PLEASE help me out!! Read this!

UAlbanyAZD · #1 04-09-2002, 09:03 AM

I have a question for all of you out there! Its in regards to your philanthrophy. My chapter is in the planning stages of fundraising for a 5 year old boy with cancer, who needs a bone marrow transplant. Though I got a great response to the idea, I found that a lot of people became greedy when it came to donations from our own chapter. I was shocked, and it made me so angry! I couldn't believe that these girls could be so selfish. I had asked for a $30 donation to make flyers and other odds and ends for our fundraiser. Though no final decision has been made, I would appreciate it if someone could answer this for me!!!!

1. What does your chapter do (Each year) for your philanthropy?
2. Does your chapter donate money or does it lay down money for fundraisers that it does not get "reimbursed" for?

IF someone could answer this I WOULD BE SO APPRECIATIVE!! I want something to bring up at the meeting tonight!

FuzzieAlum · #2 04-09-2002, 11:53 AM

At my school, any money the chapter put out for fundraisers was taken back in out of the money raised, and no member was required to put forth more money for a fundraiser.

These girls might not be "selfish." They might just be broke! Many members have to plan their sorority expenses carefully, and if they haven't budgeted for it, an extra $30 unexpectedly can be a big deal.

PsychTau · #3 04-09-2002, 12:04 PM

If I remember correctly, we budgeted a certain amount each semester in a philanthropy category to cover advertising, supplies, etc. If we decided to take on an extra philanthropy, we would vote to spend the money on it (and could recoup our money from the proceeds as long as we didn't advertise that EVERYTHING would be donated to the cause. Want to avoid false advertising here! And let me add that we never kept a lion's share of the proceeds. It all depended on what we were doing and how it all worked out).

I'm not sure exactly what kind of fundraiser you have planned, but if your chapter couldn't cover the startup costs, what about partnering with another group. Would the American Cancer Society help out with advertising? What about businesses donating their services in exchange for acknowledgement of their donation? Check out the resources that are in your area.

Hope this helps!!

VSUPhiMu · #4 04-09-2002, 01:54 PM

We raised money for the cousin of one of our Sisters, who unfortunately didn't last long enough to get the transplant. We paired up with a fraternity and had a car wash and other functions to raise money for her. When she died, the money went into a fund that her family established for all of her medical bills and funeral costs. We raised a lot of money simply because we paired up. The guys were all excited about helping this girl and really worked hard to help us.

-VSUPhiMu

AOX81 · #5 04-09-2002, 02:04 PM

We did a fundraiser for a little boy with leukemia and I believe we raised over $2000. We went around to a few businesses and got some small door prizes and we sold raffle tickets. The prizes were raffled off at an information dinner about Leukemia. After the dinner we had an auction. Each sister and pledge was auctioned off in exchange for one hour of service. The minimum bid was $10.00 and we had around 35-40 girls. I think it went over really well, it was a lot of fun, and it was for a good cause!

http://www.alphathetachi.net/community_service.htm

Have a nice day

AchtungBaby80 · #6 04-09-2002, 02:24 PM

Please don't think your sisters are selfish, because as someone mentioned, that's probably not the case--they might just have no money! Seriously. For our yearly philanthropy event, we suddenly got hit up for $50, which to me is a fortune since I can make one ten-dollar bill stretch for about 2 weeks. I was lucky in that my brother has a company that could sponsor us so I didn't have to pay the money out of my own pocket. But the reason I didn't want to pay was not because I wanted to deprive the speech and hearing impaired of money, it was because I simply didn't have a lot of money to go around.

maggieaxid · #7 04-09-2002, 02:33 PM

We usually raised money for either ronald mcdonald house, duke children hospital, or a battered women and childrens shelter. Often people on campus and sisters didn't have much money to spare, so we often did clothing or toy drives and craft fairs. We even held a halloween ball for the kids of the shelter and lots of professors came and donated lots of money. we only ask each sister for like $20 and they are included in our local part of the nationals dues....and they still are the cheapest on campus!

Tom Earp · #8 04-09-2002, 04:55 PM

With the cost of going to College and trying to keep up with the cost of being in a Greek Org. Do Not be aghast at your members not wanting to give up money!

All Charitys are (GOOD)?

LXA, does the North American Food Drive Internationally! Many LXA Chapters do the Water Mellon Fest/Bust!

Teeter-totter-athon or what ever!

We do a Hot Tub A Thon that I am working to get all of the Chapters to do! We also do Western Week, yes a Week to do for Charity!

The idea is to not soak your members, who are on a budget, but to try to get $$#$$ from those in the general world!

All Charitys are hard pressed right now so do not look down your nose at your Sisters! They to hurt for money!

rhochi2002 · #9 04-09-2002, 05:25 PM

I definately agree your sisters are probably not being selfish. i know toward the end of the semester i start to run out of money and suddenly $30 is a small fortune. Some of your sisters may be blessed with an awesome job or parental finances but for sisters on a budget an unforseen extra amount of cash might be a burden. I would suggest asking local companies for donations and checking with your treasure to see if you have any money set aside for philanthropies. If not I would suggest that for next fisical year's budget setting aside a certain amount of money for philanthropies other than your national ones, it will ease the hardship on sisters and event planners
have a happy day

33girl · #10 04-09-2002, 07:15 PM

Costs for putting on fundraisers should be written into the budget at the beginning of the year. That is what local dues are for - you can't be coming to everyone for every event and asking them to give money. It's probably written into your bylaws that you (and every other chairman) have to stay within the confines of your budget. They are not being selfish at all.

Plus - do you mean $30 a sister??! Even with only 30 sisters, that would be $900 - believe me, flyers and publicity don't cost that much! That's the point - this money you are requesting is for operating costs, not going directly to the little boy's benefit.

Now if it was a question of the sisters refusing to give DONATIONS of what they could, or not working on the fundraiser, that's different. But in this case they are completely justified telling you no.

aephi alum · #11 04-09-2002, 07:47 PM

I agree. My chapter held, and still holds, one large-scale fundraiser every year, along with a couple of bake sales and the like. For the big fundraiser, we took whatever money we raised, deducted expenses, and sent the rest to our charity. Some expenses are incurred ahead of time, of course, but we always had enough $ in the sorority's bank account (from local dues) to cover that until the revenue came in. For the smaller fundraisers, either the $ came in up front (i.e. people ordered something to be delivered at a later date) or in the case of bake sales, we asked sisters to bake something to sell - typical outlay for ingredients was less than $10. $30 is a bit much when you're a starving college student.