Question: Student Fund-Raising Project In September at its initial meeting of the academic year, the Council of Fraternities and Sororities (CFS) at Mount Clement University decided to organize a project to raise funds to help upgrade the pediatric intensive care unit at the local hospital. The CFS consists of representatives from each of the 24 fraternities and sororities. There were 15 representatives at the meeting. Although the council members who were at the meeting expressed enthusiasm for such an endeavor, they also raised some concerns, including:
• What kind of project should we do?
• When would be the best time of the year to do it?
• Do we have a goal for how much money we should try to raise?
• How should we assign responsibilities to all the fraternities and sororities?
• What about the council members who are not at the meeting? What if they do not support the idea?
• Are we going to need any money at the beginning to get things going and pay for things like advertising and other necessities?
• Do we need any kind of approvals? Hannah said, "This is getting complicated. There are a lot of questions and unknowns." Marcus added, "What if we don't raise a lot of money? That will be embarrassing, especially if we have to do a lot of work." Teresa responded, "Sure it may be a lot of work, but we have a lot of people in our fraternities and sororities who we can get to help." Cathy said, "Maybe we should try to identify what the risks may be, then see if we still think we can do it?" Meghan said, "I'm not going to stand on corners with a can collecting money." Wendy added, "Me either, but there are a lot of other things we can do to raise money that could be fun for all the students." "Maybe even get the community to come, too. That will help us raise more money than just from students," added Sophie. spoke up, "I'm willing to chair a planning committee. Who else wants to be on it? We'll meet here tomorrow at 5:00. I'll send an e-mail to the CFS members who aren't here, inviting them to come. We are going big time and are going to raise a lot of money. Hey, there are risks in anything we do, but they'll work out. We have got to have a can-do attitude."
CASE QUESTIONS
1. What would you recommend for the next possible steps?
2. Identify three potential projects to raise funds for the hospital pediatric intensive care unit.
3. Select one of the three projects and identify four risks that could jeopardize the success of the project.
4. Develop a response plan for how each of the four risks can be either avoided or mitigated.
GROUP ACTIVITY
Divide the course participants into teams of three or four. Have them:
• Brainstorm a list of eight possible projects to raise funds for the hospital.
• Agree on one of the eight projects.
• For the selected project, identify six risks that could jeopardize the success of the project.
• Develop a response plan for how each of the six risks can be either avoided or mitigated.
Have each team select a spokesperson to present their responses to the entire class