You should request item donations at least six weeks ahead of time, but some businesses want to hear from you at least 90 days before your event. Many companies also limit their donations in various ways, so it’s best to apply as early as possible. The links listed below are to each company’s donation page.

Remember that when requesting any kind of donation, you should always explain “what’s in it for them”.

For the company, this would mean explaining the publicity & promotional opportunities their donation provides, the demographics of your event, estimated attendance, amounts raised in previous years, and how the funds that are raised this year will be used.  If you are running an online auction with Benefit Bidding be sure to me mention that they can have a clickable link to their site on the item description page.

Every company has different policies on which groups they’ll support and how to submit your donation request. so use the links to get all the details. Some will let you use the donations for raffles and others prohibit using their donated item that way.