Ever wonder how all the clubs at EvCC get to go on all their trips and see so many cool things? Do you happen to notice when they set up a table at Clubfest and sell raffle tickets or periodically hold an event on campus? Well, here’s your answer; they hold fundraisers. The question is, how do they go about setting up everything through the school to raise the money in the first place? Program Support Supervisor Brittany Padgett has all the answers to any question you could have.

“Any time a club wants to do some sort of activity on campus whether it’s fundraising, having an information table, or anything outside of their normal club meeting times, they have to register their event or activity with Student Life,” Padgett said describing the club event registration form. This particular form helps the clubs figure out exactly what they need to set up for and run just about any activity.

Among favored methods of fundraising clubs have done things like raffles, which Student Life provides tracking forms and tickets to give participants, they often do bake sales too. These ideas aren’t necessarily all they’re able to do, so long as they follow procedure.

“There’s been a dunk tank done by the society of women engineers,” Padgett mentioned. “The Triangle Alliance was able to tape their advisor to the wall and they sold strips of duct tape so people could help, it was pretty funny.”

Some clubs have done their own versions of food sales, but weren’t exactly successful. “We sold some cotton candy one morning,” said John Baumgardner, a member of the Anthropology Club. “It went pretty good; we learned that people don’t like cotton candy in the morning so we need to do it in the afternoon.”

Baumgardner admitted that getting people to approach them at events like Clubfest can be a daunting task, but he has a secret weapon.
“Oh, that’s what the candy’s for, it’s to lure them in,” confirmed Baumgardner. “But, some people feel like you have to pay for the candy so they just look at it and walk by. So you really have to be like, ‘free candy!’ If they’re interested in the club, they’ll let you know.”

There are various reasons groups at EvCC participate at events like Clubfest; mainly to increase their membership or raise money so they can go off and to do activities, but sometimes they work with non-profit organizations simply to help the unfortunate.

“Supply drives are allowable on campus,” Padgett said, “they’re usually really successful. When people want to do things for non-profit organizations I suggest they talk to the non-profit organization to find out exactly what their needs are.”

For more information or if you’d like to hold a function of your own, please contact the Student Life office in the Parks Student Union Building on campus.