The ASUC Fundraising Blog

Who has time to shave during midterms? Turn your guys’ laziness into an epic manly fundraiser.

STEP ONE: Solicit contestants. Facebook is probably the best way to publicize for this kind of tongue-in-cheek fundraiser, but making announcements to fraternities or other predominantly male organizations is advisable. Advertise your cause, the prizes, and how awesome they’ll look in full mountain-man facial hair. You will also need to fill out the fundraising request form, available at http://students.berkeley.edu/files/osl/Student_Groups/Fundraising%20Request%20Form.pdf

STEP TWO: Get prizes. Other than looking incredibly manly, dudes will be more likely to participate if they can win cool shit for growing mustaches. Solicit local businesses for in-kind donations. Food is always rad, but if you can get a big grand prize (iPod? Video games? Beer?) you’re golden.

STEP THREE: Raise dollas. Charge an entrance fee; $3 to $5 is reasonable. This will be your main source of income for the fundraiser so recruit! Tabling on Sproul could be incredibly effective, especially if you have a giant mustache costume to dance around in. Or make all tablers wear (fake) ones.

STEP FOUR: Judge the winners! Dance Marathon had a rad way to judge: Post pix on facebook and whoever gets the most “likes” wins! This approach has the dual advantages of a democratic vote and gives contestants the opportunity to advertise for you.

STEP FIVE: Concluding…  Assess the effectiveness and overall quality of your fundraiser. Coordinators and volunteers should make “Plus/Delta” lists. Make sure to thank your donors, participants and judges!

So here’s a post that’s a little different than our usual ones. Instead of an event to put on to raise funds, your club can raise money right from your living room! Check out www.campusfundraiser.com to figure out how it’s done. The site has multiple fundraisers available and they are all great ways to earn money for your student group. The bigger student group you have, the better, because that is more people to help out. All the people at Campus Fundraiser are very helpful, so just call them at (888) 923-3238 to get started!

One program they offer is a textbook fundraiser. This is a great way to make funds for your club by doing things you already do – buy and sell textbooks. If you register your group for Campus Fundraiser, each textbook purchase and sale through the website gives commission to your student group. Campus Fundraiser is like a portal that directs you to other sites, such as Half.com. But as long as you go through campusfundraiser.com, a commission of your purchase/sale goes straight to your club.

Another program is the online survey fundraiser. You can earn money by taking surveys, how easy is that?? The website says an average survey earns you $2. So grab a bunch of people from your club, buy a pizza, and have a survey taking party as you watch the money roll in!

The other two programs offered are a magazine sale and Enjoy the City coupon books. These both involve more hustling and contact with other people beyond your club, but are other great ways to raise funds.

The only set back of this website if your group must first raise $200 before they write a check to you. So you can’t raise $150 and expect a check. But this is good because it’s incentive to keep raising funds. The website boasts success stories of student groups that raised thousands of dollars in a few hours – this could be you! Go get ‘em tigerrrr.

Everyone enjoys a good laugh. Laugher brings people together, and a great way to provide such an atmosphere is by hosting a comedy show!

STEP ONE: Determine when and where this event will occur. Set a date and time, and location. If this event takes place on campus, make sure to fill out a space permit and reserve a facility. To reserve a space, look at the website, http://businessservices.berkeley.edu/property/specialevents/spacerental. If food is provided at this event, make sure to fill out a food permit. You can find all the required forms at http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/studentorganizations.asp?id=3316#Forms. Make sure to fill out these forms prior to the deadlines.

STEP TWO: Make sure to obtain the appropriate equipment. You can rent equipment from ASUC Superb Productions, or another organization. For a comedy show you will need a microphone, speaker system, and stands. Also, make sure you have all the wires, and know someone that will be able to correctly set-up the equipment.

STEP THREE: Try to find sponsors! Go to local businesses or organizations around campus and ask for donations, such as asking restaurants to provide food.

STEP FOUR: Advertise the event! Find people to participate! Publicize the event! Make flyers and post them around campus. You can even work with clubs and organizations that emphasize comedy, such as the Vagina Monologues or Jericho. Make sure to have a set lineup. You should try to get at least 7 people. There can be an intermission. Make sure to have music playing during intermission, or some sort of entertainment. You can ask other organizations to participate during intermission, such as a dance team or acapella group. Getting many people involved will help advertise your event, and help you make the most money out of it.

STEP FIVE: Sell tickets! To go to the comedy show, you have to buy a ticket. Charge a certain amount for each ticket. Make sure you know the capacity of the space you are holding the event in and that you don’t sell too many.

STEP SIX: Show time! Make sure people participating in the comedy show have their skit ready, and are at the top of their game!  Make sure all the comedians know how long their act should be. Have a host! The host is someone to announce each performer, and to keep the flow of the show. Lastly, have fun!

With Valentine’s Day coming up, love is in the air! So, for all the single people out there, what better way to mingle than a Kissing Booth?

STEP ONE: Decide on a date, time and venue for your event. Since you want your booth to be accessible to a large number of students, upper Sproul is a great place to get noticed.

STEP TWO: Complete the required forms. The first form you need to fill out is the Fundraising Request Form. This and all the other required permits are available at the Center for Student Leadership in 102 Sproul Hall or at http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/studentorganizations.asp?id=3316#Forms

STEP THREE: Plan your event. Make a format or schedule. You may want to set up a ticket booth separately to keep traffic organized. Make arrangements for tickets to be printed beforehand.

STEP FOUR: Advertise. Make a facebook event. Flyering and handbilling the day of the event is also a great way to ensure numbers. Think up creative ways to attract extra attention. Maybe hand out Hershey’s kisses along while handbilling on Sproul. Get the word out as much as possible!

STEP FIVE: On the day of the event, set up your booth and decorate it with bright colors to attract attention. Assign time slots to kissers to avoid confusion. Make sure the kissers are ready to pucker up and you’re good to go!

A great way to raise money is to hold a talent show and charge for admission. Performing groups on campus are always looking for new ways to publicize themselves, so this would be a great opportunity for them as well!

STEP ONE: Decide when and where you will hold your event. Plan how big you want it to be, and how many performing groups you are aiming to have and how many people you want to come. Reserve the correct sized room. (For large events, rooms may be expensive!)

STEP TWO: Fill out the required forms. As always, you need the fundraising permit. If you decide to concession at any time during your event, you must also fill out a food permit form.  This should be a larger event, so you should probably anticipate more than 100 people attending. If 100 or more people are attending, then you also need to fill out a “Fire-Special Event Permit.” Lastly, because many of the acts will probably contain some form of dancing on stage, liability waivers are suggested. All of these permits can be found at http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/studentorganizations.asp?id=3316#Forms

STEP THREE: Advertise to both performers and to intended audience members. Advertising is key. In order for the work of the performers and yourself put into the event to pay off, you need people to show up.  Often rooms that hold large amounts of people are quite costly, so make sure that you get the word out there so that money isn’t completely lost.

Have representatives go to prospective performers. Make sure that they know the time limits on their performances, and exactly when in the show you expect them to go on, and any other logistical information. If the group is not an established campus affiliated group, then some sort of “audition” would probably be the safest bet in ensuring that their performance is appropriate.

STEP FOUR: On the day of the event make sure that everything is set up first. Then, make sure all of the performers are there early, so they don’t come and go during the show. When it comes to the audience arriving, have ushers escort them to their seat so that everything goes a bit more smoothly and so that there are not loads of random vacant seats scattered throughout the middle of the isles.