Fundraising Ideas for College Student Organizations from Entrepreneurship Clubs

Student organizations often rely on their ability to raise funds in order to operate depending on what activities they offer to students. Chapters of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) operate student led chapters on campus that often launch businesses of their own, encourage students to launch a business, bring in entrepreneurs to speak, compete in competitions, and more.

This article highlights how five CEO chapters were able to fundraise for their respective clubs. Using the ideas from these five clubs and applying them to your campus club or organization should help in your quest towards successful fundraising.

The five chapters include; University of Nebraska at Omaha, Brigham Young University, St. Mary’s University, Texas State University, University of Michigan at Flint.

University of Nebraska Omaha

The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) CEO Chapter hosts a popular event each year on campus during their school’s Welcome Week. The World Record Breaking Slip and Slide is an annual fundraising event hosted on UNO’s main campus. The 2012 fundraiser was the event’s third and raised over $500 for the club.

Local businesses were invited to sponsor the event and were rewarded with their company logo on event T-shirts, logo on the event page, and placement in the event video that was posted online. Event T-shirts were sold at the event and posted on the club’s website for sale.

In addition to raising money for the club through sponsorship, the chapter was able to get a former chapter member to donate supplies, setup and breakdown equipment, and monitor the event.

The funds raised by the World Record Breaking Slip and Slide went back into the club to help offset the costs of food at meetings, to send members to local events, and to help assist students attempting to launch startups.

View the UNO CEO 2012 Slip-n-Slide event here on Youtube.

Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University’s CEO Chapter decided to contact organizations and associations to help raise money for their club. After identifying organizations with similar interests, they contacted the Associate Entrepreneur Founders Organization (AEFO). AEFO is an organization for BYU alumni pursuing entrepreneurial careers and under the age of 40.

Due to their similar missions and support of entrepreneurship, the partnership was a natural fit.

The BYU CEO club presented to AEFO and asked for a donation. The CEO chapter was able to receive $5,000 in funding from the generous AEFO members as a part of a sponsorship. The sponsorship will help the AEFO stay in touch with CEO members after graduation, and benefits the CEO chapter by helping to fund operations.

St. Mary’s University

The St. Mary’s CEO Chapter has experienced success through fundraising by involving charities. The chapter held a Swap-Up for Charity project that required students to trade up items to see what they could acquire at the end of their swapping. The idea was inspired from Kyle McDonald, a man who acquired a house by swapping items until he reached his ultimate goal, all from the humble beginnings of a red paper clip.

Students started with a bookmark that is sold at their university’s bookstore for under $3. They had seven months to make as many trades as possible to end up with the best item they could.

Results
Nine bookmarks turned into valuable items including a men’s Fossil watch, an autographed Manu Ginobili basketball, a Dooney & Burke purse, two gaming systems, and a Fender amplifier. The items were auctioned off or sold to a pawn shop. The grand total after selling the items was $429.85. The money was donated to a local social entrepreneurship and non-profit organization called Transition Possible (www.transitionpossible.org ).

Texas State University
Texas State’s CEO Chapter was recently named the 2012 CEO Best Chapter due to their activities and accomplishments. They have had several fundraisers that have provided thousands of dollars to the club to use to send students to the CEO National Conference and for other activities throughout the year.

Created in 2006, Bobcatopoly is a Texas State themed Monopoly game that features forty-nine fraternities, sororities, landmarks, and small businesses throughout the San Marcos community. In order to create the game, CEO members charged the featured groups, landmarks, and businesses to have their name on the board, to be a property that could be purchased, to have a featured game piece, as well as a mention in the chance and community chest cards. This provided the necessary capital to have the initial round of games created.

During the first year of sales, 800 Bobcatopolies were sold. Since that first year, over 1400 games have been sold. The games have been so successful, they have recently partnered with the Texas State bookstore to have Bobcatopoly sold on the shelves.

University of Michigan Flint

CEO chapters across the country often hold fundraisers not only to benefit their club, but to raise funds for a charity or person in need. The University Of Michigan-Flint CEO chapter named Entrepreneurs Society held “Nino’s Benefit”—-a fundraising event to benefit Nino De Benedetti, who was recently diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.

Due to Nino’s ailing physical state he was unable to continue working at the pace he and his family depended on and the need for financial assistance became apparent. The chapter decided to focus our efforts on raising money for the De Benedetti family and decided to throw a high-end cocktail reception.

On March 27, 2012 over 200 guests attended the fundraiser in support of Nino, and over $32,000 was raised. All proceeds went to support the De Benedetti family. The money raised enabled Nino to go to Duke Hospital in North Carolina and receive more appropriate and specialized care.

Summary
Whether you are raising money for your club or for a charity, these examples are proof of what a group of dedicated students can achieve through throwing a fundraising event. Whatever event you plan to throw or fundraising campaign you launch, involving your campus and local community will benefit your club in exposure and hopefully, in fundraising. Congratulations to the groups mentioned above, and good luck in your fundraising efforts.