It’s time for another sample fundraising letter! Even though the use of biodiesel as a fuel that’s better for the environment is controversial, it has definite benefits. Here is a sample donation request letter for a biodiesel processor (for use with used cooking oil) that could be used by a school PT organization to parents, but could easily be adapted for any other group or nonprofit as well.
Feel free to copy it and modify it for your fundraising needs. For any other use, please contact us.
>> You can find more fundraising letters and templates here.
>> Sample Donation Request Letter to Parents
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More about environmentally friendly projects:
>> Sample Donation Request Letter – Wind Energy Project
>> Fundraising for a Wind Energy Project
>> How Your Nonprofit Can Benefit from a Green Roof Project
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Dear Parents:
Did you know that there is a simple way to cut our bus fuel costs by a third – while helping to reduce our carbon emissions and improving our science courses? We are reaching out to you for an investment in our Biodiesel Processor Project to get us started today!
We spend $950 per student, per year, to get kids to school. That includes discounts to students that bike or walk and extra parking for more student drivers installed just last year. We are faced with the choice of either reducing our bus routes even further (making it mandatory for parents in outlying areas to drive their kids to school and for all sports teams to raise their own transportation funding) or finding a way to cut our transportation costs.
Biodiesel processors can turn any vegetable oil into diesel that can fuel busses with only simple engine adaptations. That means that just by saving grease from the school kitchen and from any number of the 27 restaurants in town that might be willing to pitch in their used fry oil, we can produce up to 15,000 gallons of functional fuel a year.
Are there operating costs? Of course! But with the reaction chemicals and electricity costs factored in, we will be producing diesel for only 85 cents a gallon. The national average for diesel this year is projected at $2.45. Hence we will be producing fuel for our busses at nearly a third of the cost.
The machine that has been recommended to us is the BioPro 380 by Springboard Biodiesel – currently being used at more than 80 high schools and colleges in the country. It costs $15,000 to purchase outright. That means that within only 8 months the processor will pay for itself, and we will be saving at least $20,000 a year in diesel costs for busses.
What is more, we will be averting at least 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Biodiesel emits 90 percent less carbon than regular diesel, keeping nearly 19 pounds of CO2 out of the air per gallon.
The process, while fairly simple, is pure science and engineering in action.
The High School Science Department is going to integrate a new project for sophomores and juniors enrolled in chemistry courses based on the Department of Energy’s recommended biodiesel processor curriculum.
That means, that along with saving the school thousands in operating costs and improving our carbon footprint, we will also teach hundreds of students how to create alternative energy!
The School, with its already strapped budget facing serious cuts of necessary expenditures, cannot invest directly in this project, however. That is why we are reaching out as a PTA group to you today. Our goal is to raise $15,000 to purchase the processer outright and start turning our used fry oil into liquid gold by the time school doors open in August.
Every $50 donated to the project will save the school $100 a year going forward and reduce 670 pounds of CO2 released from our community.
What is more, local restaurants [>> appeal to chain and privately owned restaurants] have agreed to donate their oil to the project and to help us raise funds with special gifts to you.
- Restaurant Chain will give you a gift card of $25 to any of its restaurants for a gift of $150.
- Restaurant Chain will donate a gift card of $50 for any gift of $250 or more.
- For a gift of $500 or more, you’ll not only get a $100 gift certificate, but also your name, child’s name, or a memorial name will be etched in the Processor’s steel coating as a Clean Fuel Founder!
We need to raise funding by August 1 to ensure the processor is installed onsite before classes start and so that our Science Department can integrate special biodiesel learning into course curriculum.
So please consider making as generous of a gift as you can today!
Sincerely,
Name
PTA President
Our School
P.S.: Show our students how much you care about them, their future, and the environment and donate today! Please take a minute, decide on a donation amount and act by sending your donation today!
Note: Darden, which owns Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other chains recycles 100% of their cooking oil!