GUEST POST BY: Terry Cunningham
“March Mentoring Madness” Blog Series Continues Another Month!
When I first started doing fundraising and grant writing in the 80’s, someone suggested that I talk to Father Joe Carroll of St. Vincent d’ Paul’s. That was an invaluable meeting. He told me to always look for opportunities to not only raise funds, but also to look for creative ways to utilize products that might become available.
He related that when he heard of the proposed merger of PSA and Southwest Airlines, he called Southwest and asked what they were going to do with all of the products they had with the PSA logo. They did not know so he told them he would take all of the napkins, plates and any other products they were going to get rid of for his programs. He saved Father Joe’s Village a great deal of money on disposable dinnerware and Southwest received a tax write off for their donation. This created a win/win situation. I have remembered that story all these years and still look for creative solutions because of this amazing mentor.