Thank you for helping us to obtain donations for this event!

As you may know BCSS no longer has any fundraising staff, and desperately needs money at the provincial level to maintain services and programs for families. The majority of BCSS services provided to families around the province are provided by staff or contract staff administered out of the provincial office in Richmond. BCSS has the honour of being one of eight chosen non-profit organizations to take part in a high profile fundraising event and gala called Endeavour, to be held in November 7, 2009 at the Hotel Vancouver. Whatever donations we recieve for this event will be auctioned at the gala dinner, and all proceeds  from those items will go to support BCSS’s provincial programs and services for families. Your help is very much appreciated, and will go toward making sure families with a loved one with schizophrenia and other serious and persistent mental illnesses get the help they need.

Here’s how you can help.

The first step is to email onlinesupport@bcss.org for a list of the donors we’ve already registered with Endeavour. If you have a relative or friend at a company on that list, or any company (anywhere in BC or the world) that might be interested in donating items or services to this Gala event (more on this in the letter linked below), you can encourage them to donate generously in goods or services to be auctioned at the Gala event. Our registered donors have all recieved a letter asking for a donation, but if you have a friend or relative that works there, you could encourage them to donate generously.  If you’d like to ask a company not on our list yet, that’s great too, just make sure you email onlinesupport@bcss.org first to make sure it’s not registered to another charity. VERY IMPORTANT: If you ask a company for a donation to auction at the Endeavour Gala Event that we haven’t registered to BCSS first, and it turns out to be registered to another one of the charities with Endeavour, that other charity will get the proceeds from auctioning the item, and not BCSS. I know it’s a bit inconvenient, but it’s one of the rules of our involvement with Endeavour and there are no exceptions. Fortunately registering a donor is as simple as  emailing onlinesupport@bcss.org and Sophia will check with Endeavour and get back to you.

More information:

• Benefits to donors
• How to ask and suggestions of types of donated goods to ask for
• Helpful information – brochures about the event, donation ask letter, brochure about BCSS.
• What to do when you get a donation

Benefits to Donors

Donating goods or services to the Endeavour Gala and auction has many advertising benefits for companies who donate. They have an opportunity to expose their business and products to hundreds of high-income Gala attendees – including many Vancouver icons for whom Endeavour’s annual benefit for Arts, Sciences and Health is a “never miss.” Donations and donors are featured in a glossy catalogue delivered ahead of time to all attendees, which they then bring with them to the Gala. Donor names are also included in a full-page ad in the Vancouver Sun. During the Gala evening, multiple auctions take place in various exciting formats, with big-ticket items featured at dinner in an entertaining and lively auction by professional auctioneers from Maynards. Tax receipts are available.

How to Ask for Donations and What kinds are most suitable

IMPORTANT: BEFORE ASKING please email the name of the company you will be asking to us at onlinesupport@bcss.org so we can ensure it is exclusively registered to BCSS as a potential donor. Several other organizations are obtaining donated items for this same event, and there are strict rules we have to adhere to, to prevent donors from being asked by multiple charities. 1)     Talk to your friends and family who are decision makers in businesses, particularly if they would like to market their products or services to a high-income audience. Ask them to donate generously. Given the timing of the Endeavour Gala – in the month before Christmas – donations that make suitable business or holiday gifts are snapped up quickly at auction. Gift baskets or luxury items in the $250-$2000 range are very popular. Items sold in previous years have ranged in value from $20-$65,000, with the most valuable items given additional exposure in the most high profile live auctions. 2)     Help us put together a package or experience to auction off. Do you know a high-profile person or celebrity, athlete, author or chef who could provide a unique experience? Do you have contacts with a resort or holiday location or service anywhere in the world?

Helpful Materials

(If you’d like any of these emailed to you, just email onlinesupport@bcss.org and we’ll send them to you.) Here is a copy of a letter with all the details:

• Endeavour Letter – Version for emails or letters to businesses
• Endeavour Letter – version suitable for asking individuals

Here is a brochure about what BCSS does for families: 2009 BCSS Programs and Services Here is a brochure about Endeavour ( or click on image at right): Here is the donor contract Endeavour 2009 Donor Contract (it is an adobe pdf document that can be filled in right on the form, and then printed and faxed to BCSS at the number near the top of the page.)  NOTE: It’s helpful to use this, but not required. If you give us the donation information and contact info for the donor, we can do this part for you.

What to do when you get a donation

When you get a donation, just send an email to onlinesupport@bcss.org with the details including contact information (email address if you have it) for the donor. We will follow up and do whatever paperwork is necessary. An email from the donor confirming the donation, any limitations on things like gift certificates, and giving contact info f or the donor is helpful and would save us time.