Who to approach on campus:
Most campus offices will be more than happy to help you reach out to and organize a group of your fellow students to attend this conference. It's rare that one campus office will be able to provide you with all of the financial support that you'll need to make this trip a reality, so you should start thinking now about a variety of ways that you can find the funding to attend this event. Seeking the programmatic and financial support of a collective of different departments on campus not only increases your chances of achieving your goal, but it will also help to institutionalize this initiative as a campus-wide commitment in the future! Some suggested offices and campus groups to approach for support:
- Academic Departments
- Office of Community Service
- Office of Career Services
- Office of Multicultural Life
- Office of Religious Life or Campus Ministry
- Office of Study Abroad
- Office of Student Life
- Office of Student Activities
- Residence Life Office
- Student Government Association
Who to approach off campus:
Now is a great time to start thinking about your plan to bring all of the information that you'll gain from the conference back to your own community. Research local organizations and community groups to see if they would be willing to sponsor you in exchange for volunteer hours or a presentation for their staff on what you learned from the conference. Even if these organizations are not able to support you financially, they can serve as valuable resources for you after the conference, when you are ready to turn your vision for a better world into a reality!
Consider approaching local businesses, as well, who might be willing to sponsor your group or support your fundraising efforts by providing goods or services at cost for you to sell for a profit!
Strategies:
Raise Money for Registration by Holding a Book Drive for Better World Books!
Better World Books is a social venture organization that provides fundraising opportunities to students and campus groups who organize literacy book drives at their university. The book drive benefits one of four literacy nonprofit partners: Books for Africa, Room to Read, The National Center for Family Literacy-Hurricane Relief Effort, and World Education & Development Fund. Students receive a scholarship based on the number of books collected, and the funds are completely unrestricted. You can use the money earned by collecting books for literacy to fund your attendance at the Idealist Campus Conference!
By collecting used college textbooks on your campus you can save books from the landfills, promote literacy, earn a scholarship, and support a socially conscious enterprise. All donated books are sold online, donated directly, or recycled. Please contact reps@betterworldbooks.com for more information on how you can use our book drive as a fundraiser for your conference trip.
Check Out the Break Away® Fundraising Ideas Database!
Since most of you will need to raise funds for both registration AND travel, the BreakAway® website is definitely worth checking out for fundraising strategies. BreakAway®: the Alternative Break Connection, Inc. is "a national 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that supports the development of quality alternative break programs by providing training and information primarily to colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations interested in creating lifelong active citizens through these intensive service-learning programs." Their comprehensive list of fundraising tactics offers ideas on everything from your standard bake sale to collecting frequent flyer mile donations.
Visit http://www.alternativebreaks.org/Fundraising_Ideas.asp to learn more!
We look forward to seeing you in March!
