Letter Proposal Draft- Team JKM

Rosie Thornley
President
P.O. Box 353
Brigham City, Utah 84301
435-279-8900

To Beat the Bookstore:

A group of USU business students are helping give Zambian children a better life by organizing a textbook drive sponsored by Zambia's Scholarship Fund. Zambia's Scholarship Fund, located in Brigham City, UT, works to cycle Zambian children through elementary school, high school and college and then brings the students back to teach at these schools. Textbooks for Zambia is gathering much needed textbooks to support these programs. We invite you to participate in this worthy cause by donating a portion of your profits from the upcoming sell back season to Textbooks for Zambia. We also invite you to place donation boxes in your store location. We feel that this is a wonderful opportunity for your company to contribute to the community and world and to also receive positive publicity and awareness.

SPONSOR APPEAL
We are aware that your store is very appealing to college students who would like to sell their used textbooks for a reasonable amount of money. We also know the most profitable time of year is approaching for you, and we would ask that you consider donating 20% of your profits from the upcoming sell back season to Textbooks For Zambia. This amount is needed to fulfill our goal of 2,000 textbooks by the end of January 2009. By advertising this cause, your store will receive lots of positive publicity and you will have the possibility to gain more loyal customers.

PROBLEM
Education is a top priority for the Zambian people, 90% of whom live in extreme poverty. The only thing that makes a devolving country different from an un-developing country is the amount of education one country has over another. Although they have no running water, electricity or even (in many cases) food to eat, every community builds a school from homemade bricks, even if it interferes with the harvest. However, if a student wishes to attend high school that is a different story, high school education is not free. Currently unemployment soars at an unbelievable 97 % in the Northern Province of Zambia. Because of this lack of financial support only 8 % of Zambians are able to attend high school and only 3 % college. This fund is providing an opportunity for thousands to better their lives on a very minimal amount. This fund operates on a strictly volunteer basis, there are no paid officers or American paid employees. This fund is committed to putting every dollar a person donates towards the people of Zambia.

SOLUTION
We are confident that you can help us in our efforts to collect more textbooks to meet our original goal that would ultimately benefit your business.
Students are not going to Beat the Bookstore as much as Aggie Books or the USU Bookstore because its location is the furthest away from campus. Students must have a better reason to go to your store than the others. Not only do you have better prices, but an even better reason is because Beat the Bookstore will be teaming up with textbooks for Zambia and donating 20% of its proceeds from the “buy back” period. USU students have actively donated to Africa in the past with Aggies’s for Africa’s shoe drive. By advertising this cause around campus through flyers and in the campus newspaper, The Statesman, students will be aware of the project and would increase the potential for loyal customers to do business at Beat the Bookstore in the future.

CAPABILITIES
Textbooks for Zambia is sponsored by Zambia's Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization located in Brigham City, UT. Zambia's Scholarship Fund was created by Peggy Rogers in 1999 when she learned who wanted to make a difference in the lives of Zambian children who would never have the opportunity to receive an education. Students in Zambia apply for scholarships, and donations can be made to sponsor student’s tuition and other needs. Zambia's Scholarship Fund also sponsors a Book Program, which has sent two 40-foot containers full of textbooks in the past two years. The textbooks gathered through Textbooks for Zambia will be sent in January of 2009 with ZSF's Book Program shipment. The money we ask to be donated by your organization will go towards purchasing the most needed textbooks and also purchasing school supplies to be sent with the Book Programs shipment. 100% of your donation will go directly to children of Zambia. Your donation is also tax deductible.

CONCLUSION
We want you to give 20% of your donations to Textbooks for Zambia. In mid-2008 it cost nearly $15,000 to send a full 40-foot container from northern Utah to Zambia. Each of our volunteers who go to Zambia to deliver these supplies, travel at their own expense. We need your help to cover shipping costs. Not only will this benefit your company and its image, but create an opportunity for an entire country to rise above the expectations that have been set for them and have a chance at life. We will be in contact with you shortly to discuss the details and begin our planning. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely
Peggy Rogers, President