Our Church puts on a turkey calling contest every year. I always get alot of companys to donate stuff to give away. This year I thought I'd try Gander mountain. When I called the women told me how to get to where I need to get to on the website. She also made it real clear twice to read the "Gander mountain doesn't support part." I found out why.

GANDER MOUNTAIN DOES NOT SUPPORT
As a rule, Gander Mountain does not support the following types of organizations or activities through corporate contributions or sponsorships:
�Requests from individuals
�Racing, stock car, or hot rod sponsorship requests
�Political or religious organizations
�Production of films, videotapes, recordings, publications or displays
�Other events/activities that are incompatible with our corporate brand image

What kind of outdoor company won't at least take a request from a church. Anyway I'm sticking with Cabela's..

Funny, I think I remember them being partners with one of the Warren brothers. Alan or Keith Warren were sponsored by Gander Mountain at one point.

I think I'd try contacting a local hunting shop and see if they're interested in donating some prizes to the contest. In my area a lot of mom-n pop hunting/gun shops help with those type of contests of fundraisers.

Yeah we always have great stuff from the local shops and the last 2 years have gotton unbelievable packages from some big name companies. Cabela's probly sent $200-300 bucks worth the stuff last year. Most of the major hunting companys do well too..primos knight and hale, duck commander, Even luepold.

That right there is the sort of thing that made this country great. Unfortunately, there are way too many people in this country today who will be totally bewildered by the whole concept.

Without even considering that Gander Mountain is just shy of bankrupt anyway, ask yourself this: How would they decide what religions they do or do not support? Would you be happy if they contributed to your local Mosque? ...to your local Wicca Society? ...to the local Kwaanza celebration?

Face it, they have big public relations problems whatever they do in regards to religious organizations. For every group they anger by turning them down, there's another group that would be angered if the first one was contributed to. So they just keep out of the discrimination business and say no to all.

I bet they'd support your local NRA Youth Shoot or NRA state affiliate fundraiser!

The point is, any outdoor company or store should be happy to get their name out in the environments where their customers gather. I would bet that the vast majority of Gander Mountain customers are people who would be called Christians. With their attitude, it's no wonder they're struggling to stay in business.

Their product, their rules!

Jim

Like the lady says, "You pays your money and you takes your choice".

Not that I agree with their statement, it takes on a different note when you consider what GunReader points out.

I manage a small retail store in a small town (15-20,000 people). You cannot believe how many requests we get on a weekly basis asking for a donation. We try to do something for all of them, but we're also trying to keep the doors open by SELLING products.

I only hope Gander Mountain does not file for backruptcy protection. It would have a long lasting ripple effect through out the firearms industry.

Doc

Gander does some things well and other things less so, Ammo is expensive, but they do carry powders and primers and they have a gunsmith, and finding a gunsmith that won't make me wait 3 months for a recrown isn't easy.

What kind of outdoor company won't at least take a request from a church. Anyway I'm sticking with Cabela's..

Probably because if they donate to your church, they'll alienate themselves from every other church in the area, that they don't donate to?

Jeff

Exactly. As said above. Would you be happy with them sending 2 Remington 870's to your local Mosque, or 2 9mm pistols to the local Kwanzaa gathering, or Southern Baptist Church?

They either have to give to all and deal with the profit loss and repercussions, or give to non and save themselves and their legal department some awful headaches.

That's strange. A couple of years ago they fully outfitted a friend of mine who is a semi-pro outdoor writer and sent him to Africa so he could write a story featuring their products in print and in the photos. Hmmmm...

Scott

I don't understand why a church expects freebies from a retailer. And gets miffed when they're not provided.

I do not go into Gander Mt. much anymore.Thier prices are ridiculous and they do not run many good sales.I could care less who they donate or not too.

summitsitter,

You received a response from one person. I would be willing to bet there are more Gander Mountain store managers in the USA that will donate to a local Christian church, than ones that won't.

How many Americans do you know that would donate anything at all to a muslim mosque? I'm not concerned about that.

-

I'm confised; What part of scripture do you cite to
promote Turkey Calling?, why can't you be denied a "free gift".

Take Care!

I run a number of events in Northern Virginia just outside of D.C. for SCI & NRA. I tried contacting headquarters about a free booth at a Turkey Hunting Seminar I was conducting at NRA Hdq. in Fairfax, Va. Never was able to even reach anyone. Later a chapter member that worked for a local Gander Mountain store asked the manager about having a free booth at the NRA show. He was told it probably involved work on a weekend for which he couldn't pay overtime plus it was a lot of trouble getting turkey hunting gear together. This was an opportunity to sell a lot of turkey hunting gear to beginners. I never shop there if there is any other choice.

Are you asking me?

-

+1 Its the PC climate we live in today.

It was standard wardroom etiquette when I was a serving Navy officer not to discuss women, politics and religion.

If you are looking for a "free be" I would expect to have to observe the givers rules. Giving you free stuff, and following your rules seems a bit much.

jim

The issue with "free" stuff to things that aren't part of some larger, nationally recognized group (DU, TU, Whitetails Unlimited, RMEF etc) is that when it comes time to account - boss man figures you let product go out the door to a buddy.

Giving to a group as I mentioned - provides some cover for the store and corporation.

Way to easy to set up some "raffles" for a guy and his buddy "through Church" versus faking a DU dinner...

I have no problem with the policy as long as they do it uniformly. If you give to one you have to give to all unless you want some rather serious public relations problems. I don't understand people who get angry when someone refuses to give them free stuff.

edit: That African trip they outfitted sounds like an advertisement to me. I assume they do advertise.

Gander Mountain has many more issues than the topic at hand...

In exchange for the "free" stuff, they are getting "free" exposure/advertising. Seems like a win, win to me.

Some "free exposure" can get real sticky if it is not in the right place.

Gander tends to be way overpriced on both ammo and guns. I tend to shy away from them.

I have to agree Gander Mountains prices are CRAP!!!! I can almost guarantee that Cabelas is lower on dang near everything then Gander. I was looking for some muck boots. Gander 169.00, Cabelas 149.00 exact same pair. Most everyone else in the area/country was selling them for 149.00.

Found an ad in the Wisconsin Outdoor News and a guy that owned an archery shop was selling them for 119.00.SAME BOOT.

Gander gets VERY VERY little of my business and I could really care less if they do go out of business. Because I like to be kissed before I get.... well you know:)

Bill/WI

Btw Cabelas has been pretty good to me. I bought a Savage Predator rifle in 223 for 599.00. about a week later it was on sale for 549.00. Contacted the Cabelas in Richfield,WI where I bought it and the gun manager said bring in the receipt and they gave me the difference back. Now that IMO is good customer service.

Fleet Farm is over looked too. GB's FF and Gander are about 2 miles apart. 40 bucks cheaper on guns. Easy.

I think some of yall are missing the point. I could care less if they give anything or not. It's the fact that they don't have to "balls" to stand for something so they blanket every religion. Even if they stood for Muslim atleast have the balls to stand for it.
Jeremiah 16:16, Gen.9:3 good enough for me on turkey calling....lol.
Like I said above it's not denying me the "free gift". It's the whole America scared to stand for something, anything anymore. .

They are standing for something - no free gifts to religious groups. Just so happens it's not what you stand for.

So then what exactly is your corporate brand image. Like I said I'm not mad at all about not getting anything. We've been blessed with this event every year with plenty of stuff to give away. I'm gonna call the corporate office tomorrow and find out what is there corporate image is. If they don't support Christianity then my business will go to other places that do. This is not about not getting anything its about what I believe and what I stand for. You don't have to donate something to support it. These are just my opinions and don't want to get into some big religious deal over this.

I had a paragraph written but I just couldn't hit the submit button.

Who the hell even shops at Gander Mountain anyway? Everytime I have ever been in there it was just for a look and to kill time. Everything in their store is way overpriced and I accuse them of affiliating with the Yuppies

I doubt they are anti-Christian. Probably very anti the baggage that comes along then with all the "others" then asking about "why not me"?

I also suspect the political group was the larger target there....

You could always convert to a Moonie and call Kahr...

OP way off base here imo.

I have no ax to grind one way or the other about this matter. I do however have friends and family members involved in sales all the way from cars to coffee and I have an observation that I will pass on. The people involved in sales jobs find that it gets very old for someone to come in several times a week wanting either freebies or to purchase something at a figure below cost on the basis of representing themselves as a member of one religious group or another. The common thread seems to be that you are not a good person or business if you do not do what is requested. Some folks get very nasty about it if they are told no. This seems, to me, to be very much like a child who wants something, doesn�t get it and then creates a disturbance. Lots of people want something for nothing and they all have a reason why they think that they ought to get it.

RickOShay I totally understand what your saying. A business can't succeed giving everybody that walks through the door something for nothing. I've had numerous company tell me they couldn't help. Each for there one reason which all I respected. The thing is they cared enough to atleast to give me a chance to explain who I was and want I was doing.

Try working in a service/retail industry and see how many of these requests for "donations" you get. It is a royal pain in the azz! The more you do, the more you requests you get. And trust me, the amount of "exposure" you get doesn't even come close to the actual costs of such donations Throw religion into the mix and things get even more tricky.

That's basically what I said on the first page, most of the negative comments in this thread are from people who have never worked in a management position at any kind of consumer based business.

It's been said a few times here that a donation brings lots of exposure or setting up a booth will more than pay for the donation or fees etc. It often times doesn't even come close, nobody works for free and the businesses have to pay for the product.

And if someone heard you gave something to someone else, than everyone is looking for a handout. Next time one of those lovely telemarketers calls asking for money. Give them a few bucks and I promises you that you'll receive ten times the calls the next time around.

Even if there's a 50% mark up on a product, pay taxes, wages, utilities, insurance, maintenance, etc. There's not a whole lot left for profit.