2008 proved to be a brutal year for businesses across the globe. Organizations that depended primarily on charitable donations suffered great setbacks. Losses of any kind affect not only those running a business, but the community that supports it as well. As a single business, we at SAS always try to make a difference in our community. This year, we are taking it a step farther and doing our part by donating our entire 22-year collection of promotional product overruns to the Ronald McDonald House.

Pictured above:  M. Paul Speert, President of SAS Promotions, shares some smiles with some of the kids from The Ronald McDonald House of Maryland after they started raiding the boxes and boxes of overrun t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and caps donated by SAS earlier that day (February, 2009).

These overruns are not our “usual” ones - these are the cherished ones. These are the orders that produced the most outstanding and memorable products. We are proud of them, but we don’t need all of them. Actually, we don’t really NEED any of them. Yet we know there are so many people who can use these products for practical purposes. Therefore, we are clearing our entire inventory (our extensive history of goods) so that others less fortunate can have clothing and other items they need during these tough times.

Pictured above:  A very small sampling of some of the overruns collected by SAS Promotions over the years

We liked this idea so much, we created an easy way to get our colleagues within the industry, and our clients, involved.

THE SAS OVERRUN DONATION PROJECT 

SAS Promotions has built the first Promotional Products Industry-wide site specifically for charitable giving of products from suppliers, counselors and clients.

We’ve created several ways for you to easily donate your overrun or unused products, which will make your accounting department happy while supplying much needed items to charities across the USA .

Clients:

• With every order, purchase a few overruns.  It may sound like a small gesture, but it adds up quickly.  If you are ordering 288 t-shirts, make it an even 300 (or a little more) and we will arrange for the extras to be delivered to one of the charities and organizations with which we are working nationwide. Ordering 1000 pens for a trade show?  Increase the order to 1500 and we will ship the overruns to a local organization that needs them.

A line item will appear on your invoice showing the number and cost of the items you donated so that you can deduct the donation from your tax earnings.

• Have you changed your logo? Do you have items you no longer put into circulation? Outdated items? Slightly stained from storage items? All these items can be donated as well. Let’s clean out the closets and storage bins and put these products to good use! We will have the items picked up from your location, at no cost to you, and redistribute them to charities and organizations in need. A receipt will be provided for your records.
• We all know that giving to charity makes us feel great. Through our program, there is another positive side to letting a charity know you’ve donated goods: everything you donate will have YOUR logo, information, message, or ad on it. It’s additional advertising for you, and wonderful PR as well. Since donating these products is our mutual goal, we make it easy.  You don’t have to do the work of getting the goods to the places where they’re needed – we take care of everything.

Colleagues and fellow counselors:

• It’s the nature of our business to collect a multitude of samples. Now THAT’S an understatement! We need samples for our showrooms and to display at tradeshows and customer sites. Overruns are a standard practice and many of us like to keep samples of our best work. Then, of course, there are the occasional misprinted orders that end up in our possession for all eternity.

Does your office look like a warehouse?

Pictured above:  Just ONE SMALL CORNER of the SAS office space - filled floor to ceiling with boxes and boxes of overruns

Do you have shirts, jackets, pens, desk items and mugs stacked up all over the place? Most of us do. Let’s get together and put these samples in the hands of people who can use them. Keep your showroom and office neat and organized by donating these items to reputable charities. We will arrange to pick up your goods (although it would help our new venture, which is not-for-profit, if you would ship the goods to us on your account) and we will have them delivered to appropriate organizations based on the items donated.

• Get YOUR customers involved the way we have. Ask them to order overruns of everything possible and we will either warehouse them for the future (the next natural disaster) or donate to organizations in need RIGHT NOW.
• This is a great way to do maximum good with minimal effort.

Supplier companies:

• Let’s face it…  You have LOTS of inventory you would love to unload. You have tons of the “Why did the customer ask for blue when he really wanted red” orders just sitting there. How about the “I DID say I wanted a gold imprint on that piece but you printed silver (even though you did do it right)” job you produced last week? Or my favorite, the  “You told me five hours was enough time to produce the 30,000 pens, so now the customer is refusing them” order you made the mistake of taking last year … and the product is still sitting at your location.

You can put this unwanted inventory to good use instead of ultimately throwing it away. Add your goods to the clearinghouse we have created and take the tax write-off you deserve while helping people around our country. We will pick up the items (although your help with freight costs from your location would go a long way) and get them to an organization or charity in need of those particular donations.

Together, we can make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives and situations. It takes very little effort, but has a lasting and profound effect.

“One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.”

We’re not asking for your money, we’re simply asking you to shower us with garbage so that we can re-create it as treasure.

Thanks very much. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you!!!!!