Fundraising Opportunities
Attention Chapters...
You can earn money for your chapter's scholarship fund by taking advantage of the opportunities listed below. The Alumni Office has established relationships with vendors, so your chapter doesn't have to negotiate with them. If your chapter is interested, simply contact the company and let them know you want to participate in the program. Generally, arrangements between these vendors and VTAA are for our chapters only. In other words, VTAA will not have its own program with a vendor thus competing with the chapters nor are we taking a portion of your sales. We have simply negotiated an arrangement for the chapters as a service to them. Check out these opportunities and pursue those that make the most sense for you...
MaroonHelmet.com
MaroonHelmet.com is owned by a Virginia Tech alumnus, Tim Kelly, and specializes in Hokie merchandise. Based in North Carolina, Tim has worked with several alumni chapters to sell merchandise at events and is often willing to take a very large supply of his merchandise to set up an "on-site store." Details of the relationship are as follows:
- MaroonHelmet.com will set up on site or ship merchandise for sale at events.
- MaroonHelmet.com will contribute to the applicable chapter 20% of the sales price (excluding tax and shipping) of all merchandise sold or ordered at events attended by MaroonHelment.com.
- MaroonHelmet.com will contribute to the applicable chapter 20% of the sales price (excluding tax and shipping) of all merchandise ordered via the MaroonHelmet.com web site within 2 weeks of a) an event attended by MaroonHelmet.com or b) an event not attended by MaroonHelmet.com, but at which the chapter promoted MaroonHelmet.com merchandise and its web site. Web site orders must include a code to track all the applicable sales. MaroonHelmet.com requests that the code be a combination of the chapter name and the date of the event which promoted this arrangement, e.g., "NCTriad Chapter - 5.24.04."
- The code must be entered in the "Comment Box" field when a customer places an order with MaroonHelmet.com. The code will become part of the order data, and can be used to track any chapter-related sales. - A sales report will be generated within 1 month of each event and will be sent to a) "Chapter Merchandising" in the VTAA office in Blacksburg and b) a representative designated by the chapter.
- MaroonHelmet.com will issue the 20% contribution check to the chapter within 1 month of each event.
- MaroonHelmet.com will also provide to any VTAA chapter a 10% discount on any merchandise purchased for use as prizes, raffle/auction items, etc. The discount will be in the form of a refund check made payable to the applicable chapter and should be noted on the order in the comment section of web site orders as indicated above.
Hello Hokie Bird
Hello Hokie Bird is a children's book authored by Virginia Tech alumnae Amy Aryal. The book has proven extremely popular and continues to sell well in a variety of retail outlets.
- The book sells for $18.95. This price is set and cannot be changed by the chapters.
- For every book a given chapter sells, it will receive $2.50 (13.92% of the sales price) for its scholarship fund.
- Mascot Books will remit payment and a detailed sales report to each participating chapter within seven days of the end of each quarter unless the chapter fails to sell at least five (5) books in that quarter. At the end of the subsequent quarter, Mascot Books will remit payment for both quarters regardless of whether or not chapter sales have exceeded five (5) books for the two quarter period.
- Orders may be placed online at www.mascotbooks.com or via order form. To ensure that chapters receive credit for their orders, they need to have those ordering online select their chapter from the drop-down list that will be provided or write the chapter name in the appropriate space on the order form.
- Mascot Books typically delivers books within two weeks of receiving the order.
- Mascot Books is not allowed to contact a chapter directly without first receiving permission from the chapter liaison or from me.
- Our contact at Mascot Books is Naren Aryal. Naren and his wife, Amy, own Mascot Books and are Virginia Tech graduates. Amy wrote the story for their first child and then decided it might have broader appeal. They worked with a Tech art student to illustrate the book and then self published.
If you think this is a program you'd be interested in for your chapters, you can either contact Naren and decide how best to proceed between the two of you or you can pass the information along to your chapters and have them contact Naren on their own. Naren and I will be in regular communication, so I will be able to work in the background to assist with various aspects of the program as well. Naren's phone number is 703/591-8651.
For chapters that pursue the program, Naren hopes that they will promote the book at events, in their e-mails and newsletters, and on the chapter web site. Obviously, though, it will be up to each chapter to decide the best approach for its situation.
For more information, please contact
Seth Tuttle, Associate Director for Alumni Relations at 540/231-6285.