Student organizations have been working to raise money for various purposes through fundraising events all over campus and throughout the Keene community.
Anna Heindl / Equinox Staff
On Monday, April 9, the Keene State College Habitat for Humanity organization partnered with Margaritas on Main Street. Students with the Noche Margaritas flier got 20 percent of their bill donated to the Keene Habitat for Humanity organization.
The money went toward the rebuilding and reconstruction of Nepal, which was hit with a catastrophic earthquake in 2015.
Similar to Habitat for Humanity, many other KSC student organizations have been organizing fundraising events to raise money for various causes.
On Tuesday, April 3, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the KSC Dance Team partnered with the local Chipotle restaurant for a fundraiser. Customers who brought in the One for the Team flier or showed a picture of the flier on their smartphone got 50 percent of the proceeds donated to the Dance Team.
KSC dance team manager and treasurer Emma Ayotte said working with Chipotle was a very simple and easy experience.
She applied for the fundraising event online through the Chipotle website. “It was really simple. I just had to fill out a quick application, which involved an explanation of why we need the money and what it would go towards,” she said.
Ayotte said the money will be used to pay back a loan the dance team got from the school in order to compete at Nationals in Florida.
She added that fundraising is important for the dance team but said organizing events can get tedious.
“We don’t have a huge budget from the school, so fundraising brings in the majority of our budget, that’s why it’s so important. The most difficult part is probably just the planning. Especially when the fundraiser involves an outside company or getting a raffle license or something. Usually it’s just getting all the paperwork done that gets monotonous,” she said.
Ayotte added that the dance team hosts many other fundraising events, such as a calendar raffle and a dance clinic held at Keene Middle School. Their most successful raffle, Ayotte said, is their annual pie fundraiser hosted in November.
Fraternities and sororities on campus also organize a variety of fundraiser events. Phi Lambda Chi chapter president Peter Dubois said his fraternity raises money to donate to specific causes. “We don’t necessarily fundraise for ourselves too much. Fundraising is mostly done for our philanthropy or to benefit some sort of service… most of the time our money goes back into the community,” he said.
Dubois said philanthropy is the community service the fraternity specializes in. Phi Lambda Chi’s philanthropy is Special Olympics and it remains the same every year.
He said Phi Lambda Chi doesn’t normally partner with local businesses for fundraising events, but they have expressed interest in working with the Keene Police and Fire departments.
During their annual Day of Clarity event, the fraternity partnered with Campus Safety in order to promote healthy and safe drinking.
Dubois said the fraternity is hosting one of its annual fundraising events called Phi Lamb Lady in the student center on Sunday, April 15. Phi Lamb Lady is an event where women compete to represent the fraternity.
Dubois said that the event resembles a beauty pageant, with different sections of competitions, such as a talent section.
Each woman has a jar and attendees use money to vote for their favorite. Whoever collects the most money at the end of the event wins and becomes the Phi Lamb Lady for the fraternity. Dubois said that there is not an entry fee but there is a suggested donation.
He added that “Phi Lamb Lady definitely raises the most money for us though every year just because it’s something that people know about and something that people like to participate in every year.”
Since the event is something many look forward to every year, Dubois said that its popularity helps the fraternity raise more money.
“I think word of mouth helps a lot. Spread of information is definitely the most difficult part about [fundraising],” he added.
He said that the fundraiser is used “to raise money and awareness for our philanthropy [and] to promote both our fraternity and the spirit of friendship we have among the greek community and the school.”
Dubois continued by saying that fundraising events help positively promote Phi Lambda Chi and they help give back to the community.
“The more fundraising we’re able to do, the more that we can promote ourselves and show that we really do care about what we’re fundraising for. I know that most of the guys joined the fraternity, not only because of the social life, but a lot of them joined because they wanted to give back,” he said.
“It gives them the opportunity, not only to me meet new people and have a good time, but to do something good for the community.”
Student Government Treasurer for the class of 2020 Emily Foy said fundraisers help publicize student organizations.
“Fundraising can only benefit you. It’s good because it gets your name out there and it just gives you a boost before a big event,” she said.
Foy added that the class of 2020 spends most of the fundraising money on events like Red & White Night and the end of the year Senior Class Trip.
The most successful fundraiser event was the raffle baskets they auctioned off during the Winter Festival in Keene.
She said the junior class partnered with a local restaurant called The Works on Main Street and that the sophomore class plans on partnering with them as well.
Foy added that fundraising is beneficial for many student organizations, but it can be difficult to create an inexpensive, yet interesting, event for students.
“I think the part that we struggle with, especially the class of 2020, is that it’s hard to put on a really fun fundraiser that people want to participate in but not spending that much money on it, so that you’re actually making money and not trying to close the gap on what you spent,” she said.
The 2018 Class Treasurer, Casey Sault, said it’s hard for student organizations to fundraise because their target donors are college students who are on a strict budget.
“Their main focus group is college students who are already struggling to get by, it costs them to eat, to stay on campus, to pay for classes,” she said. “So I think they might have a hard time because their target community is college students,” Sault said.
Sault said she works with other student organizations, such as Alternative Break and Mentors in Violence Prevention, which develop fundraisers to pay for trips and donate to community services.
For Alternative Break, she said members write letters to friends and family asking for donations so that the organization can continue to pay for the trips and lower the cost for students traveling.
Sault said Mentor in Violence Prevention is hosting its Walk a Mile event on Saturday, April 21.
Registry for the event is online and donations go straight to the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention.
Ashley Arnold can be contacted at aarnold@kscequinox.com
