Grant Declination: Office Depot Foundation

Our grant proposal to Office Depot Foundation on behalf of BDPA Middle Tennessee chapter has been declined. The grant declination letter read as follows:

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TO: BDPA Education and Technology Foundation,

Thank you very much for your recent online application to the Office Depot Foundation. Regrettably, we are not able to assist you with your special request at this time. Our contributions budget is fully committed. After reviewing your request we would like to give you information about some important resources that will benefit your organization.

Office Depot Foundation In-Kind Giving Program - The Office Depot Foundation's product donation program is managed by Gifts In Kind International, a global leader in new product philanthropy. Each Office Depot retail store and warehouse is matched to a nonprofit organization that helps children. On a regular basis, each of these locations makes a donation of products (supplies, furniture, business machines, etc.) to its matched charity. Please note that product donations through Gifts In Kind International are ongoing and involve a membership fee.

Our ongoing Product Donation Program enables the Office Depot Foundation to place donated products in the hands of thousands of children's charities across the nation. I have attached some information about Gifts In Kind International. For more information regarding Gifts In Kind International, and/or the Foundation's product donation program, please visit the Gifts In Kind website.

Put Your Passion Into Action – Volunteer! - Recognizing the powerful role that volunteerism plays in keeping our communities strong, the Office Depot Foundation has created the Caring Connection – a user-friendly, online resource that makes it simple to learn about and enroll in thousands of volunteer opportunities. Also, non-profit organizations that use volunteers to help them carry out their programs can register for free to list their opportunities directly on the website.

We are presenting the Caring Connection in collaboration with VolunteerMatch. The website provides access to information about 55,000 volunteer positions offered by more than 60,000 non-profit organizations across the United States. When people visit the site, they just need to enter their zip code to see a list of volunteer opportunities available in their area. When they find something they like with your organization, they can automatically send an e-mail to you to express their interest, and then you can contact them directly.

The tagline we use for the Caring Connection is “Put Your Passion into Action!” We believe that everyone can find an organization or a cause that they are passionate about by visiting the Caring Connection site – and they can help to strengthen the community in so many ways by getting involved. “Strengthening communities” is one of our key strategic priorities at the Office Depot Foundation, so this program – as well as our grants program − fits perfectly with our mission and goals.

Office Depot WorkLife Rewards - Office Depot program that you should know about that can help save you some money. Office Depot WorkLife Rewards is a customer loyalty program that gives you rebates on almost everything you buy at Office Depot. Here’s a quick overview of the program:

• FREE Membership
• Offers 10% back on Ink, Toner, Paper and Design, Print & Ship Services
• Offers 1% back on almost everything else
• There is no limit to the amount of Rewards you can earn
• If you earn less than $10 in Rewards, your Rewards will carry over from quarter to quarter for an entire calendar year
• Discount offers at My Worklife Partners™
• Bonus Opportunities at My Special Offers

You can see all the details at http://www.officedepot.com/.

Thank you for thinking of the Office Depot Foundation. We take corporate responsibility and community involvement seriously. We are committed to Learning, Listening and Caring. For more information please visit our website.

Best wishes for much continued success in all that you do to enrich the lives of others in the communities in which we live, work and conduct business.

Warmest regards,
Sabrina Conte
Office Depot Foundation
6600 N. Military Trail
Boca Raton, FL 33496

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I must admit that this is most useful declination letter that I've ever seen. They provide a number of other options for our BDPA partners to consider.

What are your thoughts about Office Depot and these various options?