n the past few weeks, students, faculty and staff alike have emptied their wallets for baked goods, Yankee candles, fresh flowers, Sheetz coupons, flea market items, used books, homemade smoothies, and to place their friends and colleagues in �jail� during Habitat for Humanity’s Jail-N-Bail fundraiser.
January and February typically bring blizzards of fundraisers to Seton Hill University (SHU) and this year has been no exception. This year, however, there are new hoops that clubs must jump through before they begin earning money. Any club wishing to hold a fundraiser must file papers with the Office of Activities and Commuter Life at least one week prior to the start of their event.
�It is actually not a new policy at all,� said Jaimie Steel, director of activities and commuter life.
By Megan Ritter,
Staff Writer
In the past few weeks, students, faculty and staff alike have emptied their wallets for baked goods, Yankee candles, fresh flowers, Sheetz coupons, flea market items, used books, homemade smoothies, and to place their friends and colleagues in �jail� during Habitat for Humanity’s Jail-N-Bail fundraiser.
January and February typically bring blizzards of fundraisers to Seton Hill University (SHU) and this year has been no exception. This year, however, there are new hoops that clubs must jump through before they begin earning money. Any club wishing to hold a fundraiser must file papers with the Office of Activities and Commuter Life at least one week prior to the start of their event.
�It is actually not a new policy at all,� said Jaimie Steel, director of activities and commuter life.
�It’s been on the books since I started, but there’s a greater need to enforce it as we have more clubs doing more fundraisers,� Steel said.
Before the start of this academic year, she added, her existing staff simply did not have enough time to enforce the policy. Since SHU hired Tom Donovan, graduate assistant for the office of activities and commuter life, at the start of the fall 2006 semester, �there’s an extra body who can help us track people down and explain what they have to do.�
The required paperwork requires clubs to nail down all the essential details of their fundraisers at least a week in advance. The form asks for dates, times and locations, for a listing of items or services to be sold. It asks clubs to settle on prices for whatever they may be selling, and reminds them to make arrangements for tables, chairs, and other necessary equipment.
Along with it comes a second form, not mandatory, with which a club may request to make a fundraiser exclusive – that is to say, that no other club may hold the same fundraiser.
�I think it helps a lot – I know people get annoyed with the process, but it’s really good that two clubs can’tdo the same fundraiser, that someone can’ttake another club’s ideas,� said Missy Lutz, treasurer for the class of 2008. She hasn’tfound the paperwork to be an excessive burden.
Meanwhile, Katie Burns, treasurer for the Respect Life Club, was unaware of the new policy for filing paperwork.
�We�ve held a couple of fundraisers this year and I hadn’theard anything about it,� Burns said.
�It’s really just a way to make sure that a club has everything in order before they hold a fundraiser,� said Steel. Club officers or anyone with questions can see Steel in Maura Hall in Room 223, or Donovan in Lowe Hall in Room 101.
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