Fundraisers @ work

[snowball's chance]

I don't have children, but at work I am bombarded w/ emails from colleagues wanting me to buy girl scout cookies form their kids, or Partylite/Pampered Chef products.  It would be one thing if I was friends with them but I don't even KNOW some of these people!  Anyone else dealt with this?

[Shoo]

Yes, I think it happens everywhere.  I only order stuff if I want to.  I don't buckle to the pressure easily.

[Lisbeth]

Is this becoming a serious problem at your workplace?  You might want to bring it to HR's attention if that's the case.

Otherwise, I agree with Shoo-just ignore the fundraisers.

[twinkletoes]

Talk to HR or your manager.  However, I do think it's one thing if someone just sends out an email or posts a flyer saying "I'm raising money for X/I'm selling candles for Y organization.  If you have any questions, just stop by."  It's another if you have someone constantly bombarding you with requests for money.  That's rude, and you can even spin it as distracting you from your work.

I had a coworker who was raising money for this very well-known and very controversial charity.  I kept telling her "no, no, and no."  She kept bombarding me with requests.  I think she stopped when she saw that I took the brochures she gave me and turned them into pretty paper cranes around my desk.

[bopper]

I think you should respond to what you are interested in, and ignore the rest. 

I help my daughter sell girl scout cookies at work.  But I do not do it in an "in your face" kind of way.  I do send out an email seeing if people are interested...I do that because in the past people told me they wished they knew I was selling GS cookies!  I also put a cookie order form outside my office.  I do not go up to people individually and ask and have no expectations that anybody buy anything.

[guihong]

My husband's work has a table set aside for GS cooky flyers and all such fundraising things.  Those who want to participate, do so, and "in your face" is not tolerated.

gui

[Slartibartfast]

I have to call my local Girl Scout office to ask where I can get cookies - I wish someone would bring a form into work for me!  It would make it so much easier to get my Tagalong fix!

[FoxPaws]

If they're only e-mailing the group (not approaching you directly), I'd just ignore & delete. If you're being individually targeted, send back a reply saying No Thanks - Not Interested. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

If they start getting pushy, go to HR. A lot of companies have policies against any kind of solicitation at work.

If your work relationships can tolerate it (this can be tricky), you could send out an e-mail of your own requesting to be left off everybody's "potential customer" list.

And remember......No is a complete sentence. Good Luck!

[Evil Duckie]

At DH's work they can not ask anyone to buy anything. They can put an order form on their door or by their desk and never at evaluation time.

This way people can order or not it is their choice. I know there is suppose to be no pressure to order and for the most part this is true. I wish I could this was always true but we are dealing with humans.

[Cami]

At my dh's work there is a policy forbidding ANY fundraising by any means on company property or using company resources. Frankly, given what I go thru at my current job, I wish that we had that policy as well.

[mindibrad]

I have to call my local Girl Scout office to ask where I can get cookies - I wish someone would bring a form into work for me!  It would make it so much easier to get my Tagalong fix!

Drive by a supermarket or bank on a Saturday late morning/early afternoon.  Usually, they allow the Girl Scouts to set up a table outside the business.  MOF - troops have to sign up MONTHS in advance in order to gurantee those "prime time" hours in front of the store around here!

[freakyfemme]

I have to call my local Girl Scout office to ask where I can get cookies - I wish someone would bring a form into work for me!  It would make it so much easier to get my Tagalong fix!

Pod.  I love Girl Guide cookies too (that's what it's called in Canada), but nobody ever bothers to tell me when the local troop is selling them, and I don't really know who to ask, or when.  But anyway.....this is just a suggestion for parents of Girl Scouts/Guides......would it be possible to, instead of trying to get people at work to buy a whole boatlaod of cookies, just buy a whole boatload of cookies FOR the office?  I don't know about most people, but without my caffeine fix from Diet Coke, and sugar fix from whatever people bring in, I wouldn't have lasted a day at the law firm, lol.

[Brentwood]

I have to call my local Girl Scout office to ask where I can get cookies - I wish someone would bring a form into work for me!  It would make it so much easier to get my Tagalong fix!

Pod.  I love Girl Guide cookies too (that's what it's called in Canada), but nobody ever bothers to tell me when the local troop is selling them, and I don't really know who to ask, or when.  But anyway.....this is just a suggestion for parents of Girl Scouts/Guides......would it be possible to, instead of trying to get people at work to buy a whole boatlaod of cookies, just buy a whole boatload of cookies FOR the office?  I don't know about most people, but without my caffeine fix from Diet Coke, and sugar fix from whatever people bring in, I wouldn't have lasted a day at the law firm, lol.

Girl Scout cookies are quite expensive by the boatload. Ours our 3.71 per box (including tax), so, no, we couldn't really buy a boatload for my husband's office, much as we might like to.

My daughter did get a lot of sales from my husband's coworkers, many of whom hounded my husband to tell them when the cookie sales started this year. She will personally deliver the cookies after school the day after we pick them up.

She also went around the neighborhood and sold cookies. She and her troop have earned enough to go to Build-A-Bear and on an overnight camping trip and/or horseback riding trip.

[danilynn17]

My office (about 140-150 people total) has an electronic "bulletin board" through our email in Outlook where people who are selling cookies, candy, or whatever else random stuff can post  So if you're someone who is interested in that sort of thing, it's there for you to view, but if you aren't interested, it doesn't clog up your inbox and you never have to read it.

[MrsP81]

I don't mind the emails. I actually like them because then if I am interested I know who to see about it. And if I'm not interested I can just delete. It really takes no time out of my day.