes, there will be fewer prizes than usual for the Donation Drawing. That has happened before, and we've been able to purchase some prizes to round out the drawing, but that is getting more difficult as well with the increasing cost of postage, packaging, and the cost of our donation premiums.
Sorry to be long-winded, here's the bottom line! The 2017 Donation Drawing will be smaller than prior years. If you depend on that as a motivation for donating, I completely understand if that affects your desire to do so. My hope is that we can have 10 nice prizes. Perhaps a side benefit is that we can return to the idea that the drawing is just a fun little thank-you for supporting our community.
If you are a vendor or manufacturer and you'd like to donate an item, please contact [profile=mredburn]Mike Redburn[/profile]
Thanks for reading!!
We've had some incredible Bash Donation Drawings over the years. For those not familiar, our annual February Anniversary Bash is not just a big party, it's our annual fundraiser. As a small token of our appreciation, anyone who makes a $50 donation during the Bash gets a commemorative mug and entry into our drawing (a free entry method is always provided as well for those unable to donate...) We'll be starting this whole process soon, so stand by :biggrin:
From just 10 donated prizes in 2005, we peaked at 42 prizes for our 10th in 2014. The drawing was originally intended as a small thank-you, it was never intended to be the point of donating. However, given that in some years we've had nearly $5000 in drawing prizes awarded, it has grown to be a cornerstone of the Bash.
We try to make the average prize value >$100, and to do that we've depended on high value donations from large and small vendors, as well as some very generous individuals. If you look back at some of the prior drawings (search my threads for "Donation Drawing" in the title), you'll see what I mean.
For various reasons, donations of higher value prizes are down this year. I believe one reason is that there is some "donation fatigue" from some of the larger manufacturers and vendors. They have generously provided prizes for MPG, MAPG, etc., and there are, very understandably, limits to what they can provide. This year, the overall prize list is a bit thin, and given that we try to provide nice pen contest prizes, there will be fewer prizes than usual for the Donation Drawing. That has happened before, and we've been able to purchase some prizes to round out the drawing, but that is getting more difficult as well with the increasing cost of postage, packaging, and the cost of our donation premiums.
Sorry to be long-winded, here's the bottom line! The 2017 Donation Drawing will be smaller than prior years. If you depend on that as a motivation for donating, I completely understand if that affects your desire to do so. My hope is that we can have 10 nice prizes. Perhaps a side benefit is that we can return to the idea that the drawing is just a fun little thank-you for supporting our community.
If you are a vendor or manufacturer and you'd like to donate an item, please contact [profile=mredburn]Mike Redburn[/profile]
Thanks for reading!!
