Big Problem!!! Need Help!!!!

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

Wow, I was expecting a real catastrophe.

It is catastrophe when you can't pay your bills because you are waiting on reimbursement.

But, then again, me and my little can kind of be drama queens....

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

But, then again, me and my little can kind of be drama queens....

We believe you.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

It is catastrophe when you can't pay your bills because you are waiting on reimbursement.

But you said her family is able to help her with money, which is why she footed the bill in the first place.

ETA: Glad it was resolved, but believe me it didn't cause me any stress.

[ForeverRoses]

I was the fundraising chair in college and we ALWAYS took out the cost of the fundraiser from the money collected before we turned in the money. For example- one fundraiser was a raffle for a $100 JCrew gift certificate. So we took out the $100 plus the cost of the raffle tickets from the money that we raised (we did keep reciepts for those items), so instead of turning in $1500 we turned in say $1390 plus two reciepts- one for the gift cert and one for the supplies (tickets).

I guess it is too late in this case, but I would recommend that if a fundraiser is a manditory activity for the pledges/new members, that someone put together a manual on how to run fundraisers. It would cover this plus other things such as getting unversity approval (if needed), and maybe even ideas for what works and doesn't work.

[Coramoor]

Dude...it's $200. That's like 3 kegs, not even enough to have a decent tailgate.

[AlwaysSAI]

They only raised $177. And, the initial plan was for each MIT (pledge) to contribute money, but one of the pledges was apparently being a pain and refused. (I wish the VPM had told all of us this.....) She just talked to the treasurer and the treasurer told her that she needed more time to think about it.

I'm on exec board and I'm almost tempted to send an email and ask for a meeting to see if this can be worked out......

No, they haven't bought the gift yet.

[Greekie18]

That's ridiculous. Unless you're selling something amazing, I can't imagine that EVER working.

We had to raise money for a pledge class gift, too. We sold hot dogs, nachos, etc. outside of the dorms late at night when kids were going out or coming back. They just wanted the food, they didn't care what the money was going to.

[eagreen]

I agree. My * hopeful* idea for the upcoming year is that the MITs will still do the fund raiser but the "gift" that they give will be strongly recommended send will be to send the money raised to either SAI philanthropies or a philanthropy of their choice. That will give them experience running a fund raiser, dealing with the aftermath AND figuring out how to give a donation (which is more compicated for many organizations than I would have thought) I would like to set out guidelines for the gift, i agree that no one wants to participate in a fund raiser to buy sorority girls more stuff In the future I think that a designation between the gift and the fund raiser would be good. We were told to fund raise for the gift, (which after all of the drama ended up being a measly clock and plaque) ad that is completely useless for training purposes. However, learning how to budget and chose a philanthropy for a fund raiser (if not a philanthropy, a concrete thing) might help teach them something.

Thoughts?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by eagreen

I agree. My * hopeful* idea for the upcoming year is that the MITs will still do the fund raiser but the "gift" that they give will be strongly recommended send will be to send the money raised to either SAI philanthropies or a philanthropy of their choice. That will give them experience running a fund raiser, dealing with the aftermath AND figuring out how to give a donation (which is more compicated for many organizations than I would have thought) I would like to set out guidelines for the gift, i agree that no one wants to participate in a fund raiser to buy sorority girls more stuff In the future I think that a designation between the gift and the fund raiser would be good. We were told to fund raise for the gift, (which after all of the drama ended up being a measly clock and plaque) ad that is completely useless for training purposes. However, learning how to budget and chose a philanthropy for a fund raiser (if not a philanthropy, a concrete thing) might help teach them something.

Thoughts?

I think that you have really thought this through and have a great idea. In the end, the learning experience and the satisfaction of helping others is the most important part of fundraising/philanthropy not cheesy gifts that no one will care about in a year or two. I think you've learned your lesson from the pledge fiasco...mistakes were made on all sides. But, everyone makes mistakes...the key is to learn from them!

[Zillini]

My Finance Advisor's 2 cents:

While I'm happy you were eventually reimbursed, this whole situation was handled badly from the getgo. A fundraising activity often has initial expenses. Those expenses should be reimbursed either by the organizers (in this case the new members) and/or by the proceeds from the event. Anything left over is the "profit" and can then be used for this gift. Any "loss" should be shared equally by the organizers.

Morals of this story:

1. Never spend money you can't afford, even with the promise of reimbursement later.
2. Never take the word of a non-officer about policy. Either check to see if it's in writing (we put our reimbursement policies in our Bylaws) or go to the officer directly in charge of that area, in this case the Treasurer. Even if that officer gives bad info, she can at least stand up to the rest of the Exec and say she gave the "OK".
3. Never expect the Treasurer to chase after you to give you a reimbursement. She might not even know you're entitled to one. It's up to you to turn in your request with receipts in a timely manner.
4. Never, ever lose your receipts! Make a copy for yourself because others can lose receipts. A credit card statement isn't proof of a legitimate reimbursable expense. How does anyone know what you actually bought at Hobby Lobby or Walmart?