Let’s Face it, Who Doesn’t Love Cookies?- Grassroots Fundraising in a Struggling Economy

Like hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation, Earlham College, Indiana is fundraising to send students to the Energy Action Coalition’s Power Shift 2011 conference in DC this spring.  With the conference on April 15-18 and rapidly approaching, they’ve come up with a unique way of raising awareness and funds at the same time- Cookie sales.

In years past, students have relied heavily on grants from their campus departments, presidents, or student government; this year, however, alternative sources of funding have become extremely important. Earlham College has most definitely embraced this sentiment and had a lot of fun with the fundraising idea they came up with.

Adam Moskowitz, Earlham College’s Power Shift Campus Coordinator said “I think the reason why it was so much fun to do this cookie sale is because we really put effort into making the cookies ourselves with our concrete goals in mind.  The money we make isn’t going to go to some far off charity, it’s going to pay for the gas that will get us to DC.  And that excitement came through when we engaged fellow students.”

The work put into the cookie sale has proven to be well worth the effort.  Over the course of a few sales they have already brought in $70 towards the gas needed to get them to DC. Students often gave tips or donations to the cause and the enthusiasm and interest around the Power Shift conference picked up considerably.  Having a laptop open to the Power Shift 2011 registration page during the sales helped to recruit more students to attend the conference.

So, if your campus is looking to raise additional funds for getting to the Energy Action Coalition’s Power Shift conference this year, a cookie sale may be the way to go!