Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Two press release samples below. One from Haiti and one that Akron sent out this year.

Here's a version of the Haiti press release supplied by Isa last year.

January 16, 2010: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

International Vegan Bake Sales for Haitian Earthquake Relief

In light of the terrible earthquake that struck our neighbor to the south, the vegan community is coming together to plan bake sales across the US and beyond to raise money for relief in Haiti. Come out to satisfy your sweet tooth and lend support to a most important cause.

Vegan bake sales will begin this weekend and continue through February, and possibly beyond. Each location will be sending money to the charity of their choice, including Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and more.

The Post Punk Kitchen blog has a post up for people to come together and organize in their communities at http://www.theppk.com/blog/

There will be a sale held at the _____ on _____ from_____. All proceeds from the sale will go to _____.

The rebuilding effort will take many years, so it isn’t too late to start organizing your own vegan bake sale to raise money and awareness!

Bake Sale blog is located at: __________

For more information contact: __________


And here's a version of a PR written for the Akron sale for Japan this year:
For more information contact:
Name
Phone
Email
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vegan Bake Sale to Benefit the People and Animals of Japan

City, State (March 24, 2010) – When disaster strikes we head to the kitchen. This spring, the vegan community is coming together to organize bake sales across the globe to raise money for the people and animals affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The Akron Vegan Bake Sale for Japan will be held on Saturday, April 2 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at VegiTerranean, located at 21 Furnace St. in Akron, Ohio. The bake sale will feature a variety of delicious vegan baked goods, including cookies, cake pops, cheesecake and even dog treats.
This is the second consecutive year the same group of bakers will come together to raise money for a cause. Last year’s bake sale for Haiti raised over $1,600 to support disaster relief.
This year the sale’s organizers hope to raise $2,000. All funds raised will be donated to Direct Relief International and the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support collaboration. Both organizations are actively working to provide medical aid and support to the people and animals of Japan.
Worldwide Vegan Bake Sales will begin this weekend and continue through May. Each sale will be sending money to the charity of their choice. Individuals interested in baking should contact akronveganbakesale@gmail.com.
###

excellent, thanks so much for sharing, havecompassion!
xo

Excellent!

FYI, this year people (including members of the press) can go to http://www.veganbakesale.org/veganbakes ... where.html to see all the vegan bake sales, by location and by date, and they can sign up at http://www.veganbakesale.org/veganbakes ... ignup.html.

The WVBS web site has a page of sample presss releases, although it's geared heavily toward the WVBS and hasn't been updated for this year. Would be ok to add your press release to our list of sample pres releases, and I'll give it a worthy shout-out?

Sure Gary. We're happy to share.

This is a helpful discussion about how exactly to send aid to Japan so that it actually helps.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/20 ... -for-japan

(not done yet, so if someone says "don't help the animals" I withdraw all support of this piece)

Bake sale organizers - feel free to write on the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Facebook wall as another way to possibly attract bakers and customers. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Worldwide ... 4289478575

(K this isn't actually helpful at all.)

We raised quite a bit of money (11,400) at our sale for Japan over the weekend! I actually teamed up with the entire foodie community here and it was amazing how big everything got, we had 5 locations going on simultaneously with over 100 volunteers. One of the organizers, Kathryn wrote this wonderful letter to pitch the idea to businesses to get their sponsorship. With her permission, I am going to post it here, I hope that some of you can use it too to raise more money for Japan, it will need a little tweaking but I found it really helpful.

Dear __Local Business Contact Name___,

As the reality of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan continues to escalate, people from around the world are coming together to use their strengths and talents to show their support for those suffering this tragedy. My name is __NAME OF VOLUNTEER___ and I’m a food blogger here in Austin. I’m working with a team of local foodies to organize “Austin Bakes for Japan,” a bake sale fundraiser for relief efforts in Japan. The bake sale is being organized by a team of local bloggers, and we’ve recruited over 50 other foodies, bloggers, and bakers to help out with the sale on Saturday, April 2nd from 10 AM to 2 PM.

We anticipate a very high volume of foot traffic at the bake sale, and we hope to raise a lot of money for AmeriCares, one of the most effective organizations providing humanitarian relief in Japan. WE HAVE THREE LOCATIONS TYPE INFO HERE. We’re supplementing our efforts on April 2nd with an extensive social media campaign leading up to the sale, and with an online giving portal so that people in town and around the world will be able to support our efforts. You can find us on twitter @AustinBakes and on the web at AustinBakes.Wordpress.com.

We need your help. We’re looking for business partners for the bake sale, and I hope you’ll consider joining us. Our greatest needs are for:
- an accessible location for the bake sale, with high foot traffic & visibility.
- packaged, gourmet baked goods.
- help spreading the word via fliers, social media, and email newsletters.
- access to a photocopy machine and paper for fliers.
- matching funds for donations made at the bake sale.
- cash donations to AmeriCares via the Austin Bakes online giving page.

We have decided to target ____SPONSOR NAME___ as a partner for Austin Bakes for Japan because___AWESOME REASON____.

When you partner with us, your investment will directly support efforts in Japan at the time and place they are needed most. Additionally, our communications are reaching a targeted audience of Austinites who support the local food community. As thanks for your support, Austin Bakes for Japan offers the following sponsorship benefits:

- Two mentions per week on the @AustinBakes Twitter until April 9, 2011
- Inclusion of your company logo and a hyperlink on the “Partners” page of the Austin Bakes for Japan blog, http://AustinBakes.wordpress.com
- A mention of your business on the Austin Bakes for Japan Facebook event page
- Coverage of your business’ involvement via a post and hyperlink on the Austin Bakes for Japan blog in advance of the sale
- The opportunity to provide collateral materials and/or product giveaways to bake sale attendees
- Access to high-res, professional photos of the bake sale, licensed for reuse.

Our goal for this campaign is to unite Austin’s food community in raising funds and awareness about the crisis in Japan. I hope you’ll join us in whatever capacity you are able.

See you at the bake sale,

NAME OF VOLUNTEER
EMAIL ADDRESS
PHONE NUMBER
http://AustinBakes.Wordpress.com
@AustinBakes

Such a great letter! Thanks for sharing! And WOW congratulations!

Um, so I made $415! I know that sounds kind of pathetic, but it was a small island affair and I'm quite proud! :)

vijita! No more putting down your amount. That is great. Loud and proud!

Super awesome!

Akron raised $2921.50 Saturday. Photos here: http://akronveganbakesaleforjapan.wordpress.com/

We sold out of everything far earlier than we thought we would, but other than that, it was perfect!

That is great that you sold out of stuff! We always have so much left over and I haven't figured out how to not have that happen.

That is great that you sold out of stuff! We always have so much left over and I haven't figured out how to not have that happen.

We never had a lot left in NYC but SSD and others would take leftovers to work the next day to sell and add that money to the total. That might be a possibility if you're looking for something to do with the leftovers.

We brought some leftovers to the community centre. They were very grateful! We also gave some scones to the "drug park kids" (that's what they call themselves, and the description is pretty apt). Everybody's gotta eat.

Yeah, we always donate leftovers with charity, this last time we had so much we had to split it up.

As interest has grown, we've had a lot more leftovers, so we've gotten someone from Food Not Bombs to come pick them up.

I am out of the loop.

:(

I think Akron sold out because there are not a whole lot of places to buy vegan baked goods here. I'd imagine most other sales are in larger, more vegan cities perhaps. But here nearly every vegan comes out to shop! We also had a stellar marketing volunteer who put together an entire marketing plan ending with passing out a free bag of vegan jelly beans to anyone who checked in on their phone using foursquare or promised to go home and Facebook or Tweet about it. We had more baked goods than I ever though we'd be able to use, but we sold everything very quickly.

Those of you who were successful in getting anyone to shop - were your sales outside? Were any of you in an indoor location, and if so, how did you attract customers?

We do (most of) our Vancouver ones indoors. We get it listed in the weekly entertainment-ish paper and publicize it on Facebook/Twitter/blogs. We've had most of them at a vegan restaurant so that helps, and the restaurant promoted it. Draws in the masses! For my island one, I posted on the community exchange page and basically relied on foot traffic, as it was outside and across the street from the first farm/artist market of the season. In retrospect, I would have done well to do some postering, but really it was kind of experimental and I was scared that I wouldn't have enough goods to accommodate large crowds. I'd throw caution to the wind next time and promote more, I think.

I really wonder how much postering helps. It's expensive and kind of wasteful...so I'd love to know if it actually brings in a lot of customers!

Any of the ones I've been involved with have been indoors, but we put a sandwich board out front and used all the methods vijita mentioned to promote.