Gift Certificate Hunting

It is funny how things work- yesterday, I was getting anxious because I felt like I hadn't done enough work on getting gift certificates donated for the date auction. I opened up my Excel list of donors and started reaching out. Without even thinking, I focused on 4 businesses that I usually contact. I looked over at my notes from last year and it turns out that I contacted the same places almost exactly one year ago to the day- March 29. I know I keep writing about this, but it really is odd how I have this internal clock that keeps me doing the same things at the same time without thinking about it.

So the major focus so far this week has been gift certificates for the date auction. I've been working on other things, but I've spent a lot of time on the date auction. I always spend more time on tasks that I intend to- I always underestimate how long it takes to contact the businesses- call, send emails, faxes, etc. I've learned that I need to call first to make sure that the same person is still handling gift certificate donations. Two places that I called today had different people handling donations. It's also good to call before sending an email or fax because it is helpful to make a personal connection first- even if it is just a voice-mail.

Tomorrow, I'm doing another donation to Boston PD, then I'm zooming back to start work on a new grant, contact some more police departments and work on getting auction items. In between cooking dinner tonight, I updated our Volunteer Match listing. I had been meaning to do it ages ago, but it kept slipping to the bottom of my priority list, but I finally got it done. I debated for a few minutes about whether I should do the free basic profile or spend $75 to upgrade to the enhanced listing which adds photos, gives a wider range of zip codes to include your volunteer listing and some other features. I decided to go with the free listing. I'm not sure how much the enhancement would help and even though it isn't a ton of money, I need to keep costs as low as possible- particularly given the extra money we've spending on gas. We got one of our very best volunteers, Lisa, years ago from Volunteer Match.

I also need to get cracking on our April newsletter. I didn't do a March newsletter and I really should do one every month- I definitely have to do one in April. The sooner it is done, the better. We always have lots to write about, so it's not like I have a lack of content for the newsletter- I just keep delaying on it.

Well friends, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to read for a bit- I just started a new chick lit book that I'm really enjoying. Then watch Tabatha's Salon Take Over-  I like that show so much. I rarely ever blog this early- it's usually almost midnight when I'm blogging! Until tomorrow friends...