Fundraising Ideas

• Letters of support: At Concordia University, support letters developed by the office of Service Leadership help students communicate to friends and family. They also break down fundraising goals into tangible numbers. Take a look at an example letter for a 2013 trip to New Orleans.
• Creative events: "Our students sold caramel corn at the student body’s weekly concerts, applied for a grant, and spent a Friday and Saturday evening selling grilled cheese sandwiches to students that were out and about.  The caramel corn was not a huge success due to lack of publicity, but the grilled cheese sandwiches were a big hit and students are still asking us when we will be selling them again!" —Kit Crane, AmeriCorps Member at Linfield College
• Alumni donations: Some offices are beginning to work with the college's foundation office in order to set up a fund which will accept donations from alumni and parents. University of Oregon has a special alternative break fund to support student service. William and Mary has need-based financial aid that is generously donated by alumni.

Have you had fundraising success? Please tell us about it! Fill out the contact form on this page.

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Program sustainability

What is your campus doing to ensure the sustainability of your alternative break trips? Please share your experience with program sustainability through our contact form.

For sustainability purposes and to improve students' experiences, it's important to get feedback about how the trip. You can do this with a short, simple survey. Here are some examples.

• Linfield College assesses student outcomes with a Pre-Trip Survey and Post-Trip Survey. To understand how the ASB program and participants are interacting with community partners and hosts, the Office of Community Engagement and Service conducts a Community Partner Survey and Lodging Survey.
• Concordia University Fall Experience Survey
• Also check out these resources from the Association of American Colleges and Universities. There a number of tools available to assess engaged learning, civic engagement, and student mental health and well-being.

There are many free online survey tools. Try using Google Forms (if you have a Gmail account, find this in Google Drive) or Survey Monkey. 

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Online REsources

VISTA Campus
AmeriCorps VISTA members have access to a variety of fundraising resources on the VISTA campus including courses, videos, and forums. The fundraising resources available address (1) raising funds from individuals, (2) writing grants and proposals, and (3) planning fundraising events.

Education Northwest: Program Sustainability Resources
Although developed specifically for youth mentoring programs, these resources on sustainability planning and fundraising are applicable to other settings. Sustainability Planning and Resource Development for Youth Mentoring Programs will help you think about how to secure sustainable funds for alternative break trips.

Association of Fundraising Professionals
Includes the Donor Bill of Rights, emerging issues, and an introduction to ethics from the AFP, an organization dedicated to advancing ethical and effective fundraising worldwide. While these resources are free, many of the site’s other resources are available only to AFP members.

The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
Includes academic papers and links to a number of fundraising research resources, including a section on “most recent research”, from an esteemed university program.

Tony Poderis, “Know Your Organization”
Shares thoughts and experiences of Tony Poderis, a veteran fundraiser, on a range of topics including mission statements, the case for support, potential donors, and the reasons why fundraising is necessary.

Timothy L. Seiler, "The Roadmap to Fundraising Success"
Walks through the processes involved in the various points along the fundraising cycle, including planning, strategies, and action checkpoints.

Funding opportunities

• Check out this list of current grant opportunities put together by the ORCC staff.