Running a business for 20 years teaches you that the small things matter just as much as the big ones. Sometimes the most meaningful improvements come from admitting where you've fallen short, and doing the work to make it right. This year, that had me rethinking how we handle donation requests. Donation requests? Pretty specific, right? And how on earth is that an issue that needs fixing?
Well, donations at Charlie Pickles are a tiny part of our business, but they connect us with some of our most valued customers in really big ways. They connect us with the kids and families who support us after school and on weekends, who share our name with friends and family, and who bring people to visit us when they're in from out of town.
Now, what you wouldn't see is that we'd get donation requests through our online form, people would come in-store and talk to our team, some would email, and others would call. Occasionally I'd get a personal text to my cell phone, and that's when I'd hide under a pillow and pretend I was on a beach. The requests were coming in from every direction imaginable. And when it got busy, I'd leave people hanging.
So, I'm human and sometimes seeing a solution in the middle of chaos isn't possible. I knew my replies were getting delayed, but I didnt know how to fix it. This is why I value our Summer breaks here at the shop because although our store is closed - I'm taking the time to look at the year ahead and how I can improve things. Even my own work habits and communication style.
I keep hearing about boundaries, and how we need to be clear about what we are and are not willing to take on in life. Although my TikTok feed is talking about family boundaries and friendships (oh the drama on my tiktok is wild), I've applied the advice to donation requests. I feel that by clearly setting our expectations for what we need from you - helps us give more meaningful help in return.
So here are the new changes.
1. I've streamlined our donation requests into 2 types: General donation requests, and school donations. When you visit our donation page, you'll see both options and, instructions on how to apply.
2. For the foreseeable future, Schools, and the events supporting the families and kids at those schools, are where we'll prioritize our donation resources this year. I've concluded that trying to help everyone meant I wasn't helping anyone. In an ideal world, we could financially support every amazing fundraising cause out there, but by leaving the floodgates open to all, I ended up overwhelmed.
Here's what the new donation page looks like:
NEW. Pre-Registration Required
This part is new, and will likely take some getting used to but I think it's the best way to meaningfully support the schools we love.
If you're a school or a fundraising committee at a school, we're asking you to pre-register all of your school's fundraising events for the year. The submission window will be noted on our donation page in addition to clear dates for submissions to be in by.
Even if your event isn't until next spring, and you may not know the theme or exact date of the event - we're encouraging you to get your submission in of events (and approximate dates) in before the end of September. After this, we close our submission window, and review the list and dedicate time to seeing which events we can support and how. We won't accept donation requests again until Spring of the following year.
If you have multiple events, the form will ask you to prioritize which ones matter most to you. Although we can't support every event, this way we can better see where our support will go furthest.
Last but not least, we now have a transparent application timeline that spells out exactly when we will and won't reply to donation requests.
October through January, We're heads-down running the business through our peak season. This is when we'd otherwise be buried in donation emails, so instead, we're just closed. In April: The window reopens, and the cycle starts again.
It doesn't mean you can't get in the queue once April rolls around again — we're just being super transparent about when the form is live and when you'll hear back from us. This alone saves us SO much time, because it means we're not scrambling to reply mid-Christmas. Honestly, we can barely make it home in time to sleep during peak season, let alone reply to a dozen donation requests. So if the timeline says the window is closed, it really is closed, and we'll see you in April.
At the end of the day, this isn't about saying no. It's about being upfront so we can say yes more often, to the schools and families who make Charlie Pickles what it is.
