Fundraising Suggestions and Tools
Thank you for your interest in the 2006 C.O.O.L. Idealist National Conference. We hope to see
you there! Get creative and get to Nashville
youll be glad you came!
Downloadable Tools for Fundraising:
- Sample Proposal (downloadable word document) - Special thanks to Jomar Giner (2005 Bard College Ambassador) for permitting us to use her proposal as an example!
- Budget Worksheet (downloadable word document)
About the conference fees:
We keep our registration fees as low as possible. They are among the lowest for a conference of this magnitude and include 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 1 dinner. Most attendees obtain financial support from their college, university, or organization to help cover registration and travel costs. Groups: for every 6 registrations, you'll automatically be given a free voucher for a 7th! Register by January 13th to receive our discounted rates.
Ways to cut travel and lodging costs:
We hope to offer a limited amount of low cost housing for conference attendees. Keep checking the Travel/Meals/Lodging link for updates. Deals on hotel rooms are also available on our lodging page. You can also search for inexpensive hotel rooms in the Nashville area on the usual websites.
Continental Airlines is offering discounted fares to conference participants. See the Travel/Meals/Lodging page for more information.
Fundraising Suggestions:
Who to approach on campus:
Most campus offices will be more than happy to help you with organizing and outreach to your fellow students, it's rare, though, 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. 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 who are working with the issues that will be represented at the national conference 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 post-conference when you are ready to turn the information that you've gained into action!
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 3 literacy non-profit partners: Books for Africa, Room to Read, or The National Center for Family Literacy-Hurricane Relief Effort. Students receive a scholarships 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 C.O.O.L 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 at least recycled. Please contact reps@Betterworldbooks.com for more information on how you can use our book drive as a fundraiser for your C.O.O.L conference trip.
Check Out the Break Away® Fundraising Ideas Database!
We look forward to seeing you in March!
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