Student Organization Fundraising
General Guidelines
All fundraising must be consistent with the organization’s purpose, university policy and state and federal laws.
- No officer or member can ever receive monetary gain from the fundraising or group. Income cannot be given or loaned out under any circumstances to any person.
- A currently enrolled student member(s) or university personnel of the sponsoring group must be present during the entire time of the event.
- Only one fundraising event may run concurrently each day. The maximum time any one fundraising event can run is five consecutive days. Approved athletic apparel fundraisers are exempt from this requirement.
- Appropriated fundraising methods include programs or sales in which a service, product
or form of entertainment is provided by the members of the organization (e.g., car
wash, apparel sale, Valentine’s day message sale, flower sale, bake sale, item collections...).
- Campus fundraisers that extend to soliciting family and friends (typically certain athletic fundraisers), need to be discussed with the Office of Advancement to determine if gift credit will be given to donors or not.
- The Office of Student Engagement and Office of Advancement reserves the right to deny a fundraising request or cancel a planned fundraiser if a student organization fails to adhere to all University policies and procedures.
Fundraising Procedure
- Prior to completing the funding form, student groups must complete the necessary event
planning steps from the Office of Student Engagement. Student groups must fill out the Student Group Event Planning Form. The Office of
Student Engagement will then approve or deny the event and assist the group in their
next planning steps, including connecting the student group with the Public Relations
office for branding/advertising needs and directing students to the fundraising form.
- An approved Student Group Planning form must be submitted prior to submitting the Fundraising Proposal Form. Including any necessary room reservations.
- If food or food service materials are required for an on-campus fundraiser, arrangements must be made prior with Sodexo. Approved bake sales and candy sales are exempt from this requirement.
- A Fundraising Proposal Form must be completed and submitted via the online form at least two (2) weeks prior to the fundraising event/activity. All fundraising activities may not begin until the official approval is given from the Office of Advancement. This includes any and all advertising.
- A detailed proposal that includes all names of businesses or organizations to be solicited must be attached when the Fundraiser Proposal Form is submitted. This will then be reviewed by the Office of Student Engagement and the Office of Advancement to determine if approval is appropriate.
- Commitments/arrangements with businesses or organizations cannot be made until official approval has been granted by the Office of Student Engagement and the Office of Advancement.
Prohibited fundraising methods include but are not limited to:
- Events/activities deemed inappropriate, offensive, illegal, inflammatory or inconsistent with the mission and goals of Bluffton University. The determination may be made at the discretion of the Office of Student Engagement. This includes any event/activity which promotes and/or provides alcohol.
- Campaign solicitations and campaign fundraising activities- funds for political candidates or campaigns may not under any circumstances be solicited.
- Game of Chance- Ohio law defines a "game of chance", i.e., gambling, to be "poker...or other games in which a player gives anything of value in hope of gain, the outcome of which is determined largely by chance."
- Online fundraising (e.g., GoFundMe, Chase Quick Pay, Fundly, MyEvent, Giveforward, Venmo, Square and PayPal...), unless use of university online fundraising accounts is given. The student groups will be responsible for paying any processing fees that come with these services.
- Date auctions- No individual or group may be auctioned for "services" or a "date".
- Solicitation in classrooms and campus offices.
Sanctions
Student groups failing to adhere to the established event and fundraising guidelines will have the following sanctions imposed:
- First violation – warning and possible cancellation of the event or fundraiser
- Second violation – immediate event and/or fundraising cancellation
- Third violation – student group is temporarily prohibited from holding events/fundraisers
- Forth violation – student group will be moved to inactive status