Chapter Spotlight – Epsilon Delta (Northern Illinois)

This week our Chapter Spotlight is on Epsilon Delta (Northern Illinois). As the 2014-2015 Most Improved Fundraiser of the Northern quadrant, Epsilon Delta shares how they stepped up both of their big philanthropy events to produce increased donations toward heart health.

2013-2014 Giving: $1,532
2014-2015 Giving: $ 9,597
Percentage Increase: 84%

Tell us a bit about your philanthropy events over the 2014-2015 year.
Two of our more successful events were our Fall semester APhiesta Bowl, our annual flag football tournament, and our annual Red Dress Gala in the Spring semester.

We held APhiesta Bowl on fields on-campus where we sold chips and drinks, had a DJ and raffled off gift cards throughout the day. Not only did many of the other Greek organizations participate, there were some alumni teams as well! For the Spring semester, we held our annual Red Dress Gala at our campus Student Center Ballroom. We had a variety of silent auction items along with raffles during the event.

You increased your donations to the Foundation by more than $8,000 from the previous year! How did you accomplish this?
Most of the money raised from APhiesta bowl comes from each teams’ participation fees. In order to increase participation, we opened the tournament to anyone on campus which meant we needed to improve our advertising strategy. We distributed fliers around campus and created different social media posts to increase visibility.

For our Red Dress Gala, funds raised primarily come from our auction items and ticket sales. In order to maximize the money from ticket sales, we held the event at a bigger space than in past years to increase attendance. We also increased ticket prices by $5. Each year, our chapter women split into pairs to create silent auction baskets. This year, the women really stepped it up and created higher value baskets to help raise more money. We also reached out to local businesses and sports teams for donations, which resulted in awesome raffle prizes. One individual donated Blackhawks tickets, which were a big hit. We sold chances to win the raffle for $20 and allowed people to buy second chances for $10. This alone raised an additional $900!

What did you enjoy most about your event(s) last year?
It was great to see the chapter grow in our philanthropy events. It was also nice to see how our efforts brought in more support from the Greek and overall communities as well. It was really rewarding for everyone to see such a strong positive outcome.

What tips would you offer other chapters looking to improve their philanthropy events?
Get creative! Think outside the box of ways to improve your event and raise more money.  Pinterest is a great resource for fundraising ideas. I would also recommend reaching out to the community. We worked with the community more this year than ever before in an effort to build and maintain a long-lasting relationship with them.