In the Fall of 2019, I had the opportunity to take HMSV 494 Entrepreneurship in HMSV and Nonprofit Fundraising. This class allow me to learn about ethical fundraising in human services. We discussed annual and capital campaigns, telemarketing, special events, direct mail marketing, face-to-face solicitation, e-fund-raising, and grant writing.

In this course we conducted 7 mini projects in order to learn about the grant and fundraising process. One of my favorite assignments of the semester was “Motivate Me.” This assignment required us to list our top 10 things that would motivate us to actively participate in a fundraising project or event. After we made our list, we had to write a paragraph on what motivators would have to be in place in order for us to participate. This assignment made me sit down and realize what would make me participate more. Each year I have a goal to participate in a fundraiser but never sat down and thought about what would really make me participate without hesitation.

Motivate-Me

Our final project consisted of a choice between two activities. We could either do a Fundraiser Report or a “Fundable” Community Grant Proposal. The activity I chose to do was the Fundraiser Report. We were required to work with an agency and hold a fundraiser. I chose to work at Fleet and Family Support Center in Virginia Beach. During the months of September and October of 2019, we began to start fundraising at the Child Development Centers and Youth Centers in Little Creek. We did a Yankee Candle Fundraiser and it was successful. Our goal was to raise $500 but ended up raising $2400 with almost 150 sales. This experience allows me to understand what steps it takes to raise a fundraiser. 

Fundraiser-Report