Share in Our $1,000,000 Fundraising Goal!
Raise funds for your club, group or organization with a rain barrel sale!
COVID-19 Statement
updated 1/25/21
Our small family operated business is working hard to remain true to our commitment to our non-profit partners and to our mission to help them fundraise with rain barrels. We are also committed to help homeowners save money on water bills, collect free rainwater, conserve drinking water, grow bigger and healthier plants and vegetables with chlorine-free and fluoride-free rainwater and mitigate potential for flooding while addressing climate change.
While many small businesses struggle to survive during COVID-19, our experience found more people at home, tending to their gardens, so demand for home delivery of rain barrels increased significantly and offset declines due to the cancellation of municipal rain barrel contracts. As we head into a second season in the shadow of COVID-19, we are fully prepared to provide safe and efficient delivery services to our customers, on behalf of our non-profit and municipal partners.
Our contactless home delivery program makes fundraising easy in these unusual times!
We were providing contactless home delivery services long before COVID arrived. Throughout 2020, we trained contractors and coached non-profit partners to provide these services too.
For 2021, our partners have choices to host safe curbside pickup events, to conduct home deliveries with our assistance or to have our contractors perform home deliveries.
At RainBarrel.ca and RainBarrelFundraising.com, we have always taken health and safety issues very seriously.
For more than a decade, our fundraising partners have been advised regarding site plans and health and safety measures that ensure the operation of safe and efficient rain barrel distribution events. COVID-19 however, has everyone rethinking how we live our daily lives, whether it is grocery shopping, going to school or work, and for some, hosting a rain barrel event.
COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out, but it isn't clear when everyone will be safe. Social distancing accompanied by wearing a mask and frequent hand hygiene continue to be common sense recommendations and are core components to updated program.
Groups conducting rain barrel distribution events (if permitted and deemed safe) have been briefed regarding social distancing best practices including:
- No event involvement by vulnerable segments of the population.
- Outdoor events preferred. "Drive up to pick up" when possible.
- Make available alcohol-based hand sanitizer for event organizers and customers.
- Frequent hand-washing.
- Wear gloves.
- Wear face masks.
- No touching of your eyes, nose or mouth and wash hands thoroughly before and after.
- Cough or sneeze into an arm, not a hand.
- Handle cash with gloves or go with prepaid only options.
- Place products on tables or on the ground for supervised customer, self-service pickup.
- Barriers or rain barrels as barriers to serve customers from an appropriate social distance
- Minimize the number of people serving customers.
- Minimize the number of people in close proximity to each other.
- Consider "drive up to pick up" format to reduce number of individuals circulating in the area
- Stagger customer arrival times and give reminders to maintain social distance. (we have a helpful app to schedule customers' pick-up)
- Try to schedule a truck to arrive early to provide more time to organize for a social distance set up.
Home delivery services for prepaid online orders were made available in many communities and will be expanded to more communities. We are committed to social distancing in this process including:
- Only one driver per truck and practicing social distancing during load/unload.
- Practicing frequent and proper hand hygiene.
- Utilizing a state-of-the-art online ordering system.
- "Drop and go" home delivery with no personal contact with customers.
Our yard and office are also set up for best practices in social distancing:
All of our support staff work remotely from their own homes.
CURRENT PLAN FOR ORDERS (updated 1/25/21)
Current plan for all sales that are offering CASH ORDERS ONLY:
All cash orders are currently reservations only with no prepayment available at this time. We expect to offer a prepayment option closer to the shipping date, if you prefer. For some sales, customers may find that prepayment will be the only acceptable option. We will communicate with you as soon as this information is available.
Current plan for all sales that are offering DELIVERY ONLY:
- Delivery-only sales are offered as prepaid only.
- Check the nearest truckload sale or join a waitlist to be notified of updates.
We are committed to the health and safety of our customers, fundraising partners and staff.
Thank you,
RainBarrel.ca and RainBarrelFundraising.com have been providing rain barrel home delivery services for many years. In 2017, we coordinated the home delivery of 40,000 rain barrels in Chicago.With COVID-19 health and safety precautions in mind, we are prepared to support our 2021 Rain Barrel partners with the development of a home delivery service plan.
Sales with home delivery include a fee for providing the service. We recommend $10 per barrel or composter, $25 per tank and $10 when only accessories are being delivered. If accessories are ordered with a rain barrel, composter or tank, then the $10 delivery fee for accessories is not charged.
Depending on the distance from our location to your community, RainBarrel.ca may handle the deliveries, or your group can consider handling the deliveries and keep the delivery fee, or we will contract a local delivery service provider to handle the deliveries. It is impossible to guarantee a specific delivery date as we will not know how many deliveries will need to be made in each community. Like you, we will want to complete the deliveries as quickly as possible.
If RainBarrel.ca is not providing the delivery service, we will ship the ordered products to your community, where they will need to be unloaded. Ideally, our delivery truck would meet the local delivery truck and everything would be moved from truck to truck, while parked tail to tail. Other options include unloading at a warehouse or at a secure outside storage location. Tanks, and barrels laying on their sides, stacked in a pyramid format can sit outside, but the accessories and parts are best stored safely indoors. Two people can transfer 100 barrels, truck to truck, in 30 minutes or less.
In advance of the delivery and transfer of barrels, we will provide a detailed customer list separated for pick up and for delivery including, names, addresses, phone numbers, products, product quantities ordered and amounts owing, if any. We will attempt to organize deliveries to create the most efficient route, but will rely on the knowledge of local drivers to confirm the route.
We use delivery software that uploads the delivery list to smartphones. For each delivery, the address, phone number, products and product quantities appear in a list. The system links to Google Maps to provide GPS directions between delivery locations. Once on-site at a delivery location, the products are placed near the home, and a photo icon is selected to take a photo of the delivered products with the house in the background, as proof of delivery. The software uploads the photo and sends it via email to the customer and to us as a confirmation of delivery. We retain a copy of the photo and delivery details in our files. There is no need to knock on the customer's door for a payment or for a signature. Just move on to the next delivery address.
Orders of 50 barrels are best delivered in a 7 to 8 foot wide, 16 to 20 ft long enclosed trailer and pickup truck or with a cube-van. A pick up truck may have capacity to carry 6 to 10 barrels at a time, including the use of the back seat. Orders of 110 barrels can be delivered in a 24 ft box truck, but it can be much more tiring climbing up and down a dock-height truck, so multiple trips with a trailer or cube-van may be the better option. Pickup trucks, trailers and larger trucks are often available for rent at major retailers and vehicle rental facilities. It is difficult to predict how many barrels can be delivered in an 8 hour day as it will depend on many factors including traffic, distance between deliveries and number of barrels dropped at each location. Tanks are far more bulky, but they can be easily moved by carefully rolling them off a truck or trailer and along pavement or gently rolling them over grass to the desired location. One person per delivery vehicle can handle deliveries.
Let us know if you want to move forward with a home delivery plan. We know that home delivery is a service that is appreciated by many homeowners who don't have the means to pick up an order, who prefer the convenience of delivery, and who accept this as a best practice in social distancing responses to COVID-19.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Fundraising : Quick View
Fundraising : Detailed View
Who is our ideal fundraising partner?
We partner with lots of organizations and groups like:
- Community Associations and Centres
- Conservation & Environmental Groups
- Clubs (Kinsmen, Kinettes, Rotary, Lions, Scouts, Guides, etc.)
- Faith Groups (Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples and others)
- Horticultural & Gardening Groups
- Hospitals & Health Related Charities
- Schools (Parent Associations, Student Council, Eco-Clubs, Sports Teams, Theatre Groups)
- Sports Teams and Leagues
- Watershed Protection Groups & Water Related Non-Profits
Organizations fundraise for their own non-profit needs or groups can choose a non-profit to support with their earnings.
How much can be raised by a typical truckload rain barrel sale?
We partner with hundreds of non-profit organizations every year and host one-day truckload rain barrel sales in communities throughout Canada and the United States.
Our partners raise $3,000+ for their organizations with EASY fundraising. We offer online ordering, free marketing support and materials all at NO COST to the partner.
Let's Get Started!
Why fundraise with us?
Testimonials
Want to know what makes RainBarrel.ca and RainBarrelFundraising.com so great? Read the comments below to find out what our wonderful partners are saying about us! We'd love to include your testimonial too. Please submit it on our CONTACT FORM. Thank you!