Lesikar's Business Communication: Connecting in a Digital World 13th Edition by Kathryn Rentz,Paula Lentz

Exercise 10

Today you've received a solicitation from a well-meaning service organization, People Working Together (PWT). PWT is inviting your company, Handymen for Hire, to be a featured sponsor of its annual Repair Affair. This event, the major fundraiser and publicity effort, has volunteers from all over the city contributing one day's labor to helping their less fortunate neighbors with yard work, home repairs, and other tasks. Your contribution of $1,000 will help pay for the volunteers' T-shirts (on which your company's name will appear), the supplies, and the picnic that will follow the day's work.
While this amount doesn't sound like much for a successful business, you're a small organization that can afford to make only a limited number of charitable contributions. You've given over $5,000 to such causes this year, and that's all you can afford right now. But, truthfully, you're not sure that the publicity opportunity PWT offers would be the best use of your money. Those helped by PWT aren't likely to become your customers since one reason they're being helped is that they can't afford to pay for services like yours. True, the volunteers might be potential customers-but the fact that they're volunteering suggests that they're able to do their own repairs. It looks very unlikely that you'll ever be willing to be a sponsor of PWT's event.
Write the PWT chair a letter turning down the request for a sponsorship while maintaining a positive company image. Perhaps you can think of something you can offer that will help soft en the "no." (Or, play the role of office manager and assume that your boss has asked you to write the letter for his or her signature.)