Fundraising Through Entrepreneurial Activities

Wednesday 11th January 2012, Swazi Observer Article


http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=34194


AS was noted in Part 1, there are two ways to fundraise for your team’s activities.
One is fundraising through sponsorship (featured last month) and the second is fundraising through entrepreneurial activities. This month we will focus on the latter (fundraising through entrepreneurial activities).
Instead of relying on others to donate money to you, your Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team can also choose to generate its own funds by engaging in entrepreneurial activities. These activities must not be confused with your SIFE projects, which are aimed at empowering others.
Hence, your entrepreneurial activities are not to be presented as SIFE projects as such, but they serve as a means to generate income for your SIFE projects.
Entrepreneurial Activities
Set up a small business:
Your team can set up a small business venture on campus that would satisfy a need on your institution. Delivery services, a small restaurant, photocopy services, language classes, tutoring services and internet cafés are all examples of ventures that have a tendency to generate a good profit.
Your team can also conduct market research for companies for a fee.
Membership dues and application fees:
It is also possible for your team to charge a small amount of dues per member; this will generate some money to cover basic team expenses, but will also ensure that your members value the programme enough to contribute to the upkeep of the team.
You may also choose to have students pay a small non-refundable application fee to join your team.
Career events:
Your team can generate some good revenue by creating events and charging the participants a fee to attend. You can think about organising career fairs, recruitment fairs and professional development events.
These all have a potential to bring in revenue for your team. Inviting a well-known and respected chief executive officer as a keynote speaker to any of your events can boost ticket sales.
Social events:
Theme parties, band nights, concerts and talent shows are events which can generate income for your team through the profit from ticket sales. Do make sure that you plan these events well in advance so that you can advertise and sell tickets beforehand.
Creative Fundraisers
Lottery/Raffles – People always enjoy getting a chance to win something, so organising a raffle/lottery is a very simple way to fundraise. Offer an inexpensive ticket for a chance to win a cash prize or a gift.
Your costs are limited to the ticket expenses and purchasing your prizes. As with any fundraiser, the better the items offered, the more funds you will raise.
Car wash – Organising a car wash is another simple way to generate income with your team members. Advertise the date and time, and either charge a set amount for each car wash or accept additional donations for your projects.
Auction – Consider organising an auction where people can bid on items your team has collected. Your team members can even get creative and offer their ‘services’ as an item in the auction. Depending on your team member’s skills, they could consider offering bidders a home cooked dinner, help with moving, mowing their lawn, giving guitar lessons, repairing/installing computers, etc.
Bake sale – Selling food/drinks is a very simple fundraiser. Ask local bakeries for donations or get your team members to bake some of their specialties and sell them at your campus in between classes or at lunch.
Market/Garage sale – Ask your team members to donate their unwanted items (clothes, furniture, books, etc) and resell them during a garage sale. Profits go directly to your team. You can even offer simple snacks for your shoppers and earn a little extra cash.
NOTE: When establishing entrepreneurial ventures for your team have in mind that such ventures are not the core of your SIFE work and as such should not be so time consuming to manage that you have no time for your SIFE projects!