What is the Nomination process?
How many families can I Nominate?
Can multiple people Nominate one family?
Do more Nominations influence if a family is selected?
What is expected of me if I Nominate a family?
What if my family is selected?
What are the important dates for me to remember?
What is the Nomination process?
Friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, fellow community members, or others submit families who have experienced undue hardship this year that qualifies them as in need for a magical holiday experience like Santa’s Sparkle.
Nominations are submitted online only. No emails, letters, or other messages will qualify for consideration of selection.
The Open Nomination Period for Santa’s Sparkle 2014 is November 3rd, 2014, at 10:00am to December 1st, 2014, at 11:59pm. Only nominations submitted in this timeframe are valid for consideration of selection.
Those persons nominating a family are called Nominators.
Nominators may not receive a response from Santa’s Sparkle’s administrators, The Zazza Community Foundation (“the Foundation”) at all after their valid nomination submission. Nominators may receive urgent requests for more information during the Open Nomination Period that should be responded to as quickly as possible.
Nominators whose submitted nomination is selected by the Foundation for Santa’s Sparkle 2014 will be directly contacted within a week of the close of the Open Nomination Period but never before.
Who can Nominate a family?
Anyone can nominate a deserving family so long as they are not an immediate family member of the family being nominated. For our purposes, immediate family members are those who reside in the household. Friends, neighbors, extended family members, co-workers, teachers, and other community members are great people to nominate deserving families.
How many families can I Nominate?
You may personally nominate multiple deserving families. You will need to nominate each family separately.
Can multiple people Nominate one family?
Absolutely. Deserving families may be nominated by multiple people. There is no need for each nominator to submit separate nominations for the deserving family. Multiple nominators may coordinate together to fill out one single nomination.
PLEASE NOTE: If submitting a single nomination as a group, the person who is listed as the nominator will be designated the Lead Nominator and responsible for fulfilling or designating Nominator Duties.
Do more Nominations influence if a family is selected?
The number of nominations a deserving family receives on their behalf does not directly affect the likelihood of them being selected to benefit from Santa’s Sparkle. However, the more information available to the selection committee that is verifiable helps the committee to select families more efficiently.
What is expected of me if I Nominate a family?
All Nominators are expected to be available for follow-up questions from the Foundation. Most questions are urgent because there is little time to organize Santa’s Sparkle. The faster a response, the better.
What if my family is selected?
As the Nominator you will be expected to help coordinate with the Foundation and its partners. This will include:
- Providing consent to contact your family
- Providing information to verify your nomination
- Agreeing to talk with Tony Zazza on 103.7 KVIL’s morning radio show, Zazza Mornings
- Providing information helpful to making your family’s experience is smooth (disability and/or allergy information, etc.)
- Attending Nominator’s Orientation on Saturday, December 6th, 2014, at a time to be determined at the Hilton Anatole
- Providing a list of your family’s needs & wants which must include all persons in the family as detailed as possible
- Attending the Shopping Day to collect your family’s items (Friday, December 12th, 2014)
- Assisting with your family’s availability for the event (December 14th through December 16th)
- Attending opening night activities (Sunday, December 14th, 2014)
- Assisting your family with returning home with their gifts (Tuesday, December 16th, 2014)
PLEASE UNDERSTAND: as the Nominator you are our first and only connection to the deserving family. You are essential and vital to the success of, and to the family most benefitting from, Santa’s Sparkle.
What are the important dates for me to remember?
- Radio Interviews (Thursday, December 4th, 2014 & Friday, December 5th, 2014)
- Nominator Orientation (Saturday, December 6th, 2014)
- Shopping Day (Friday, December 12th, 2014)
- Welcome Evening (Sunday, December 14th, 2014)
- Santa’s Sparkle (Monday, December 15th, 2014)
- Checkout Morning (Tuesday, December 16th, 2014)
Can I tell the family that I Nominated them?
Yes, however, that may ruin the surprise. Please know that because this event will happen during a weekday, it may be challenging for everyone to be available without a reason. So telling the family may be best even if it ruins some of the surprise. We will help to the best of our ability to ensure the process is as smooth, magical, and surprising as possible.
I have more questions.
Please, contact us. We’ll do our best to respond as quickly as possible. Understand that the Santa’s Sparkle committee is a small group of volunteers and their time is limited.