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WHY DO YOU NEED FUNDS?

 

Typically, an EMBS Chapter may need to spend funds

on the following activities:

 

 - advertising for the Chapter events

 - developing flyers

 - booking a facility for the events

 - renting the projection equipment

 - paying for speaker travel expenses

 - small gratuity award for the speaker

 - food at the event

 - server to host a website

 - funds to develop and maintain a website

 

There are ways to avoid spending money on these items and we listed some options below. 

 

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THE FIRST NATURAL STOP

 

You start the year always with $200 from the Section to which your EMBS Chapter belongs.  Be sure to contact your Section to let them know that you are planning on spending the funds in the year.  If you don't spend the money, it is often forfeited to the Section at the end of the year. 

 

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GREAT 2007 OPPORTUNITIES

 

$100 will be paid to your chapter for each group of ten new EMBS members that you bring to the society. If you gain 50 new EMBS members, you will receive $500. There is no limit. Now is a great time to make this happen as IEEE membership and EMBS membership are 50% off. For $18, a person can join EMBS today. Members sign up for EMBS at this site http://www.embs.org/membership.html  . Send the names of the new members (ten names at a time) to Laura Wolf, l.wolf@ieee.org  

 

Chapter Activity Matching Funds

EMB Society will match 2:1 your corporate contributions up to $1,000.  This means that if you can raise $500 of donations, you have a total of $1,500 for the year.

 

Distinguished Lecturer

EMB Society will provide 2:1 matching funds to cover the expenses of bringing an EMBS Distinguished Lecturer up to $1,000 for Chapters.  This means that if you can find a local organization (IEEE Section, local corporation) to advance funds for bringing the Distinguish Lecturer, EMB Society will match 2:1 the funds that you raise. For more information, click here. 

 

Up to $1,000 will be paid to your chapter if you can find corporate sponsors to donate $500. Specifically, the EMBS executive office will give $2 for each $1 donated to your chapter. If the Section to which your chapter belongs gave you in excess of $200 this year, you can have the excess matched $2 for $1 by the EMBS exec office. (example, the Section gave your chapter $350, then you can have $150 matched 2:1 by the EMB Society, i.e.: $300). Send letter attesting of donation to Laura Wolf, l.wolf@ieee.org





$500 and up to $1,000 for the EMBS Best New Chapter award: If your chapter is 12 months old or less, you are considered a new Chapter. I have been very impressed with all the new EMBS chapters and their creativity and energy level. I encourage all of you to apply to this award. Write a summary of how you launched the chapter and what you have done thus far. The EMBS society will choose the chapter with the most impressive launch and will recognize the chapter with $500 and will pay traveling expenses for one officer of the chapter to go to France to the EMBC07 to receive the Best New EMBS chapter award. (expenses covered up to $1,000). Please send your application to Laura Wolf, l.wolf@ieee.org. Deadline application is April 1st, 2007



$500 and up to $1,000 for the Outstanding EMBS Chapter Award. All established EMBS chapters should consider applying for the Outstanding EMBS Chapter Award. Similarly, there are some remarkable chapters that deserve to bring the spotlight on their activities. Take the time to write a summary on the speaker events that you organize and some of the outreach activities that you have done. The Chapter selected for this award will receive $500 and EMBS will pay traveling expenses for one officer of the chapter to go to France to the EMBC07 to receive the Best New EMBS chapter award. (expenses covered up to $1,000). Please send your application to Laura Wolf, l.wolf@ieee.org. Deadline application is April 1st, 2007.

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RAISING FUNDS

 

So your goal should be to raise at least $500.  Here are some of the most effective ways that have been used:

 

- Approach companies with employees who are EMBS members.  Ask for an amount that is so small that it can be approved by 1) the employee, or his immediate supervisor.  In the US, it is usually in the range of $100 to $250. 

 

- Multiply the number of requests till you reach $500.  It is not a lot of effort.  5 contributions at $100 or 10 at $50 or 2 at $250. 

 

- Find a member who has an employer with a matching fund program for employees who contribute time to volunteer organizations or match employee donations. 

 

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OTHER APPROACHES THAT ARE CREATIVE

 

Create a competition event (best paper, best invention, best robotics, best computer game, etc. ...) where the awards are "free consulting hours" from local business and technical professionals.  Charge a small fee for participating in the event.  Professionals would be patent attorneys, business people who help commercialize products, regulatory consultants, etc..... They may accept to participate in the event for the indirect publicity they will receive. 

 

Collect gifts from local merchants and conduct raffle events at the beginning of speaker events.  A small amount is collected for the chance of winning one of the event prices. 

 

Offer a meal at the speaker events and charge a little bit more for the meals.  The funds that net from the speakers events are accumulated till they reach $500. 

 

 

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SAVING MONEY

 

 

Here are some ways to limit expenditures.

 

Team up with a university or a company.  This will give you free access to a conference room or auditorium and may also provide you access to free projection equipment.

 

Or run your events at a restaurant and have each attendee pay for his meal.  Restaurants will often be open to this if you have a party of 20 or more. 

 

Libraries will also provide space free of charge to non-profit organizations.  Check your local library. 

 

Use electronic access to advertise your event.  IEEE's e-Notice system is easy to use. Avoid paper mailings. 

 

IEEE provides free website hosting.  Click here to learn more.

 

Consider using some inexpensive web software that is user friendly that you can use to create your site, such as the one used for this site.  If you want to know what that software is, please contact us. 

 

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