Q - What the heck is this?

A - This started as answers to a bunch of questions that I've gotten over the last year and want to dump somewhere.  And because this is my site, I can be a little more snarky than is appropriate on FB. But since this is on the Internet, and I'm not *stupid*, it's not as snarky as I am in person

It turned into a dumping ground for, well, everything. Anything that might be useful for any of my peers or any of my team members who are interested in helping me with the admin stuff. 

And because I'm a glutton for punishment and hate leaving things half done, what was going to take a few hours is going to take me *weeks* to complete this stuff. Lesson learned.

Q - How much did you spend on this?

A - The site is at Google Sites, and was free. Except for the brain sweat. The vanity domain is $12 a year, and isn't necessary to set this up. But for my own reasons, I thought it would be handy to have, so I paid out of pocket for it - no Foundation or donor funds were used here.

Q - And who the heck are you?

A - No one of consequence.

My name is Jeffrey Smith. I have been the Coordinator of the Toys for Tots campaign covering Chester and portons of Montgomery Counties, PA since 2020

Edit: Aaaaand they made me Mentor of the Year for 2023. 

... which likely means more eyes on this thing. So, uh, hi?

Q - Is there any order in these things?

A - Not the slightest, I'm dumping them out of my brain as they come into my head.  I'm trying to group similar concepts, but it's going to be a work in progress basically forever

IMPORTANT NOTE: I am an LCO Large campaign in a fairly well off area, although there are areas of significant need. I have over 300 drop sites every year, even through many are not open to the public. I have plenty of volunteer help on the weekend during crazy time, and partners who will help me distribute in the areas of greatest need. What works for my campaign may not work for you. This is what *I* do, not what you "should" do - you should do whatever works for your specific circumstances

Walmart Grant: 2025 Walmart Grant Application 

Didn't you have a walkthrough doc?

Yup, and just like my plan for the year, it became outdated almost immediate. But here are the links:

2023 PACHST - Overview

2023 PACHST - Roles

2023 PACSHT - Timeline

2023 PACHST - Templates

Jeff's Advice for New Coordinators

Hey there.

So, in 2019, I went to drop off a gift for Toys for Tots, and was told there was no campaign in my county that year

"What do you mean there's no Toys for Tots? There's always Toys for Tots!"

What I found out is then is what you now know - Toys for Tots depends on local volunteers, and my predecessor had retired without anyone else taking the reins

So, I put in my application on the follow January - and was accepted.... just before the country shut down from the Covid pandemic

My first year was.... a learning experience. I'm hoping some of the following helps you avoid some of my mistakes, so you will have the opportunity to make new and novel mistakes all your own

Point #1: This is now your circus, and those are your monkeys

The most important thing of all is to understand that this is now *your* campaign. You are the ultimate decision maker on how Toys for Tots is completed in your area of responsibility. Don't feel an obligation to be bound by anything but the SOP - what other campaigns do and what your predecessor(s) may have done is not something you are bound by. If something doesn't work for you - absent the mandatory stuff in the SOP and training - don't do it.

I initially started from a blank slate because I had little information on how my predecessor had run his campaign. I found things that worked for me that were apparently very different than the way things had been done before. Most of what I put in place was received positively by the majority of the people we interacted with, but not everyone. Given that the people with the biggest reservations were used to a level of... hand holding I was unable to offer, this was a tradeoff that - in my opinion - was worth making

We interact with people who, generally speaking, don't have as much information as we do about how Toys for Tots is organized. This occasionally results in people, hm, attempting to take on more authority than they have to direct how Toys for Tots 'should' work in 'their' area. It's not your job to teach them how the Foundation works. You should refer them to your Accounting Specialist / Regional Campaign Manager (after warning said Specialist about any problem children that may be contacting you) and continue the mission. If their interference negatively impacts your campaign, don't suck it up, and (IMO) don't negotiate. Get some help so you can focus on your job.

As Coordinator, you will need to be careful to set expectations with your applicants and volunteers, but ultimately you're the person calling the shots. The Toys for Tots Foundation is not going to second guess you in most circumstances. They *can't* - there are only two dozen full time employees at the Foundation, and *hundreds* of campaigns. They selected *you* to run the campaign - so if someone wanted to run the campaign a different way, they should have put in an application to be Coordinator. Which - surprise!- is a lot more work than complaining about the job someone else is doing

Point #1b: You are now the face of Toys for Tots

A necessary part of remembering that you're in charge is that you're also, for better or worse, in the spotlight

Toys for Tots has widespread support in our mission, but that is something that requires effort to maintain. There are hundreds of campaigns; it only takes one massive screwup to end up on the front page of the national news.

You *are* the face of Toys for Tots in your area. Your success reflects positively on all of us... and you screwing up badly enough may have negative impacts far outside your area of responsibility  

Keep this in mind when interacting with your applicants, your volunteers, your drop sites, and.... anyone else. 

Especially keep in mind that there is no such thing as privacy when it comes to electronic communications, and think twice before sending that snarky response to an email you find irritating.

Point #2: You cannot do this all yourself / don't overcommit your campaign

My first year, I decided that I should take all the "bad" jobs and stubborn my way through any problems I stumbled across. 

This was stupid. 

Not only did I make tasks take far longer than they needed to take, I had plenty of volunteers who were interested in helping. One of the nice things about Toys for Tots is that few people *dislike* the mission, so getting people willing to help out is a lot easier than some other 'volunteer' activities might be.

So, don't take everything on your own shoulders. Ask people for help. They will offer it. If you don't ask, they will assume you don't need their assistance, and will find other organizations to help with.

That being said, your supply of volunteers is finite. Determine what you need to accomplish to meet the needs of your campaign. That does not necessarily mean you can support every request you receive from a drop site asking for supplies to be dropped off, an event asking for Marines, or a applicant who would like their gifts delivered. Determine what you can - and cannot - offer people, and try to stick to it.

Point #3: Your Warehouse - your campaign's home for the year

There is advice on how to find a warehouse here , but it may not be obvious until you've done this how critical it is to locate a Warehouse that meets your needs

In an ideal world, warehouse owners would fall over each other to offer your campaign unlimited space

We don't live in an ideal world.

Specific things to keep in mind when searching for your first warehouse:

• You will want - roughly - one square foot of space per child you are seeking to assist. More is great, of course, but less can cause capacity issues during your campaign

• Your warehouse doesn't need to be an actual *warehouse* - your minimum requirements are four walls and a door that locks. 

  • Running water, restrooms, and power are all nice to haves. A roof that doesn't leak is also nice. Heat that isn't set to five degrees above freezing is appreciated

  • A loading dock is awesome; doors large enough to accept pallet delivery are usually what we're going to settle for. Breaking down pallets in a parking lot in December is not fun

• Seek space is an area that is convenient for your *campaign* - meaning your volunteers and applicants - not necessarily just you. You will ideally want a space central to your area of responsibility and/or close to your greatest areas of need. 

• When to ask for space is a balancing act. The earlier you ask, the less likely someone is going to be willing to tie up their potentially leasable space for the rest of the year. But even once you get someone willing to help, the paperwork can take a couple weeks.

  • You want a warehouse by October. You need one by November. Most of your Gift in Kind will be arriving by then, and you don't want to either have it dropped at your house or miss out on it because you can't accept delivery.

  • You want your lease to end in January, *not* in December. You don't want to be scrambling to clean and move stuff to storage the last week of December

Point #4: The benefits of using your toysfortots.org email address

I'm writing this section knowing that a large portion of my LCO peers do *not* use the toysfortots.org email address as their primary for Toys for Tots. I believe that is a mistake, but I am also just a *dude*, and I'm not going to be running their campaigns. 

So, let me tell you why I choose to use the Toysfortots.org email address:

• Credibility. Thisreallyisntascam@gmail.com may not be accepted by some people - and generally speaking, the people who may be the hardest to contact are the ones who can offer your campaign the most benefit. Deliberately sacrificing the 'official' email address is one more hurdle to overcome when requesting assistance from a person or organization

• Keeps Toys for Tots and your real life separate. This is less of an issue for people who stand up Gmail accounts that are not their personal ones, but in my opinion it's easier still to just use the Foundation accounts. Especially because...

• Helps with transition if you can't act as Coordinator any longer. The Foundation controls the toysfortots.org email addresses, and can reset the PW and give control to someone else if needed. If you have a personal Gmail account, that's not true - and while a new Coordinator can set up a new account, they will have lost whatever history existed in that account. Because we only have 2 gigs of storage

• Helps with "internal" communications. For some reason toysfortots.org emails will end up flagged as spam by some providers. This can be a critical issue if the email you don't see is from the Foundation telling you something like if you don't turn in a receipt your purchase card will be turned off.  That brings up a *downside* to the email domain as well, but we're going to have to count on the Foundation to fix this.

If you're not familiar with how to access your Toys for Tots Email:

• Go to http://outlook.office.com/

• Enter your Toys for Tot email address supplied by the Foundation - it will end with @toysfortots.org

• Enter the password supplied by the Foundation or your Regional Campaign Manager. 

  • If you have forgotten / misplaced  it, open a trouble ticket or send an email to IT Support Toys For Tots <itsupport@toysfortots.org> 

You can also install the Outlook application on your computer or smartphone

Point #5: Respect the contributions of your donors; be frugal with funds

People donate to Toys for Tots to help children who might otherwise receive nothing during the holidays. This means it can be absolutely disaster if your campaign gets a reputation for carelessness with donated items or funds. 

We are given a lot of flexibility on how we spend our donated funds, and a lot of us have to put some significant sweat into earning those donations. In an ideal world, we'd be able to mimic the 97:3 ratio the Foundation maintains - but that's unlikely to be true for many of us. We have to buy supplies and rent trucks and pay utilities on our warehouses and such.

While I try to get as much of that as possible donated, I can't get everything we need - and I can't afford the time necessary to solicit dozens of sources to potentially save a couple hundred bucks. But everything I *can* get donated, I do - and I'm very publicly thankful to those donors. This both gives them credit and reinforces the message that we're trying to use donated funds *only* for Toys whenever possible.

That difference is perception can be the difference between someone choosing to support our campaign and someone deciding we're going to "waste" the donation. 

Point 5b: On buying gifts

Unless your campaign is unable to collect much from the public and is swimming in cash, do not waste your funds buying gifts in the 3-5 range. An overwhelming percentage of what you collect from the community is going to be focused in that area. It doesn't matter how great a deal may be - you're almost always going to want to conserve your cash for the 0-2 or the 8+ brackets. Keep in mind you will need funds for non-gift items like truck rental - don't spend down all your cash and then have issues during distribution 

This of course assumes that you bring in enough 3-5 from collections to meet your needs. If your collections are not meeting your needs, then you have no choice but to use funds to close that gap

When buying items for your campaign, use your judgement. For my campaign I try to stick with items in the $15-$20 range, rather than go to the $35 limit. There are two reasons for this:

• If I can get five $20 gifts or three $35 gifts, I'm generally going to choose the five

• Most of the items we get donated are in the $15-$25 range, and in an ideal world most of the gifts we offer will be similar in price and quality, so no child has to wonder why their sibling got something 'better'

Point #6: You can only offer what you receive from the community + the Foundation

We will occasionally have applicants - both individual families and agency / nonprofits - that seem to feel that Toys for Tots is some inexhaustible magical Toy Piggy Bank that can effortlessly supply whatever they want

Nothing could be further from the truth. If you serve 1000 children, and each of those children gets two items, even if the gifts have an average value of $15, that's $30,000.

Toys for Tots helped almost ten million children in 2022, primarily though the individual campaigns. And the Foundation is not supplying a *fraction* of those items through Gift In Kind donations.

The majority of the support you will receive will need to come from your local community, and that will vary in both quality and quantity.  You should carefully set expectations with your applicants to minimize any dissatisfaction when someone who asks for an Xbox gets a Barbie. What I have at the top of my application is:

The goal of Toys for Tots is to offer gifts to children who might otherwise receive nothing. Gifts donated by our community tend to be in the $10 -$20 range. Please keep this in mind when adding in specific requests for your children. No video games, clothing, gift cards, or items such as bikes will be offered. If you are seeking something other than what Toys for Tots can offer, please apply for assistance through a different organization - we can only offer what we receive.  

Point #7: Communications are key. Set expectations early and often

80% of the issues I've faced with Toys for Tots relate to misunderstanding on what our Toys for Tots campaign can and cannot offer those that work with us

• Applicants that don't understand we're only offering the (inexpensive) gifts that are donated to us may feel disappointed when they receive their gifts. Solution? Set that out explicitly on the application they need to fill out to apply for assistance

• Toy Drop Sites may expect people to drop off and pick up boxes on the schedule most convenient for them, rather than what works for the people you're trying to serve - or you may not be able to drop off or pick up at all. Again, setting this on the application and with email updates during the campaign reduces the number of people asking for pickups after your campaign has concluded

• Donors who don't know what your needs are will be more likely to purchase and drop off toys in the 3-5 age range, as they are the easiest to find. They're also the ones we tend to receive more than we need compared to other age ranges. Telling the public how many kids you're planning to help and where your shortages are can help address some of this.

• Volunteers aren't just sitting around waiting to help; they need to know in advance what kind of help is needed and when. Letting your volunteers know the (high level) plan for the campaign and when the busy dates will allow some of them to keep those dates open 

Dropping off a box at a place and showing up two months later to pick it up may work fine. It also might not. Keeping in touch with the people working with your campaign will cut down on the number of unpleasant surprises - which can happen at the last minute if you haven't given those people a reason to contact you before you need them to do something.

Point the (second to) last: Accept that your first year is going to be as much about learning what works and what doesn't as it is helping kids

At the end of the day, the mission is to help kids. If you help kids, you are doing the job.

That doesn't mean you're going to do it perfectly. You're not going to be able to serve every child in need in your territory, either because those families and agencies didn't understand how to apply, or couldn't find a way to collect their gifts, or you didn't collect enough, or or or

You have finite resources, and finite time. And you're not really going to understand how many resources you're going to have, and how much time Toys for Tots is going to require until you've had a few years under your belt. You certainly shouldn't be treating your first year as a "gimme", but give yourself a little grace when things go sidewise. Which they inevitably will. Your peers can help you, but some of the issues you face are going to be up to you and your own determination to get to the finish line. 

We've all been through the pain of the First Year. We all have stories. And the majority of us are still here. 

We hope you will be too. But that requires you to work at a sustainable pace. Don't kill yourself, because what you offer is better than the nothing that may be the alternative.

New Point the Last: Some of the things you need to keep track of

This is an example of some of the action items / tasks / etc from my campaign last year. These are the types of things you're probably going to need to keep in mind. Note that this list covered months, so don't let it feel overwhelming. You have time

• Email previous year drop sites to verify they are interested in participating this year

• Email previous Agency / Nonprofits to remind them to put in an application, and any changes for the year

• Find warehouse

• Set up virtual drives: You Give Goods and HDI

• Order Boxes from the Foundation

• Recruit Supply Sites, Consolidation Sites, Distribution Sites

• Contact businesses that did Days of Service volunteering to ask them to sign up for this year, giving 'dibbs' to the priority contacts

• Email volunteers with updates

• Update toysfortots.org campaign site; open applications

• Update carryover sheet

• Update Hold Harmless file for this year, send link to volunteers

• Solicit supply donations

• Get carryover out of storage; move to warehouse once located

• Media Outreach

• Set drop sites as live on site as they indicate they are ready

• Add sponsors to local site

• Order volunteer shirts

• Send validation email to questionable applications; deny nonresponsive ones

• Ask families to select distribution date / locations

• Ask Agencies to verify final numbers

• Consolidate donations

• Pack families for distribution

• Pack agencies for distribution

• Distribute

• Pack up and inventory carryover

• Move to off season storage

• Clean warehouse and return keys

General Questions / Thoughts

How do I find who is the Coordinator of a different Campaign?

The main Toys for Tots webpage has a "Local Chapter Search Tool", here (or at least here as of May 2024) https://www.toysfortots.org/find-your-local-chapter/

You need the State, and then the County. If you don't know the county of a specific municipality, google "{name of town} County". Usually it'll pull up pretty easily

That will pull up their site if one exists. There are counties in each state that have no campaign, because that requires someone local to step up. If there isn't a campaign, there's no one local to direct someone to.

Keep in mind that most Coordinators aren't on Facebook, so just asking who is the coordinator isn't usually going to work

How do I get a tax letter for a donation of toys/goods?

First things first: you, or a representative of your campaign, *must* physically accept the items for this to be covered. If someone drops a bunch of stuff in a box, that's considered "uncontrolled" and they need to just make the claim directly to the IRS; we can't create a tax letter after the fact.

The process is relatively straightforward, and the templates are on the Secure Site under Section 7: Gift in Kind

First, you need to have the donor fill out the Letter of Donation Notification. The format can vary, but it must contain:

• Donor name and address

• Date of Donation

• Quantity and value of items donated

• Who they are donating to - aka the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation or your campaign

Once you have received the items - and that's critical, because you're responsible for acknowledging the receipt - you fill out the Letter Acknowledging Donation . In this case, you want to just use the Foundation format. The important part here is the count of items. It doesn't have to match 1:1 from the donor letter - if they have ~150 items on their list, a single line saying "Toys: 150" is fine

Both of these get emailed to the Foundation to Ted and Jo - they will generate the tax letter and snail mail it to the donor in February / March. 

If this is a  significant donation, there's an additional step you want to follow....

How do I get my big sponsors acknowledged by the Foundation?

We all receive support from our communities, but some of our donors are bigger than others.

From the main website:

To be a National Corporate Sponsor

• Contribute or help raise over $25,000 in cash, or…

• Contribute over $100,000 worth of new toys or books

To be a National Corporate Donor

• Contribute or help raise over $5,000 in cash, or…

• Contribute over $25,000 worth of new toys or books

Note that this is *nationwide*, not just to your campaign. If someone donates $4K to your campaign and $2K to your neighbors, that still counts

If you have a donor that meets these thresholds, reach out to Ted at vpmarketing@toysfortots.org or ted.silvester@toysfortots.org. He will thank them, get them some paperwork to sign, get a copy of their logo, and get them added to the main website in the Sponsor section

Is this mandatory on your part? No. Is this a good idea so they support you next year? Absolutely 

How large are the Toys for Tots Boxes 

There are two sizes of boxes shipped by the Foundation

Smaller: Welch, comes in 15 count cases via UPS or Fedex

40.5 x 43 flat

22.5 Wide x 18.5 Deep x 32 High

Larger: Westrock, comes on 100 count pallets

46 x 49.5 flat

26.5 Wide x 20.5 Deep x 36.5 High

2025 Boxes: Placeholder

Assembling the 2025 Boxes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TjwwOEZBuriEzy-3lm47QNJPZWDL3aZd/view

What is the breakout of Toys for Tots Regions?

Map as of 2024

What do I need to know about the Annual Training Conference?

Things you don't need to worry about paying for:

• Hotel for the days of the conference

  • They only cover the days in the letter. Showing up early or late and you need to find other lodging

• Meals during conference

  • Part of conference. You won't have time to eat offsite, but if you do you'd be responsible for the cost

    • Mandatory that everyone be at the awards dinner on Friday evening, which needs "Men: Coat and tie (or suit). Women: Tea-length skirt/dress or pantsuit.". Marines have their own dress

      • Other dress code is basically business casual during the conference

Things you need to pay for with the Toys for Tots card. Reminder: these are donor funds. Be frugal with them. Need receipts for everything. Billing Address for card: 18251 Quantico Gateway Dr, Triangle, VA 22172

• Travel to the conference

  • Coach airfare or driving depending on distance

    • Shuttle to and from the destination airport is included with the hotel

    • Needs to be booked no later than Aug 24th, and submitted to Secure Site, section 2. Do so ASAP *once authorization is receive* to lock in lowest rates

    • Needs to be booked directly with airline

  • Parking at airport

    • Reasonable rate

  • "One meal per travel day"

Things you would need to pay for yourself

• Any alcohol purchases during Friday dinner

• Any food not supplied by the hotel during the meal breaks

• Any touristy stuff

Packing tips

• You're going to - at the very least - get a backpack full of training materials and documentation. Leave room in your luggage for the stuff you're taking home with you

How do get sales tax waived?

You're going to need to get one or both of the following from the Secure Site, Section 5 Docs and agreement, Tax Forms:

• IRS Letter of Determination (501c3)

• State Sales Tax Exempt

For some businesses, it's as simple as showing one or both of those. For others, it's more complex. For example, to get a sales tax exemption from Amazon requires following this process:  https://tax-exemption.amazon.com/wizard/exemptionStates

Do not mix your personal and Toys for Tots ecommerce purchases.  If you accidentally (or "accidentally") request a sales tax exemption for a personal purchase, not only are you opening yourself up for the joys of an audit, you may risk the Toys for Tots Foundation's 501c3 status. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Depending on the business you are requesting a sales tax exemption from, there may be an application process, and it may take a couple weeks to process. So, find out who you're going to be buying from early, google around, and fill out the forms.

How do you find a warehouse?

If this is your first year, take a peek at this section first. 

Things to keep in mind when seeking space:

• An actual “warehouse” is great but is unlikely to be available. To date I have had four locations: one warehouse, two retail storefronts, and a vacant office building undergoing renovations. You don’t want to limit your search for just ‘warehouses’

• As can be seen above, I have to locate new space every year. This is likely to be your experience as well unless your campaign has developed a relationship with someone – and there is no guarantee that will always be available.

• Donated is best whenever possible, but you may need to pay utilities. Unless you’re swimming in cash, no campaign can afford to pay market rates for rent. In any case, make sure to offer the owner a tax letter at the end of the year for their donation. Even if they choose not to take it, make the offer to show you understand how valuable what they are donating to Toys for Tots is

  • EDIT 2024: It is now my understanding that donated warehouse space is *not* eligible for a tax writeoff.  Utilities *may* be tax deductible.

My first stop is loopnet.com, which lists commercial real estate. Unless you’re absolutely desperate, the space you’re requesting needs to be in your coverage area.  My goal is 1 square foot per child, which in my case is 16,000. I set the lower bounds at 10,000, because while I'd like 16k square feet, at the end of the day I'm going to take what I can get. 

At least one of our peers chooses multiple smaller warehouses. I can’t make that work because I don’t have the volunteer base necessary to subdivide my territory that way

When to start looking is a challenge – the earlier I ask, the less likely someone will be willing to let me tie up their space for the rest of the year. Generally in late July I will reach out to people who might be able to help giving them a heads up that I’ll be seeking space again, but I don’t really ramp up the search until August. The goal is to have something locked down by the September if possible, so I can have my boxes shipped, and ready to be distributed before the campaign starts Oct 1st. If that slips, it’s not the end of the world – most toys aren’t donated until late November / early December.

In the past, I have emailed the reps. in 2023, I dropped off physical letters at the offices. Here is an example: 2023 Sample Letter

It is important to ask for space through mid-January. You don’t want to be frantically packing up everything during Christmas with a drop dead date of Dec 31.

Once I have my warehouse located, my preference is security through obscurity until it is distribution time – I don’t put the location out there for anyone who doesn’t need to know. It *certainly* doesn’t go on my website or social media site, nor do I put up a sign in the window.

Speaking of windows, you are going to have a bunch of pallets of toys sitting around unguarded most weekdays. It is wise to get some rolls of painter paper and cover the windows if your location is anywhere semipublic.

Just like with donor funds, you do not want the property owner to regret loaning your campaign the space. Keep it neat; take out the trash so food isn’t rotting in trash cans, don’t leave the lights on or crank the AC and run up the power bill, etc. Do not under any circumstances mar the walls or floors – use painters tape to put up signs or make marks on the floor.

After everything is moved to storage, you want to make sure the warehouse is returned to the state It was in before you arrived, if not cleaner. It should be ready to show potential leaser or buyers the day after you leave

What responsibilities do your Assistant Coordinator(s) have?

Note: this is a work in progress

The responsibilities of the role of Assistant Coordinator is  highly dependent on the specific campaign, what the assistant is able to offer, and what the Coordinator is willing and able to delegate. 

Having a 'second in command' that has a level of authority and can be relied upon can be of vital assistance to the Coordinator. Please see the following link

https://www.pachst.com/assistant

How do you store your carryover?

While the Foundation only requires a total county of toys, books, and stocking stuffers at the end of the campaign, when we pack up whatever is left, we do it by age and/or gender. Rather than a box having "25 gifts", it would have "25 3-5 boys".

This offers the following value to our campaign

• When we need to unpack for the next year, I don't need to break open boxes; I can just stack them in the appropriate area until we need them

• While the Foundation only needs a high level number for what is distributed and what is left, I try to break out my figures at a more granular level, because I need to know how much I collected for each age range, so I can guess what I will - and will not - need to purchase the next year. For example, for 2023 I overbought on the 0-2 range and have a bunch left; I probably won't buy any for 2024.

• If I need to break into storage to respond to a natural disaster, I can determine which boxes I need to crack to get the gifts I'm looking for

Items are stored in boxes that we either retain from our GIK, solicit from some of our partners, or purchase. For bulky items or plush, Toys for Tots boxes can be used. When practical, items are palletized for ease of storage and movement.

How do I get enough gifts to meet the needs of my campaign?

This is a broad question, but it comes up often enough I thought it was useful to put this out

There are two important part to this:

• Increasing supply

• Decreasing demand/requests

Validating large applications from Nonprofits / Families to trim down requests

Each Toys for Tots campaign is responsible for how they choose to accept applications, but one of the common challenges I've seen my peers face is large requests from nonprofits.

Bluntly, some of them are making stuff up, and asking for as many gifts as they can get, not necessarily what they need for the holiday season

It is important to remember that even the most ethical organization is motivated to best serve their community, not necessarily to make your life easy - any many seem to feel Toys for Tots is an unlimited source of "free" toys they can draw upon to whatever limits you set.

So, how to deal with this?

• Explicitly tell Agencies you expect that they are working with individual families, and that gifts from Toys for Tots are not available for community parties or other unstructured giving

• Ask for their applicant list

• Ask them to validate how they arrived at the numbers they came up with. An organization that is distributing out of a rowhome is probably not serving 600 children

At the end of the day, as long as you apply your policies consistently, you are able to set whatever standards you feel are appropriate for what support you choose to offer nonprofits / agencies. Setting an upper limit can be done in the LCO site  at Manage Website Account and Settings > Local Site Settings > Limits for Toy Request Forms. Just because an application is entered requesting X does not mean you have an obligation to meet that request either if you have reason to believe the applicant is inflating their request or if you just don't have the support from the community to meet all requests

For family applications, again you are free to set whatever validation requirements you choose. While I don't ask for evidence of custody for families requesting help for two or three kids, I do for any applications seeking aid for six or more. Half of these tend to be people asking for support for children they do not have custody of. I remove those children from the application prior to approval.

Recruiting (and culling) Drop Sites to get more gifts

While the Foundation will supplement your collections with Gift in Kind, most campaigns are dependent on their local communities for the bulk of their gifts

I have an article here on recruiting drop sites, but one thing to keep in mind is that every drop site you set up involves a *cost* to your campaign as well. A site that you need to burn volunteer hours to drop a box off to and pick up that nets your campaign no toys is not a good investment of your scarce volunteer hours.

This is why I operate on a 'hub' self service model, where I have boxes available at Supply Sites , where the expectation is that sites that want to participate need to get their own boxes. 

Does this potentially cost me some good sites? Yes - but most of the sites who choose not to participate are those that basically don't collect anything. They know they're not getting gifts, so they don't bother going through the effort of putting a box out when they need to put in the sweat.

Keep in mind that every drop site doesn't need to be open to the public. Find your large businesses that want to run an internal drive. I have some that fill up a dozen boxes, but they're not listed publicly, because those are all internal donations. 

By moving to a hub model, you lower the number of nonproductive sites, and free up your time to find others that may bring in more gifts

Special Donation Events ("Stuff the Truck", etc.)

Along with just having boxes out in the community, there will sometimes be opportunities for short duration events that can bring in gifts. It is important to balance the gifts that are received vs the effort involved to get those gifts. I have a restaurant that basically collects enough gifts to fill a box truck every year and all we need to do is supply two marines and pick up the gifts; we have others where they're basically asking for a platoon in dress blues for a glorified trivia night. The former is supported, the latter is not

To a degree, this is going to involve some trial and errot. A Stuff The Truck event might stuff a truck; it might bring in next to nothing. It's hard to tell which is which until you give it a shot. There is a balancing act here from a timing perspective as well - the closer to the holidays, the more support you'll get... but the closer to the holidays, the more you need your volunteers doing other things. Try to set these up with partners who are going to put in  some effort to advertise the event to their customers, as your ability to perform outreach as a Toys for Tots campaign may be limited

Also keep in mind that events like this may cannibalize toys you might have otherwise gotten as 'regular' donations.  They're still useful to run, but these are not always going to be all new toys that you otherwise would not have recieved.

LCO Site Related Questions

How do I update the text on my applications?

You will want to keep this updated throughout your campaign, to reflect whatever the appropriate rules are. The edit functions can be reached a couple ways, but the consistent locations are:

• Agency / Non-Profit Applications

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Online Form Page Content > Edit Non-Profit Form Page

• Family Applications

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Online Form Page Content > Edit Family Form Page

• Toy Drop Site

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Online Form Page Content > Edit Become a Drop Site Page

What do you put on your applications?

Some of the templates I have used or plan to use can be seen here:  Templates

What parts of the site can you hide and which are always visible

As a reminder, your Toys for Tots page is there to assist your campaign, not to act as a straightjacket. While it is critical to keep relevant data up on the site and remove dated stuff, the fact that the page you are reading exists demonstrates it doesn't have to be the be all and end all of your campaign

It is important to understand what you *cannot* turn off, and hence where it is critical that you make sure only accurate information is there:

• Main Page. 

Update this from Manage Content > Home Page Content

• "Donate" high level page 

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Page Content > Ways to Donate. Note that I don't update this, leave the base page alone

• Donate a Toy  - Donate  > Donate a Toy

While you can hide the drop sites, the page where they would be displayed is still active.  Update this from Manage Content > Manage Page Content > Toy Drop Offs

• Request a Toy

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Page Content > Request Toys

• Contact

Update this from Manage Content > Manage Page Content > Contact Page

You have more flexibility on other sites you can turn on here

Manage Website Account and Settings > Local Site Settings

There are things you can turn on or off. 

• Toy Drop Sites Form

  • This is to turn on the application for people to apply to be a drop site, *not* the display of your active drop sites

  • It is under Get Involved > Become a Toy Drop Site on the main page

  • I turn this on in early September, so I can get people to start signing up, and off on Dec 1st, when I no longer have time to get them supplies

• Single Family Toy Request Form

  • This is the Family Application Form

  • It is under Request a Toy > Family Application Form on the main page

  • I turn this on Oct 1st, and off when my applications close, ~Nov 15th. I will open it up a few days later to offer a clean break between people who applied by the deadline and people on the waitlist. When the waitlist is full, the site is turned off again

• Non-Profit Toy Request Form

  • This is the Agency / Nonprofit form

  • It is under Request a Toy > Agency / Non-Profit Application Form  on the main page

  • I turn this on in early September - so my agencies can put in 'stub' applications - and off when my applications close, ~Nov 15th. There are no late Agency applications.... or if there are, I enter them manually rather than reopening the form

• Local Event Form

  • This is under Get Involved > Host a Toys for Tots Event on the main page

  • I do not turn this on, because too many of the people filling it out request Marines. As I don't have Marines to offer, I find it easier to have these discussions via email rather than have them fill out the form

• Local Volunteer Form

  • This is under Get Involved > Sign Up to be a Volunteer on the main page

  • I do not turn this on as the information captured on this form doesn't get me the information I want. I have a sign up link for my volunteer mailing list on the main page

• Supply Request Form

  • This is under Get Involved > Request Toys for Tots Supplies on the main page

  • I do not turn this on as a) I only want my drop sites to have supplies, and they should sign up that way and b) I don't deliver supplies, and the form implies that we will

• Distribution Event Page

  • This is under Request a Toy > Toy Distribution Dates

  • This may be useful for some campaigns but I don't choose to use it. I only want the people assigned to a specific event to have those details, to minimize the number of people showing up without an appointment

• Reference Links Page

  • This is under About Us > Reference Links on the main page

  • Update this from Manage Content > Reference Links

  • I don't use this

• Printable Forms Page

  • This is under About Us > Documents and Form on the main page

  • Update this from Manage Content >Online Printable Forms

  • I don't use this

• Photo Galleries Page

  • This is under About Us > Photo Galleries on the main page

  • Update this from Manage Content > Photo Galleries

  • I don't use this

• Google Translate

  • This allows for the use of Google Translate on your forms

  • I would prefer to have this on, but unfortunately using it will allow people to enter non-standard characters, which will mess up the application. 

    • López will turn into López when you look at the form

• Foundation FAQs

  • This is under About Us > Frequently Asked Questions

  • This is updated by Manage Content > Manage Listing > Manage the FAQs

  • You can add your own 'local' questions, with the Foundation FAQ at the end

  • I leave this on year-round

How do I update the Sponsors on my webpage

On the LCO site, navigate to Manage Content > Manage Listing > Manage Local Sponsors

Click "Add Sponsor". Update as follows

• Title: Title of the Sponsor

• Website URL: Self explanatory

• Partner Level Rank: This allows you to rank your sponsors within their Ranking.  1 comes before 99, etc

• Partner Level: One through Four. One displays as  Four Star Partner if you haven't made any changes to the Sponsorship Levels

• Select Image: Upload an image

• Sponsor Intro: Free form text to tell everyone how awesome your sponsors are.

If you want to edit the Sponsor Levels, that is Manage Website Accounts and Settings > Local Partner Levels

People are seeing / getting stale information from my campaign

Ok, so there are a couple of places you need to check, and either clear out or update. 

On the website itself, make life easy for yourself and *go check your website*.  These pages are always visible. If you see something that needs to changes, here are the places to do it:

Main page / Home:  Manage Contents and Images > Home Page Content > Update Home Page Content

Donate Page: Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content > Update Ways to Donate Page

Donate a Toy Page: Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content > Update Donate A Toy Page

Request a Toy Page: Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content > Update Request Toys Page

Get Involved Page: Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content > Update Get Involved / Volunteer Page

About Us Page:  Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content > Update About Toys for Tots Page

Sponsor Page: Manage Contents and Images > Manage Listings > Manage Local Sponsors

Contact Page:  Manage Contents and Images > Manage Page Content >  Update Contact Page

From email responses: there are two places you need to check

Manage Website Account and Settings > Request Form Submission Confirmations - these are the emails that are generated when someone fills out an applicatin

Manage Website Account and Settings > Bulk Email Responses - these are the emails that are generated when applications are approved or disapproved in bulk

How do you track inventory / How do you determine how much to buy

These are related, but I warn you: there will be math

Determining what your gift needs are for the current year after the application window closes

We get a lot of applications, and the Dashboard is, eh, not always super helpful. Plus our needs change over time

I track what I need at a Distribution level, and I've built tools to help with that

Family applications

This is a copy of my Family template; feel free to plagiarize: Family Template

To summarize, this works like this:

• I do an extract of my family applications from the LCO site

• I cut and paste it into the "applicant dump" tab. This gets me my raw data

• I copy the Request IDs from the Applicant Dump tab into the first column of the Setup tab. This reformats the data in a way that I can use. I'm sure there's a way to cut this step down but Google Sheets doesn't appear to be as capable as Excel

• The Distributions tab will tell me how many kids I have for each of my age brackets, broken out by distribution.  Before they are assigned to a distribution they'll be in Distribution ID 0, which I have as Not Assigned. Note that this may overcount disapproved applications

• Agency Applications

This is the Agency list. Agency Template

• Agency Dump is like Family Dump - get the raw data, paste it in

• 2023 Agencies shows how many kids I need for each agency. It's a lot easier than for the families. 

• The sheets to print tab allows me to put in the agency ID and generate cover sheets for each of my age brackets. Just helps pack up, not critical

This allows me to see what I need for each distribution / time period as well as giving me the totals I need

Determining what you brought in (for your AAR)

Here's a dirty little secret; I don't count every item that comes in the door to the warehouse. 

I can't; I don't have time - I have tens of thousands of toys cycling into the warehouse

But I know what I started with. And I know what the Foundation sent me.  And I know what I distributed. And I know what's left

So as noted scholar Mark Whatney said, let's do the math

A starting inventory example sheet can be seen here: Starting Inventory Template

I calculate what I brought in from the community with the following calculation: 

Collected Gifts = Distributed Gifts + Carryover Inventory - Pre Collection Inventory (carryover + GIK)

This helps me fill out the After Action Report without an inventory I don't have time to do, or without pulling a number out of the air

Why does this matter? Because....

Determining what you're going to need for the next year

.. is going to be a crapshoot. But again, we can make some estimates

We know the following:

2024 Starting Inventory

2023 Estimated Collections

With that, we can determine the estimated number of gifts we will have in the warehouse prior to distribution, *not* counting GIK from the Foundation:

2024 Estimated Pre-Distribution Gifts = 2023 Carryover + 2023 Estimated Collections

We also know the number of gifts we needed in 2023 to serve our applicants

This allows us to calculate the number of gifts we would expect to have in carryover at the end of the season to need to purchase:

Surplus / Deficit = 2024 Estimated Pre-Distribution Gifts - 2023 Needed Gifts

In this case, I would expect to have an excess of 0-2 and 3-5, and need to purchase 6-7, 8-10, and 11+

Once we have a list of the items coming from the Foundation in this year's GIK, that can be further refined

Obviously all these are estimates, since we don't know who is going to participate and how much they will collect - nor how many families and agencies will request assistance. But it gives a baseline for estimation (and in the case of my campaign, demonstrates why I don't spend donated funds on 3-5

Succession Planning

At a high level,  "Succession Planning" for Toys for Tots is acknowledging that you won't always be Coordinator, and trying to make it so your successor is not starting from scratch. Succession Planning is *not* writing up detailed procedures that you expect someone else to follow slavishly. Once you're not the Coordinator, you're not the Coordinator. Your successor will decide how they want to run *their* campaign, which may not be the same as the way you ran the Campaign when you controlled it

Part 1 - Recording important campaign-specific stuff / how to access it

Each Toys for Tots campaign, at a high level, is similar

We all have the support of our communities, the sites that collect gifts for us, some method of allowing people to request those gifts, and some method of distributing them

Each of those ways may be different, depending on the resources of the campaign, and what the Coordinator chooses

Each of us *also* has things that are *not* the same. Things that are unique to our specific campaign

I... have not done as good a job as I should in recording some of this. I will be rectifying this as part of my 2024 stand up. It will need to be updated, but I will be creating a 'break glass in emergency' doc to allow someone to take over as needed, and sharing it with some trusted volunteers and other contacts.

Contacts / Relationships

My campaign keeps the majority of it's information for drop sites and applicants in both the LCO site and in separate Google Sheets that can help sort information

This is a vital resource for anyone taking over a campaign, as the first thing I do when I kick off my campaign is contact those drop sites that worked with me previously to see if they're interested in participating this year. Without that, a new Coordinator is effectively starting from scratch  and needing to put effort into recruiting 'new' drop sites - even those that have been working with your campaign for years. 

For the same reason, having a record of any useful contacts when it comes to warehouse hunting should be available for your successor to review. 

And of course your successor needs to be able to contact potential volunteers, especially those in special roles like Warehouse Manager. I have a mailing list for my volunteers that I can hand over for some of that

Problem Applicants, both Family and Agency

There are some applicants where merely disapproving an application isn't sufficient. I have a few family applicants who have been banned as they've claimed children that are not their own on their application - despite the application explicitly saying not to do so - or have applied and not shown to their appointment

Or have had a... negative reaction to me not being able to drop off gifts to their home.

For Agencies, I have a specific one where the volunteers who were there to pick up gifts started going through *other* orders and had to be watched. 

In all these cases, I will have notes in my Google Sheets tracking sheets to warn my successor to give these people a second glance. I will not be mandating any action - again, it won't be my campaign at that point - but letting them know of potential issues will encourage them to give the application a second look before approval and during processing

Things that worked, things where your campaign failed in the past

Many of the things you're seeing on this page are based on trial and error. The note about needing a square foot of space in your warehouse for each child you want to serve? That's based on the hilariously too small space I had for my first year - something I didn't realize was going to be an issue until collections were completed, and I had no room to pack stuff.

Again, if you're passing the torch, it's no longer your campaign... but it can be helpful to offer some advice to your successor so they're not scrambling.

Or they're scrambling less than they inevitably will be

Part 2 - Training up people to assist you

None of us can do this alone, but finding assistance can be.... challenging. 

Volunteers willing to lend a hand? Relatively easy compared to finding people willing to take responsibility  for things.

I don't have good advice here, because while I have been able to delegate some functions I have not been able to delegate as much as I would like.

If you are fortunate enough to have people willing to step up, TAKE IT. You do not want to be a point failure source. You want people who not only can but will take some of your duties. 

That may require more work initially than just doing it yourself, but the long term payoff offers you the flexibility to deal with issues *only* the Coordinator can address, and leave the 'regular' stuff to people that can be trusted to manage without supervision

Please see the page on Assistant Coordinators for part of this

https://www.pachst.com/assistant

Creating an Assistant Login

You can create a secondary login for your LCO page. Previously this needed to go through your Accounting Specialist but I believe this is self service now

Manage Website Account and Settings > Web Site Admin Information

You should see these fields

By setting up an Assistant User Name and Password, team member(s) can have access to everything *except* the Secure Site. This will allow them to process applications, update sponsorships, etc

Keeping Volunteers engaged and informed

You cannot do this alone, which means you need help. And in order to help you, volunteers need to know where help is needed

Two tools I use are Mailchimp - a free(ish) email platform, and Sign Up Genius for volunteers to sign up for slots

Volunteer email list

Note: As of 2024, Mailchimp has put additional 'send' restrictions in place that may not make it viable for new users. There are other options, but be careful not to accidentally get your Toysfortots.org email address flagged as spam. I have a separate email address I use to communicate with my volunteers: Coordinator@pachst.com - I paid for it out of pocket to the tune of $15 a year or so. It's one of the reasons I opted to purchase this domain.

I send out emails a couple times a year in the off season to keep people looped in on what's going on, but most communication is during the campaign.  I have a self sign up if you want to see what I send during the year:  https://mailchi.mp/6e541c1ae62c/volunteer-sign-up 

While I keep these emails non-formal, there are never non-*professional*. Anything you send via email may be sent anywhere at any time, and many of my sponsors and partners also sign up for the list to be kept posted on what's going on. Problems that are mentioned are opportunities to overcome, not something where someone is trashed. Success is credited to the volunteers who assisted, not to me. 

At the end of the day, the purpose is to motivate people to help your campaign. Make them feel like a part of the team, and they're more willing to step up than some faceless guy demanding they do specific things

Volunteer Sign Ups

When it comes to the things you need help with, giving people a chance to select their own preference is very helpful. I use Sign Up Genius, but there are other tools. Here is an example: Sample Sign Up Genius Form

Lessons learned here:

• For events / slots where you need people to be present, try to avoid having a single family take all the slots. If that family gets sick or is a no show, you're going to be in a bad place

• Don't put too many events on a single sign up; you want to keep things focused on a week or two if possible so you don't have people sign up for one item and nothing else. Plus your needs may change. As events are completed, I remove them from the sign up to keep the list fresh

• Add some redundancy to your schedule by adding extra slots, but don't go completely crazy. If something can be run by two people in a pinch but three is better, I put room for four. 

• You need to balance not overwhelming people with information against making sure they know what they're getting into. A couple of sentences for what each type of slot does can be helpful. For example: 

  • Family Packing Team: We will have two print outs for each family we are packing for a specific event. Two age appropriate toys per child on the sheet. Place one copy of the sheet in the bag, and tape the other to the outside. Write the first three letters of the last name in sharpie on the sheet

  • Distribution Team: We will have prepacked the families on your checklist. The bags will be sorted in alphabetical order. Find the applicant on the sheet, send someone in to grab them bag, have them verify the sheet on the bag is correct, hand it over, and check them off the list. Come to a lead with any issues

Purchasing locally vs through a wholesaler

The bulk of my gift purchases are from wholesalers when possible. I get more value for the donated funds, and having someone drop pallets off makes transport much easier

That doesn't mean I don't build relationships with my local toy / game stores. Not the Targets and Walmarts, but the mom and pops

Why? They're not offering as good a price as I can get from Groupsales?

Because:

• I can use them for last minute gap filling when I don't have time to wait for anything to be shipped

• Because they're often drop sites, and usually pretty good ones

• Because they offer a variety I usually can't get from a wholesaler

• Because they often have a better feel for what gifts are actually in demand vs what a 51 year old dude with a teenage son would be able to figure out by looking at an order screen

• Because some donors like knowing their donations are spent locally

I will let them know fairly early in the season what age ranges I'm looking for and how much I want to spend, and ask them to pull an order together as time permits. I will spend a minimum of $1,000 per store - not enough to strip them during the holday season, but not an insignificant token amount either

What is the Lifecycle of a Toy Collection Site in your campaign?

The bulk of the support for any Toys for Tots campaign comes from the communities they are set up to serve. This typically involves our signature white Toy Drop boxes set up around the communities we serve. Those go up, gifts are dropped off

How do you recruit drop sites?

At this point, I don't. I have more than enough sites that return year after year that I don't need to spend significant effort recruiting new ones. 

When I first started, this was my list of prospects:

• Municipality town halls or other 'official' offices. By definition they're geographically widespread, and they tend to be staffed during business hours

• Libraries. Ditto

• District Offices of local elected officials. While it is my understanding that a Federal office holder may be put in an awkward position if they host a Toys for Tots box but not something for a different nonprofit, your state Representatives, Senators, and whatever other forms of government serve your community are usually happy to host them

  • IMPORTANT NOTE: Be careful to differentiate between the offices of an elected official and any reelection campaign they may be hosting as a candidate. It is absolutely critical that Toys for Tots not be seen as having a partisan lean towards a political party. This can especially be challenging in areas where one party or the other is dominant. Most local officials will understand and respect that. If they don't, cut them off - you do not need the extra headache, and the Toys for Tots Foundation doesn't need the bad press.

• Large employers. Even if they're not open to the public, a toy drive at an office with a bunch of people can bring in gifts, and can be a foot in the door to request financial support as well

• Toys for Tots National Sponsors. The current list is in two parts,  here and here. Note that this is dependent on the store / district manager, and may conflict with something else they have going on. For example, Five Below takes cash donations at the register rather than hosting toy drop boxes. I haven't had any luck with getting boxes into Target or Barnes and Noble, despite the support they offer the Foundation. 

  • If you have a donor who offers you significant financial support, reach out to Ted at the Foundation and get them on the list. 

• Self storage locations. They can offer additional benefits besides being a Toy Drop Site. See the section on picking up gifts.

What I do is reach out to *last* year's drop sites in September, and ask them if they are interested in participating this year. i include a survey, like this example:  https://forms.gle/guEb6TT2NeXpnZ4NA

I send this to every site from the previous year, as well as any other contact emails that may be interested. 

How do you keep track of your Drop Sites?

Detailed discussion for my assistants specific to our campaign can be found here: Drop Site Sheet Update 

I have a Google Sheet that I use to keep track of my sites. A template version can be seen here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TGWtuVIJfTQhsuutFzSiNok82eYruYQ8ivOps8GrLd4/edit?usp=sharing

NOTE: The sample data here are my actual drop sites; while it is less sensitive than applicant data please clear this data before using the sheet

This is the sheet that has the most changes during the campaign, as what I 'care' about will change during the campaign. Initially I need to know who has signed up, then I need to know which sites are ready to be set as visible on the search screen, then I need to know if there are sites that need to be picked up

The sheet has the follow tabs:

• Survey Response. These are the responses I get from the survey above. The formulas in columns A and B need to be pulled down as rows are added. If a record exists in the 'old' but not the 'new', that usually is an indicator I need to follow the update process below to add them to this year

• PY Drop Sites. This is my Previous Year Drop Site list. The formulas in columns A and B will tell me if they have signed up for the current year

• Current Drop Dump. This is the current Drop Site export

  • Manage Online Forms and Request > Become A Drop Site > Review Form Submissions 

  • Set year for current year

  • Hit Export to Excel button

  • Open File

  • Copy all

  • Open Google Sheet

  • Go to Current Drop Dump

  • Select Cell B1 (we need to leave the formulas in column A intact)

  • Paste all to overwrite current values

  • Copy down the formula in column A 

    • This copies the Request ID so VLookups work for the next tab

• Toy Drop Locs. This is a subset of the information from the Drop Dump tab. The first column will copy over the Request ID, the others will have Lookup formulas to pull the data I consider of interest. This can be modified to pull more or less as needed

  • What I have as the "notes" column will be updated as needed. More columns can be added as needed

In the past I've tried to track significantly more information - how many boxes each site has, who is retaining them until next year, which Consolidation Site they plan to us - but I determined I wasn't actually *using* that information. At this point I set up processes to keep the sites updated with information but don't count on most of them telling me what's going on - I don't have the bandwidth to track them that closely.

How do you get drop sites added to the system?

The easiest way is to have them add an application into the system every year, but there's an alternative as well using the bulk update feature. All the caveats about making sure you don't screw up your data should be read carefully. Because if you screw up your data, not my fault

• Manage Online Forms and Requests > Become a Toy Drop Site > Review Form Submissions

• Set the year for the previous year (i.e.: 2022 in 2023)

• Export to Excel. 

• Remove all but the rows you want to keep. Then make the following changes

  • Request Date = Today's date

  • Status = pending <- this is case sensitive. 

  • County = Whatever the current value is for this year. The historic value may not match, which will break the system when you try to access the data later

  • Start Collect Date = Adjust to current year

  • Date Pickup = Adjust to current year

  • Request ID = 0 <- if you don't set this to zero, you'll just be updating the existing record rather than creating a new one

  • Any other changes that the drop site gave you, such as business hours or contact person

  • Other notes:

    • "Make Public - List on Toy Drop-Offs Page" and  "Show on Toy Drop Off Map" should already be FALSE. If not, you will want to set them that way.

    • You can use this same general method to create records in bulk if you have a bunch of locations for a chain of stores in your area, for example

• Save as Excel Workbook

• Go to the upload screen: Manage Online Forms and Requests > Become a Toy Drop Site >  Bulk Import

• Choose the file

• Hit the Import button. Boom, done

How do you distribute your boxes?

See here for additional information: Supply / Consolidation Sites 

I don't have the volunteers necessary to drop boxes at the sites that would like to have one. And my day job doesn't really lend itself to sitting around at the warehouse waiting for people to swing by

So, what I do is have a dozen sites that will act as "supply sites". I drop off 10-30 boxes and some posters with them, and once sites sign up, I give them a list of places they can go to pick up their boxes. 

I try to find Supply Sites that meet this criteria:

• Open to the public

• Enough space where storing the boxes and posters won't impact their normal operations. Ideally they have a place where they can be self service - people can come grab what they need without any intervention needed by the host. My most versatile site was a Township which placed the boxes near a door open 24/7 next to the Township PD office.

• Located in a central location; sites at the edges of my territory didn't see a lot of pickups

• Not too close to another supply site. There's no point in having three sites in a five mile radius - they should be spread out 

• At least some with weekend or late weekday hours, for drop sites that can't send someone during business hours

There are some sites that cannot or will not pick up supplies. Those sites are encouraged to participate in virtual drives. I make exceptions for National Sponsors (Ollies, Floor & Decor), sites that have acted as Consolidation Sites in the past, or sponsors that offer significant support either financially, with collections, or otherwise. For smaller sites that state that they can't pick up supplies... generally I have other sites near them and I have to decline to serve them in a way I can't offer to my other sites.

I link to the posters available on this site for those that retained their boxes and just want to print posters, or who want to use a 'homemade' box rather than the ones we supply.

If I have time a sticker is placed on each box with the campaign info. For those cases where that isn't possible, I distribute a Box Letter for sites to either use as-is or to modify as they see fit. As long as it has the image of my business card it meets the needs of the Foundation to have all boxes have campaign info on them.

How do you secure your boxes

I don't. I can't

I am dependent on the sites hosting them to secure them. If it becomes obvious a drop site is being careless in how they are leaving the box accessible to either the elements or pilferage, they don't get invited to play the next year.

How do you make drop sites visible on your site or the map?

There are two ways to handle this:

• Within an individual entry

• Bulk Edit

Individual Entry

• Manage Online Forms and Requests > Become a Toy Drop Site > Review Form Submissions

• Search for and find the appropriate entry

• Set "List on Toy Drop Offs Page" and/or "List on Toy Drop Offs Map" to Yes

• Scroll to the bottom; hit Submit

Bulk Edit

• See the bulk edit instructions here: Bulk Edit Instructions

• Set Column N  - Make Public - List on Toy Drop-Offs Page - to TRUE

and / or

• Set Column Y - Show on Toy Drop Off Map - to TRUE

How do you pick up your gifts? Consolidation Weekend

See here for additional information: Supply / Consolidation Sites 

For the same reason I can't drop off boxes to 300 sites, I can't pick up from 300 sites either.  But asking all the sites in 1000 square miles to bring their gifts to wherever the warehouse is this year also isn't viable for some of them

The solution I have come up with is Consolidation Weekend

Drop sites are asked to complete collections the first or second Wednesday in December. For 2024 this will (probably) be Wednesday, Dec 11th. 

Just as I have recruited Supply Sites, I will also recruit Consolidation Sites: Sites that are local-ish to my drop sites where they can bring their gifts on the following two days, Thursday and/or Friday. I then roll a truck to *just those sites* on Friday / Saturday, bringing the gifts back to the warehouse for sorting. This splits the difference between picking up each site and asking them all to bring their gifts to the warehouse, and the vast majority of my sites are willing to play ball

Consolidation Sites need to:

• Be open to accept drop offs from other Drop Sites on Thursday and Friday

• Have some method for our team to pick up gifts on Saturday, if the business isn't normally open on Weekends

• Have enough space to store the gifts that are dropped off, in a place where they can be loaded easily. I only send a couple people with each truck, so distance back and forth = time.

For sites like National Sponsors I have "hub fillers" - volunteers who will pick up a box or two in their personal vehicles and drop them at a hub during the Consolidation period. 

For sites with the equivalent of 10 boxes or more, I will roll a truck directly, usually on the Friday of the Consolidation period.  That gets the gifts to the Warehouse so my Saturday volunteers have something to start sorting while waiting for more to be dropped off, and it doesn't overload the Consolidation Sites so it takes multiple trips to pick them up

For 2023 I rolled two trucks - a 26 foot Uhaul and a 14 foot box truck from Home Depot. All things being equal I'd prefer three smaller trucks and more consolidation sites, to keep things moving and spread out the loads in smaller, easier to digest chunks. I will see how I can make that work for 2024

What is the Lifecycle of a Family Application in your campaign?

This is me putting on my Business Analyst hat. For context, a "lifecycle" in this sense is basically all the steps that take place between the moment an application enters the system and we close out the campaign. I'm going to try really hard to un-jargon this, but if I fail, email me with any questions

Application Process

My Family Applications are totally online - I don't have the bandwidth to take on paper applications along with the online form

Oct 1:

Application text is updated to let people know what the rules are this year

• • Includes disclaimer that goal is two gifts per child, gifts are donated by the community, and gifts tend to be in the $10-$20 range, and that we won't deliver gifts. I have found it *very* important to set these expectations early and often, to cut down on the cranky people who ask for an Xbox and get a Barbie.

  • Reiterates that they have to check their email if they expect gifts. I can't call 1000 families.

Application is made visible. Manage Website Account and Settings > Local Site Settings > Change Single Family Toy Request Form to Viewable from Hidden. Scroll to the bottom and save

Applications come in. For 2023, I had the notification emails automatically filtered into a separate folder in my Toysfortots.org email. For 2024 I'm just turning the email notifications off; we don't have enough mailbox space for me to deal with them

Applicant Tracking

Every week or so - more often closer to the deadline -  I download a copy of this year's applications and dumped into my Google Sheet Family Tracker.  This is a template version of my spreadsheet, with most of the PII removed. Coordinators are welcome to copy it: 2023 Family Template 

Update Method:

• Manage Online Forms and Request > Review Family Submissions 

• Set year for current year

• Hit Export to Excel button

• Open File

• Copy all

• Open Google Sheet

• Go to Applicant Dump

• Paste all to overwrite current values

  • Go to Setup tab, copy down formulas to cover new rows if needed

Here is how this works:

• The Applicant Dump tab is literally just a copy of the data from the Excel export, line by line. Cut and paste, boom, done. 

• The "Setup" tab reformats the data in a way that gets me the data I need in a more useful format. It won't automatically detect if the number of rows exceeds what is currently set up (1000 total applications), so be aware of that.

• The Distributions Tab is built around the Distribution ID, which is column A. It counts the number of families that are part of the distribution, then the number of kids per age bracket. It lets me see how many gifts I need to fill an Event, and how many volunteers I will need to serve them. It also lets me cancel events if not enough people are signed up for them, and move the families to a different appointment

• The Survey Response tab will be explained in more detail below, but is basically a way to track which Distribution Appointment time and place an applicant prefers

On Validating Applications

I check applications that have come in since the last update

• Applications outside my coverage area are Disapproved, with the disapproval reason giving them the link to the appropriate campaign. 

  • The problem with transferring them is the campaign I transfer them to *may not accept individual family applications*, and have a different process that families need to follow - or may have already closed applications. I also don't want them to keep applying to me year over year, which a handful of families I've transferred in the past have done.

• Applications on the banned list as Disapproved, with the disapproval reason being "Banned". That's it. They usually know why they're banned, and I'm not interested in having a dialog about it

• Standard unflagged 'regular' applications are moved to the "Pending Approval" Distribution Event. They will eventually be sent a Google Survey to select their preferred. More on this in a bit

• Applications on the Naughty List - applicants that have been flagged or were no-show-no-contacts - are moved to the "Pending Approval - Additional Action Needed" Distribution Event

• Applications with more than six children are checked against history. If they've been previously approved and the number / ages of kids are consistent, they're treated as a regular app. If they're new, or the number of kids has changed, they're moved to the Additional Action Needed one

On Distribution Events

Manage Online Forms > Toy Application Tools > Distribution Events and Dates is where you can find them 

There's a lot of information you will want to put in there, but the critical element from my point of view is the Distribution ID - the five digit number that is associated with the event. 

With this, you can bundle applications together, even if they're not really a "distribution". For example. I use them for my waiting list, as well as my "pick your appointment" Google Form. 

Distribution Events allow you to send an email to all the families associated with that event. You can assign them individually, or in bulk. The bulk process is outlined here: LCO Page Bulk Updates 

They can help you generate a list of families or agencies associated with a specific date or time, so you can create pick up lists, and know who *didn't* pick up so you can contact them. 

Telling Applicants to make their appointment choice

I have two large clusters of need in my area of responsibility: Coatesville, and Norristown. Of my ~1000 families requesting assistance, over 600 are located in or near those two cities.

So. here's how 2023 worked:

• Early distribution appointments from our warehouse for people who wanted to pick up early, based on stocks that lasted. Nov 17/18, Dec 2/3. Nothing Dec 9/10, as that's our consolidation weekend and the warehouse is too crazy - about 400 families

• "Remote" distributions for the areas of need - 4 in Norristown (farthest from this year's warehouse), 3 in Coatesville, 1 in Kennett Square (the southern portion of our coverage area. These are the last weekend of distribution, Dec 16/17 - about 350 families

• 'Standard' distribution out of the warehouse, Dec 16/17 - about 150 families

Why doesn't the math add up? Because some people didn't select an event. No selection = no distribution

To get them to select what they prefer, I will have a Distribution Event that basically tells the applicants they need to select their preferred Distribution time and location. I track this via a Google Form. A template is here:

https://forms.gle/nDkt6i9eRoB4Mywf6

Sample of what the Distribution Event body states:

***

Please fill out the survey link below to pick your preferred Distribution Date and Location. We cannot deliver gifts. If you cannot come to one of these locations, we will unfortunately not be able to serve you.

https://forms.gle/nDkt6i9eRoB4Mywf6

Do not share this survey link with other people. Surveys that do not tie back to an application will be ignored. All requests are pre-packaged based on the application; there will be nothing to offer those that show up at a distribution event that have not been approved for that specific event.

You must fill out the form to have your application approved, using the email address that you are receiving this notification from. We cannot link an application to a distribution for approval if the wrong email address is entered.

As a reminder, the goal of Toys for Tots is to offer two gifts per child. These gifts are donated by the community, and tend to be in the $10 - $20 range. No gift cards, clothing, bikes, or electronics will be offered. 

****

I will send this out once I have my Distribution Events lined up. This is usually not ready before Nov 1st, because a) I may still be scrambling to find a warehouse and b) getting partners willing to host remote distribution events can be a challenge.

As form responses come in, they will be added to the Family Tracking sheet on the Survey response tab. Assuming I have room left in a specific Distribution event (and the address on their application doesn't make a choice not make sense), I will add them to the Distribution Event they want

There are three ways to do this:

• Bulk method. See here: How do I update my applications in bulk

• Going into each application individually. Not preferred, because it is a bunch of extra steps

• Using the Manage Form screen. 

  • Manage Online Forms and Requests > Review Family Submission > Search by Keyword with email address and current year

  • Select the checkbox to the left of the row

  • Go to the "Assign Checked Request to Distribution Event" dropdown and select the correct event

  • Hit the red button 

Packing a Distribution / Bulk Application Printing

We pre-bag all our orders, with a goal of two gifts per child

The first part of getting the Distribution ready to pack is printing the applications

1. Manage Online Forms and Request > Review Family Submissions 

2. Filter by Distribution Event to just get the applications for that event

3.  Sort by First name alphabetically, then Last name alphabetically. Makes it easier to keep track of sheets post printing

7. Create a checklist for the distribution. Hit the "Export to Excel" button to get all applications for this distribution, then remove everything but the data you need. 

• I only keep the Control Number, Last Name, First Name, and phone number. I sort the file by last name. 

8. Print two copies of the checklist - one to check you haven't lost any sheets, and one for the Distribution

Each bag that is packed has one copy of the sheet taped to the outside of the bag, and one kept inside (in case the one outside is damaged). My Warehouse Managers have determined it is easier to paste the sheet on *before* filling the bags, so that prep work can be done even before the gifts are available.  Because I am giving the applicants a copy of their sheet, it is important to be careful what information I add to the "notes" field, which is normally hidden from the applicant

Where I have more than one set of 50 in a given time and place, I will use different colored paper to differentiate the two sets. It makes it easier to sort through two sets of 50 than one set of 100. The checklist will have an additional column showing if they are for the Green set or the Orange set, for example

Bags have the distribution date / time written on them with black marker, as well as the first three letters of the primary applicant's last name. As each bag is packed, the person packing it will initial the bag. This helps us if there are packing issues to a) move that volunteer into a different role and b) find other bags that may have been mispacked

As each bag is packed, it is checked off the first checklist. The second checklist is stapled into a file folder and kept with the bags when packing is complete.

While I have typically offered two gifts per child, for 2024 I will be offering three gifts per child in the 3-5 range only. This is purely so I can chunk through my inventory and don't have a massive carryover rather than deciding that younger kids 'deserve' more gifts.

Giving the applicant Distribution Details

Applicants are sent several updates via email. The Distribution Event details are changed to something like this:

****

You have been assigned to the following distribution event

Toys for Tots Gift Pickup - Norristown 4 – Sunday, Dec 17

Noon to 3 PM

It is important that you read all the information in this email before arriving. 

DO NOT SUPPLY THESE INSTRUCTIONS TO OTHER PEOPLE. There is a list of families who will be served during this date and time. Anyone who is not on the list will be turned away - we will have nothing available for them, and we are serving the maximum number of families we can during this window

The address/sponsor for this event is  

{removed}

There are multiple Norristown distributions for Toys for Tots. This is the only location where you will be able to pick up gifts. No other location will have anything for you.

As a reminder, the goal of Toys for Tots is to offer two gifts per child. These gifts are donated by the community, and tend to be in the $10 - $20 range. No gift cards, clothing, bikes, or electronics will be offered.

Do not go to the location before noon on Sunday, Dec 17. Gifts will not be available before then, and our partners will only have people available during the specified time. Ignoring this may result in future Toys for Tots assistance not being offered to your family

The gifts associated with this event will be transferred to our partner, and will no longer be controlled by Toys for Tots. There will be no other opportunity to pick up your gifts if you miss this appointment. Toys for Tots will conclude distribution this weekend. The partner agency has agreed to work with us for a specific window, and cannot accommodate reschedules or late applicants. At 3 PM on Sunday Dec 17, your opportunity to pick up these gifts will end   

*****

This is sent via the "CLICK HERE to Send Email to Assigned Applicants" function associated with Distribution Events. The content of the email itself is almost irrelevant, as the core info is in the body of the message

Emails are sent a week in advance, three days in advance, and the day before. Also on the third day, a text message will be sent:

"Toys for Tots: Your pickup appt has been emailed. Email chester.county.pa@toysfortots.org w questions or if you do not get it"

The latter helps catch people who don't pay attention to their email, or emails that went into Spam

During the Distribution

A table is set up with a couple of volunteers and the checklist. As applicants come in, they give their name. Once it is confirmed they are on the list, one will go in to get the bag. 

The applicant is shown the label on the bag to verify it is the correct one. If it is, they are encouraged to open the bag to verify there are two gifts per child, and they are age appropriate. 98% of the time everything is fine, in case of error the gifts are swapped out. For the warehouse this is easy; for remote distributions there are "oopsie boxes" with a few gender neutral gifts per age bracket. These are sent along in case of a packing error, not to offer to people who come without an appointment.

As each bag is picked up, they are checked off the list. 

And that is how that family is served

What about people who don't select an appointment?

The application window will close on Nov 15th; applicants will have under the end of November to make their selection. As they do and are moved to the appropriate list, the number of people on the "selection not yet made" distribution will decrease.

Emails will be sent every few days, as well as a few text messages. The last will be "Toys for Tots - we will cancel your application on Thursday if you do not contact chester.county.pa@toysfortots.org"

If they don't respond to the emails or the text, on Dec 1 their applications will be canceled

What about no contact no shows?

If someone misses a remote distribution, there is nothing that can be done to help them - those are one off events, and we don't have anything in place that will allow people to pick up gifts late. We don't have enough volunteers to offer to drop off gifts for our families - we found out that if we did that once, the family would expect that to be offered in the future, and we don't have the volunteers to support something like that.

If someone misses an event from the warehouse early enough in the campaign+ they are sent a note that they have until the end of the weekend to pick up gifts, or must reschedule for another day. Those that do not pick up and do not respond are cancelled. Those that reschedule but do not make their second appointment are also cancelled. Applicants that miss their appointment are added to the "naughty list", and an email like the following is sent if they apply in the future

"We have received your application for Toys for Tots. According to our records, you applied last year but did not pick up your gifts. Be aware that a second no-show this year will add you to the ban list and prevent you from applying for Toys for Tots in the future. Do not select a Distribution Appointment if you are unable to make it"

What about people who show up without an appointment?

This has been an occasional issue, which is why I emphasize on the emails that people should not forward the information to other people, as we will not be able to help them.

And... we unfortunately will not. If someone comes claiming they have an appointment but they are not on the list, they are asked what email address they used to apply, and then their phone number. If no application is found associated with those, then we do not offer to serve that person. 

While we can probably serve that one family, the concern is if we allow one person to show up without an application, that will get around, and we cannot properly forecast our needs if people just show up rather than applying. We also have people who have been banned from the program and we don't want them to be served.

What is the Lifecycle of an Agency Application in your campaign?

This section is going to see the most changes in 2024 compared to what I have done before. So, this is my plan for 2024, which means it will probably be modified. 

A lot. 

Application Process

Just like my Family Applications, my Agency applications are totally online - I don't have the bandwidth to take on paper applications along with the online form, and if they're unable to fill out an online form I'm going to struggle to keep in touch with them

Agency Applications will be set as live Sept 1st. I'm just looking for a stub and a swag of their needs at this point, and making sure they understand the rules for this year's campaign.

I will reach out to my agency applicants from last year and let them know, as well as giving them a heads up on the changes that are taking place. 

The 'starting' text on my 2024 Agency applications can be seen here: 2024 Agency Application Start Text

The gist of that is, we're going to have two types of agencies this year:

Family Agency vs Community Agency

For my campaign, I have two types of Agencies:

Community Agencies can apply only for children in the 3-5 range

Family Agencies must agree to all of the following

1 - Agencies / Nonprofits must engage in some form of registration process

2 - Agencies / Nonprofits must explicitly inform the custodial parent or guardian that the agency is seeking assistance from Toys for Tots on their behalf.

3 - Agencies must agree to share a limited amount of information on their applicants with Toys for Tots.


This helps address the following from my point of view:

• Excessive amount of 3-5 gifts left in carryover.  I intend to get the Community Agencies served as early as I can to clear out warehouse space

• Agencies applying for a general bucket of toys and offering more than we offer our family applicants

• Family applicants applying for assistance directly with our campaign *and* via one or more agency partner

Agency Applications - Warning Signs

For agencies that I have not worked with before, I get attempted scams every year

Some of these are obvious - people who apply for organizations that do not appear to exist, with a (small) residential address that they say is serving 500 children. Others are a bit harder to tie down. Others put in a little more effort, but a check of their IRS nonprofit ID isn't consistent with their application. 

What I basically do is tell every Agency that I need evidence of them previously supporting children in our coverage area. If they haven't previously done so, I tell them I'm unable to help them - there is more demand than I can supply with agency / nonprofits that have a verifiable history; I don't have enough to offer for people just starting out.... assuming they're actually intending to do so

Agency Survey

As each Agency application is received, I will send them a link to a Survey, seen here: 2024 Agency Validation Survey

This will force them to acknowledge early their obligations as a Family Agency early so there is less confusion

Confirming Final Numbers

Obviously if agencies are taking applications from specific families, they won't necessarily have their final numbers when they put in their initial application.  We are putting a hard deadline on Agency application updates for Friday, Nov 15th - after that, they will need to seek assistance elsewhere. 

We need a solid baseline to make decisions about how many children we can serve; I don't have the bandwidth to deal with application changes after that date *and* focus on my family applicants *and* worry about picking up gifts *and* worry about distribution

Updates will be made manually in the LCO site via the Bulk update process

Matching Applicant Data

Getting applicant information from all my agencies is too heavy a lift for many of them, or for me. So I'm doing it the other way around

After they cut off applications, I will ask them for a list of the ZIP codes they serve. I will then send them a copy of my family applications that match those ZIP codes, cutting out irrelevant data. A sample can be seen here:  Agency Matching Template

If there is a match, I will contact the applicant, and ask them if they want to be served by Toys for Tots directly, or via the agency. 

• If they want to work through the agency, *or* if they do not respond, their family application will be disapproved

• If they want to work through us, the Agency will be instructed that the family will be served via Toys for Tots directly and their Agency application will be reduced by the appropriate number of children

This isn't perfect, but it is the best balance I can offer between the time I have available and the need to ensure every possible family is served

Packing  / Pick Up of Distributions

Packing for agencies is much easier than packing for families. If they're asking for 50 3-5 boys, all I need to do is get 100 3-5 boy toys together.

• What do I pack their order in

I'm generally either using (donated) contractor bags, cardboard boxes that have been stored, or the Toy for Toys collection boxes that are no longer suitable to be put out in public. 

But because I only have a limited number of those, I usually ask the agencies to return them to the warehouse. Enough come back that it isn't usually an issue, but I will warn Agencies that they may come to a giant pile of gifts on tarps if I don't have enough supplies. I'll pay out of pocket for contactor bags for families; Agencies are going to need to step up if the supplies run short

• Where do I stack the order until pickup

This can be an issue, because I have a finite amount of warehouse space

What I will be doing this year is having agencies select a pickup window *before*  I start packing their order.  This gives me a pack sequence, so I can get the order for Agency A packed, and by the time I get to Agency E, Agency A has picked up their order and I have space to stack it

Once an order has been packed I send pictures to the agency so they know how much they're picking up. In the past the pickup process has been.. haphazard, so I'm trying to be a little more firm on the expectations that they're bringing enough vehicles and help to get stuff out quickly

"Partner" Agencies

Some of my Agencies also help with remote family distributions. They will receive preferential pack order, and if necessary I will drop off their order along with the family bags they are distributing for us

Issues to look out for, Agency Edition

It is important to keep in mind that the agencies have a responsibility to the people they are trying to serve, *not* to Toys for Tots. Because of that, it's important to 'Trust but Verify'

• Volunteers who work at an Agency cannot pack their own order

• Agency volunteers who are picking up their orders are generally allowed into the warehouse to get their stuff, but need to be monitored to make sure they're not helping themselves to extra gifts

• Under no circumstances are Agencies permitted to cherry pick. We have what we've been offered by the community. If that isn't good enough, they need to seek assistance elsewhere.

How do I update my applications in bulk

Subpage here: LCO Page Bulk Updates