Familiarize yourself with the fundraising rules and regulations of your campus. This will give you a framework from which to start. Soliciting money at certain times and from certain people may have restrictions.

Here are Some Helpful Tips:

• It is best to have a plan for your fundraising efforts. Always know how the donation will be used so you can be specific with the business from which you are requesting the donation.

• Always look for local businesses to co-sponsor your events, whether they are donating money, prizes, food, or other services to make the event a little better. Always be professional and thank them profusely for their sponsorship, and give them high visibility at your event and in any promotional materials.

• Ask other groups and organizations on campus to co-sponsor events. Co-sponsoring can mean many different things; it may just be a clever way of asking for money. Be sure to acknowledge the other organization by putting their name/logo on your event advertisements.

• Have an auction. Have students, businesses, faculty, staff and other people in the community donate things they do not want, and see if you can get some money for these items. Having an auction can be fun. Tacky items often bring in the most money.

• Hold a fair of some sort where area businesses or vendors can set up booths on campus. You could have a "Taste of (your town)" festival where area restaurants donate food. Charge for each table and have your members on hand throughout the event to help the vendors.

• Hold a free car wash. Wash people's cars and ask them to make a donation. Promoting a free car wash gets more attention than a regular one, and you'll probably make more money. Or use gimmicks such as "Free Topless Car Wash" to get attention. You wash the entire car for free except "the top" then you wash the top for a set price.

• Have a parent's night out. Promote this event to faculty, staff, and graduate students and any other students who might have children. On a Friday or Saturday night, get a big room on campus and provide a baby-sitting service. Your members entertain the kids while mom and dad enjoy a night out. You should get your campus nurse in on the act as a measure of security for worried parents. Have lots of games, videos, and so forth.

• Hold a non-alcoholic casino night. Give everyone fake money and auction off prizes (donated from area businesses) at the end of the night. The games can be rented from local rental companies, check your Yellow Pages.

• Sell mocktails at parties, intramural games, in the student union, outside the library, at fine art performances, etc.

• Sell buttons. This is a particularly good idea if you have a good athletic team that people support. You can also sell them around issues, such as AIDS awareness or impaired driving prevention. Buy them cheap, then sell them at 100% markup. Remember that it is better to buy a small quantity to start with, then have to make more, than it is to get stuck with a bunch of buttons you can't sell.

• Have a local business sponsor a free ice cream social on campus. Maybe your food service would do it. You sell the toppings.

• Get local bakeries to donate a free cake “certificate” and sell tickets to faculty, staff, and students. (Everyone needs a cake for a birthday, an anniversary, or a party). Draw winning tickets from the pool. The more cakes you can get donated, the money you can raise.