Raise Money for Forensic Programs

May 16, 1998
Updated July 27, 2013

Prepared by Jim Hanson

This document seeks to provide suggestions, encourage research, and present concrete proposals to reduce financial barriers to participation in forensics. This document is in progress and we seek your suggestions for improving it. Please e-mail Jim Hanson at jim@wcdebate.com and provide additional ideas or revisions to the ideas contained in this document.

Questions or Comments? Send mail to Jim Hanson at jim@wcdebate.com

On this web page, there are suggestions for the following:

1. Ways to Raise Money

2. Encourage your Administration to increase your Budget

3. Ways to build an Endowment for your Program

1. RAISE MONEY

COACHES-FUND RAISING IDEAS

• Run a Bingo Hall.
• Have students contribute to the cost of going to tournaments.
• Sell poetry, singing, etc. o-grams
• Have a public debate, speakathon brunch, story telling comedy shows or an interp festival. Charge people to see these performances; have students sell tickets.
• Have contests including trivia games, jelly bean counts, water dunking, etc.
• Ask for matching funds from companies, foundations, etc. when soliciting donations.
• Make presentations to Elks, Kiwanis, Lions, League of Women Voters, etc. and request donations to your team.
• Host a one or two day workshop for high school students on debating. Consider Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and Individual Events.
• Have your team help out high school students for compensation from a school
• Ask for money from debate alumni and graduates of your department.
• Send out newsletters to alumni; keeps people appraised about the team. Encourage them to donate to your program.
• Hold a rummage sale with old forensics stuff

2. INCREASE BUDGETS GIVEN BY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

COACHES/STUDENTS-GAINING FUNDS FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT

• Note, this is suggested only for schools without official, academic funding. In general, student funding should be used as a last resort as it often has strings attached to it and tends to be less permanent than administration sanctioned funding.
• Dedicate one or two people on your team to be responsible for student politics.
• Check what process your school uses for garnering funds (for state institutions, you can probably find it in the state law somewhere).
• Put a good spin on what your club does and feed the news to whoever funds you throughout the year, not just at budget allocation time.
• Work with AS candidates for budget offices. Talk with them during the campaign as well as after it.
• Avoid antagonizing any candidates during campaigns. Keep relations positive with all candidates.
• Have students on the debate team run for office.
• Contact student senators that had backgrounds in high school speech and debate.
• Invite some student government representatives to some of your team's parties, functions, tournaments. Encourage them to judge or even participate.

COACHES/STUDENTS-GAIN ADMINISTRATION FUNDING

• Ask administration and student groups for special money for national championship tournament competition.
• Be sure to get all the good publicity attention you can on your team.
• Network with school administrators. Keep them appraised of how your team is doing and how they are contributing to your school.
• Ask for more money from your budget sources as your program increases its students, participation and success.
• Find out what funding athletics receives and encourage the school to match that amount.

3. BUILDUP ENDOWMENTS

COACHES-GETTING THE MONEY

• Discuss with your development office how you can create an endowment.
• Discuss developing a plan to have debaters call and ask for money for an endowment with your development office
• Mail a letter explaining your endowment before you call people to make donations. This prepares them and increases donations.
• Contact your development office or alumni office and get the names, addresses, phone numbers, and class years for all living alumni who did debate.
• Contact previous debaters. Ask them to consider donating to your endowment including through payment plans, life insurance policies, etc. with proceeds going to the debate endowment.
• Encourage many smaller gifts to the debate endowment.
• In many cases, make Deans, Presidents, and Trustees aware of fundraising. They often need knowledge in case they meet with big donors who want to give money.

COACHES-BUILDING UP ENDOWMENTS

• Use only ½ of the interest your endowment generates each year in order to make the endowment exist in perpetuity as well as to grow.
• Spend your endowment money last (and use your regular budget first) during the year as the endowment money generates interest during the year.

Click here for guidelines for developing an endowment