You should send thank you letters to the following people
that have helped you with your group’s car wash:
- The owner of the property where you did the car wash
- The printer who printed the tickets
- The insurance broker that provided the liability insurance if
you bought it
- Any corporate sponsors
- Water Quality Control government workers
- Your committee members (if you are a national group have the
regional director sign the letter)
You may want to give certificates to some people that made
your fundraiser possible. If you give one to the insurance agent or gas station owner, buy
a couple of inexpensive frames and frame them. They will proudly display them in their
offices. They will think of you each time they see them. Have the person that designed
your tickets make the certificates. You can buy special paper from Office Depot, Staples
or OfficeMax quite inexpensively. If you have a local stationery store, ask for a twenty
percent discount and mention them in your next newsletter. Maybe you can give them a free
business card ad in one of your programs for a free package of blank certificates. You
should also give certificates to your committee members. Present them at the annual
banquet.
Be creative and think of something extra special for thanking
the property owner. Maybe a plaque for their wall. Nominate them at the local Chamber of
Commerce for an award. Call county officials and tell them of the property owner’s
unselfish act. Remember big property owners such as shopping center owners have a lot of
political clout. Getting a county supervisor or city council member to recommend them for
an award, proclamation or certificate of appreciation is a piece of cake. It also makes
the property management company look good. You’re making friends and it can only help
you and your group next time.
Try to find a reason to thank a city employee or a city
council member. Did they help your fundraiser in any remote way? Present a certificate to
them at a city council meeting.
Send the local fixed site car wash owners an apology letter
for taking all their business away that weekend. Explain that it’s an annual event.
Thank them for their understanding in this matter. Tell them your group’s members
promise to continue to patronize their business throughout the rest of the year. You may
find that next year they donate $100 to your group’s car wash fundraiser and give you
their car wash coupons to give away to every car that comes through your event.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Write a letter to each local newspaper. The first paragraph
should state:
"We were overwhelmed by the support we received from
local businesses, our city and the community."
Say things like:
- What a great town we live in
- This was the most successful fundraiser ever
- The weather cooperated and boy did we have fun
- We were exhausted because we washed so many cars
- Everyone came together to support a great cause
Make sure in the letter that you thank the following people:
- School District Personnel
- School Principal
- Gas Station Owner
- Corporate Sponsors
- City Employees or City Officials
- Your Team
- All the Great Sponsors or Contributors
- The Public
- The Car Wash Customers
- The Weather
- Environmental People
- The Printer
- The Graphics Person
- Etc.
Thank the whole world if appropriate, from the biggest
contributor to the smallest, in that order.
Try to make sure the same people that received the pledges
knock on the same doors to collect them. With corporate pledges, the leader of your group
or the treasurer should go to the company to personally collect the funds and thank them
for supporting your group. If your members are reluctant to go back to collect pledges,
send them in teams of two or three and cover all of their corresponding areas. If someone
refuses to pay, act very sad and tell them how hard you worked. In the Appendix Section of
this book you will find a sample receipt for pledge donations form that you can give to
each sponsor.
Try to be objective. If you can’t, just tell everyone
they did a perfect job and pat yourself on the back. If you think you can be a little
objective, ask yourself:
- What went wrong?
- Did you meet your ticket goals?
- How were pledges?
- Did anyone complain and if so about what?
- Was the property owner happy?
- Did you use due diligence with wash water run off?
- Did you cause a traffic problem?
- How long was the line of cars?
- Was your team exhausted?
- Did anyone’s temper get out of hand?
- Did everyone enjoy themselves?
- How much money did you make?
- Could you have made more?
Then ask yourself these questions:
- What could you change for next year?
- What problems would that solve?
- Would this create other problems?
Write down four to five pages. Be honest. This information
will truly be invaluable for next year’s car wash fundraiser group. Send your
evaluations to our author. Fax them to 1-888-WASH-GAL. Is there anything left out of this
book that you believe was significant? If you belong to a national organization send your
basic plan and evaluation to them also. Other chapters of your organization may be
planning a car wash fundraiser. No sense in making the same mistakes twice. These other
chapters will have similar makeups of people types, ages and values that are different
than other organizations. I have visited hundreds of organizations. I have watched them
make mistakes at car washes that I myself hadn’t thought of. Most of these mistakes
are mentioned in this book. But there will always be new pitfalls. If you do everything in
this book you can be successful and beat your projections even if you make a few mistakes
along the way. Share your information and your wealth.
New additions to this book can be found on the Car Wash Guys
International, Inc. corporate web site. The address is: http://www.carwashguys.com/fundraisers/LAschools.html
Put this book and your evaluation pages in a folder with a
piece of paper recommending a tentative date for next year’s car wash fundraiser. Put
a big rubber band on the folder so nothing falls out. Write across the folder "Top
Secret - Car Wash Fundraising Information" at a 45° angle. On the tab on the folder
write the month of your tentative date. Give this folder to the treasurer of your group.
This way it won’t get lost and it will be automatically transferred to next
year’s treasurer. Even if you are not involved in the group next year, your car wash
fundraiser event’s legacy will live on. The treasurer in any group will generally be
very responsible and will also know the reality surrounding your group’s financial
picture. They will surely bring this folder to the group’s attention if they get low
on funds.
When picking a date for next year, stay away from three-day
weekends, religious holidays, county fairs and predominately rainy months.
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