Hello Jazz Families!
The Jazz Band's Fundraiser for "Swingin' Sweets" is fast approaching and there's going to be some changes to make it as successful and easy as possible!  For our new families, the purpose of Swingin' Sweets" is to raise money for our Jazz band students to attend the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival in April.

PLEASE READ THE "SWINGIN SWEETS 2016 ATTACHMENT.   IT IS LONG BUT PLEASE READ IT.  We want the Jazz Program to continue to be successful and we need more parent help.  Hopefully, your kids have already talked to you a little bit about this as we have been talking to them in class.

Thank you for taking the time to read the attachment and continuing to make our jazz program a success.

Genice Matzke

Director of Bands

Liberty High School

Swinging Sweets Attachment

Hello Jazz Families!

I hope your break was refreshing and you’re ready for a very busy and exciting second semester.

The Jazz Band’s Fundraiser for “Swingin’ Sweets” is fast approaching and we need to make some changes in order for it to be as successful as possible.  For our new families, the purpose of “Swingin’ Sweets” is to raise money for our Jazz band students to attend the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival in April.

THIS IS A LONG EMAIL BUT PLEASE READ IT.  We want the Jazz Program to continue to be successful and we need more parent help.  Hopefully, your kids have already talked to you a little bit about this as we have been talking to them in class.

The majority of the income from Swingin’ Sweets and the Jazz Dinner Dance come from the Silent Auction.  This past year, 2 people have done the bulk of the work: soliciting donations, packaging them, listing them, etc (and one of those persons is NOT a jazz parent). This is way too much to expect from 2 volunteers.  We have asked repeated for others to help but have not been able to get more folks on board.

We need your help! The Jazz Dinner Dance in November was the most successful we’ve had. We not only need wonderful volunteers during the event, we need more people soliciting/donating items for the actual silent auction which is where we make the majority of our money for the trip. Please read the following as you will notice some big changes for the better! 

Desserts – as always the desserts you donate help make this event a sweet success. We will still need you to sign up to bring a dessert. 

Grab’n’Go – we’re going to have a Grab’n’Go board for donated gift cards. This will allow attendees who see a $50 gift card (to Olive Garden for example) to pay full price and skip the auction altogether!  We have many folks who attend, want to support the band, and are happy to buy a gift card at full price to do so.  You could ask your favorite restaurant for a donation – see the “Soliciting 101” for more detail! You’ll be able to use Sign Up Genius to choose a card and then drop off the gift cards in the Red Mailbox marked Swingin’ Sweets.

Silent Auction – We are going to use the power of Sign Up Genius to make the Silent Auction more of a success than ever.  It can be daunting to be asked to go out and solicit donations for the Auction. I understand that. Please see “Soliciting 101” below.

Instead of a couple people soliciting random items, we’re going to have Themed Basket Sign-ups! You will receive a link in the next few days by email to sign up for the Auction Basket of your choice. Each basket will have 2 sign up slots, which means that you can partner with another family to create the basket of your choice or you can sign up in both slots and commit to creating that basket on your own. You may solicit donations or you may purchase items to fill the baskets. How you choose to fill that “basket” is totally up to you!

Example: Tailgate Basket – family 1 and family 2 sign up and then coordinate with each other, deciding to buy their items to donate a small cooler on wheels, snacks, blanket, and LHS Band Tshirt. They decorate the cooler and artfully arrange the items in it.

Example: Romantic Getaway – family 3 and family 4 sign up; family 3 drops by a local hotel which donates a one night stay, family 4 stops by their favorite restaurant and asks for a gift card and walks out with a $50 donation. They tuck both gift certificates into a cute tin that one of them had left over from Christmas.

Example: Prom Pamper – family 5 decides to do this one on their own and signs up for both slots. They ask for and receive a gift card to a local nail salon for manicure and pedicure and decide to buy a really pretty necklace and earring set, showing them off in a pretty gift box. 

We’re asking that each basket have a retail value of at least $50. That way we’re not swamped with a multitude of small baskets. There will be several basket themes on Sign Up Genius.

Finally, if you’re interested in shadowing the current Swingin’ Sweets coordinator to take over next year, please let me know. It’s perfect for a detailed, organized person. It doesn’t have to be someone that wants to be on the Booster Board.

Please help out the jazz band and sign up to get donations for baskets to help the silent auction and Grab 'n' Go.  The Sign Up Genius will come through the band booster organization email this weekend.  If you do not receive that email, you are not signed up with the boosters.  Just send me and email and I will get the info to you.   

Thanks for your help with this endeavor.  We hope Swingin' Sweets is as successful as the dinner dance!

Genice Matzke

Director of Bands

Liberty High School

BONUS CONTENT: SOLICITING 101

This is helpful information from one of the volunteers that was highly successful receiving donations.

Take the attached donation letter with you to businesses to ask for donations.  Keep track of who donated to you so that thank yous can be written.         

·       Having that Donation Letter is like the key that opens the door for you. When you walk in the door of any store, with that paper in your hand, it automatically garners their curiosity. They can clearly see the band logo.

·        Having had an extra cup of coffee this morning, you have a smile on your face, you are happy to be there and you say the following in your own words:

o   Hi! I’m ________, and I’m a band mom(dad) with Liberty High School, just up Powers (just down Research, just over at Research and Powers – your goal is to make it sound close by).

o   My son(daughter) is in the Jazz band and they’re having a silent auction to raise money to go to the Jazz festival in Greeley. (Hand them the piece of paper at this point because they stop staring at you)

o   Since this is one of our favorite places to eat (one of my favorite places to shop, my husband’s favorite place to get his tools... why did you pick this place?) I thought I’d drop by and see if you’d like to donate something for the auction. Perhaps a (hotel room for a night/a gift card or coupon for half off/an item that we can show that came from you so we may promote your business/something from your clearance section even)

o   Then pause, smile and wait.

o   It’s ok to be nervous. I totally messed up at Biaggi’s, stumbled over all my words, and they donated a $65 gift card anyhow!

o   Sometimes they will take the paper and have to get back to you. A Louie’s pizza employee took the paper, and we received gift cards for 4 free pizzas in the mail!

o   Sometimes they will say no. That’s ok.

o   Try someplace you’ve never been before – I walked into a barber shop and told the owner I wanted something unique for the guys that attend the auction and walked out with 5 free haircut coupons!