SHOE DRIVE TIPS
1. Set Goals! Establish your shoe drive timeline and your goals (number of pairs of shoes).....VSSN will give 1 year of advertising to any organization that collects 100 bags of 25 pairs of shoes!

Suggested Timeline:

· One week to make promotional materials

· Two weeks to promote the Shoe Drive

· One to two weeks to host the actual shoe drive.

2. Inform your audience about the emergency food, toiletry, wellness and housing vouchers VSSN is actively giving to help veteran and military families in hardship and how this fundraiser direclty benefits our HEROES. 

3. Promote your shoe drive and create a communications plan! Here are a few examples that you can use to promote your shoe drive!  Create flyers and pass them out or post them up at your shoe drive location. Send out emails informing your audience about your shoe drive and make sure to include a link to the www.vetsupportnet.org. Create posts and images to share on social media. For your communications plan- decide the method (s), where, and how often you will message your audience to promote your shoe drive. 

4. Inform your audience on how they can donate. When you advertise your shoe drive make sure to tell your audience how they can participate in your shoe drive and make sure to include our Shoe Donation Guidelines. Let them know that they can drop off gently used or brand new shoes in your donation box or they can buy shoes through our Amazon.com Wish List! Talk to us about  creating a wish list on Amazon exclusively for your shoe drive! This wish list is prefilled with  shoes that fir our guidelines and will automatically be shipped to VSSN

5. Reach out to and challenge your friends, peers and/or co-workers or even other organizations, businesses, churches, groups to help you to reach your goal.  

6. Set up your shoe collection bins (we will provide one box, however shoes should be stored in a garbage bag with 25 gently used matching shoes per bag) and Thank You Cards in a central and secure location.

7. Midway through your shoe drive, check in with your audience to let them know how the drive is going and if extra effort is needed to achieve your overall goal before the end of the campaign.  

8. Announce your results and celebrate your success! This could be done as a general announcement or in a written communication such as a newsletter or e-blast.

9. Complete a volunteer donation form and drop off your shoes!