Ways to get yourself, your friends, your workplace and your groups involved with ATC
Are you looking to find a different way, other than donating or volunteering, to support ATC? One of the ways you can have an enormous impact on our organization is by sharing the work of ATC with others. There are tons of creative ways that you can bring more money, time, in-kind donations, and community awareness to At The Crossroads. Click on any of the options below to find out more about them. If you have your own ideas, we’d love to hear them.
Connect ATC with your community through email: Our ability to grow and develop in the upcoming years depends on attracting new support for our organization. You can play a huge role in doing this by introducing friends, family, and other people in your community to our work. We have a simple structure for doing this through email that doesn’t take much time, and doesn’t require you to directly ask people for money. We had people do this in 2006, and it raised more than $4,000 for ATC! We would like to raise even more money in the future. If you would like to learn more about this, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
Find out if your workplace gives money to non-profits: Corporations give away billions of dollars each year to nonprofit organizations; is yours one of them? If so, find out whether or not your workplace would consider making a grant or donation to At The Crossroads. Last year, ATC raised more than $16,000 from corporations; we would like to double that amount in 2007. Ask your CEO, manager or supervisor whether or not your company does any corporate giving. If the answer is yes, find out what the first step would be for ATC to be considered, and the contact Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
See if your company will donate in-kind products or services to ATC: ATC depends on a wide variety of in-kind donations to keep out organization running and our clients happy. We receive more than half a million dollars a year of in-kind donations! We receive in-kind donations including messenger bags from Timbuk2, clothing from Levi’s, and free printing from Panache Destination Management. Does your company have a product or service that could help ATC? If so, contact Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
See if your workplace does matching gifts: Many workplaces will match their employees’ donations up to a certain amount. One of our donors works for a company that matches every dollar he donates with 3 dollars from the company! If you plan to make a donation, find out whether your company provides matching donations.
Get together your workplace or another community to volunteer: Does your workplace ever to corporate volunteer days? If not, are they open to trying it? In the past year, we have had more than 120 employees from four different companies donate over 600 hours of their time to At The Crossroads! These volunteer efforts had an enormous impact on our organization and our clients. It also provided mellow team-building opportunities for the employees at these companies. This can also be done by other groups you are part of (social groups, religious groups, etc.). If you are interested in discussing a volunteer day, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
See if we can be added on to your workplace’s paycheck deduction options: Many workplaces give employees the option of having a small amount of money deducted from each paycheck to be given to nonprofit organizations. Does your company do this? If so, find out what it would take for ATC to become an option.
Do a sock drive for ATC: Recently, two of our volunteers went to their coworkers and asked them to bring in 2 pairs of clean socks or 2 dollars to purchase socks for ATC. They ended up donating more than 100 pairs of socks, and gathered some other items for our clients. Do you have a workspace, or another group that you are part of, where you can do something like this? It doesn’t have to be socks; deodorant, gloves, hats, or other items that we distribute work just as well. You can do this on a regular basis and rotate the items. It’s a great way of making an impact on ATC and getting people involved in ATC in a painless way. We can give you an email template for doing this. If you would like to do this, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
Collect gift certificates for ATC: Everyone has a gift certificate (or 20) that has been sitting around their house, collecting dust. ATC can put them to good use, giving them to our clients, or buying items for our clients or for the organization. One of our volunteers has gathered thousands of dollars in gift certificates for ATC, and it hasn’t been hard for her to do it! Send out a quick email to people you know seeing if they have any gift certificates they’d like to donate. We have an email that you can use as a template. If you would like to do this, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
Collect hygiene items from people who travel: We hand out hundreds of lotions, soaps and shampoos on outreach every week. Because we carry these items in backpacks, travel-sized toiletries work great (although we can put full-sized items to use too). If you are part of a community of people who travel, you can get them to bring back these items when they travel and stay in hotels. Union Bank of California collected thousands of toiletries for ATC in 2006. You can set up a collection bin, and we will pick it up. We have a document that explains this in greater detail. If you would like to learn more about this, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
Do a holiday gift drive for our clients: During the past holiday season, ATC gave out personalized gifts to more than 200 of our clients. One of the ways that we were able to get all of these gifts was having workgroups that sponsored our holidays, with groups of 5 to 20 people who work together buying gifts for our clients. Each person in the group contributes $20 for a gift certificate, but together they are able to give us hundreds of dollars of gifts for our clients. If you think that either your workplace or another group that you belong to would be interested in sponsoring holiday gifts, let us know.
Introduce people to ATC at a house party: One of the best ways to get people acquainted to ATC is through house parties. Get your friends together for cocktails, dinner, or any other purpose. A representative of ATC can come by, briefly explain the work we do and the people we reach, and answer any questions. People can make a donation at these parties, but no one is obligated to. It’s a good excuse to have a party and get your friends together. If you would like to do this, please email Rob Gitin at getinvolved@atthecrossroads.org.
In The News
5.07.2007
Stanford Magazine- spotlight: Rob Gitin, ’96, A Friend in the City
Fundraisers
Benefit CD
Three Ring Records Makes Benefit CD for ATC