During the Fall term, Business diploma students in the Management, Supply Chain and Purchasing programs raised over $11,000 for United Way Kitchener-Waterloo & Area. The fundraising was completed by 28 student teams as part of their Project Management course.
This is the second time students in the course have partnered with the United Way, but faculty member Dave Barrett said fundraising events have provided experiential learning for Project Management students in the School of Business and School of Media & Design since 2012. Including this year’s fundraising total, Conestoga students have raised $60,000 for a number of local charities.
Students had 12 weeks to plan and execute their fundraising events and the task required each fundraising team to apply a range of course content: understanding stakeholder needs, scheduling, budgeting, risk analysis, execution, monitoring, progress reporting and closing activities including lessons learned and final project reporting.
One group of students planned and executed an event called Bids 4 Kids that raised $2,300 in support of the United Way’s “All that Kids Can Be” program. The program supports at-risk and hard to serve children and youth who may have special needs or live in areas where community resources are limited. Bids 4 Kids was hosted at the Waterloo Inn where the students used the help of a professional auctioneer to raffle off 30 gift baskets they collected from local businesses.
Another team hosted an event called Pancake Circus in New Hamburg and raised more than $950. Attendees were treated to a pancake breakfast, a range of children’s activities and the chance to participate in a silent auction.
With the success of this year’s events, Barrett said that discussions have already been initiated with the United Way to see where improvements can be made to support its 2016 campaign.