Suzanne Hill and Professor Zubrow offered a couple of great ideas for increasing volunteer participation, attendance at the auction, and support from alumni.
First, Suzanne knows an alum who leads a jazz band. Her idea is that we could get the band booked at a local club, charge a $5-$10 cover, then talk the club and band into donating most of the cover to the EJF. We'll get people to show up by advertising the event in the CDO's "Noteworthy" newsletter and on the alumni email list. To make this happen we'd need someone to work with Suzanne to help secure the band and venue and make sure it gets publicized.
Second, Professor Zubrow suggested we write an open letter to the GW community to be published in Nota Bene and/or "Noteworthy." The purpose of the letter would be to introduce everyone to the idea of the auction, to briefly describe its history, and to encourage greater participation. (The idea here is that too many people at GW either don't really know what the auction is for, how it works, or why we do it. This letter would attempt to explain those things.) To make this happen we'd need someone to write this letter and submit it to these publications.
Third, I've been thinking we could try to turn the auction "program" into a sort of sales/marketing piece. Of course, the first function of the program is to list the items we have up for auction; however, since we distribute so many copies, we could also sell advertising space in the program. We could make it educational/informational as well by printing brief interviews with/profiles of the public interest "power players" at GW. Which faculty teach and/or work in public interest law? Which administrators are key sources of support for public interest at GW? How do these professionals understand the term "public interest"? That would be the overall theme of these short pieces: "What is the Public Interest?"
These interviews would serve several functions. First, they would identify for all students the best people they should be talking to if they'd like to learn more about or work in the public interest. Second, they would highlight and honor GW's great public interest faculty and staff. Third, and perhaps most important, these interviews would put some flesh on the bones of "public interest" at GW. Right now, we tell people that all the money we raise goes to fund students working in the public interest, but what do people really think when they hear that? Do they have a concrete idea of what that means? By giving potential auction attendees (bidders) the opinions, thoughts, and ideas of public interest professionals at GW, we'll be giving them a better reason to attend the auction, and a better reason to give us their money. In short, these interviews could give people better, more concrete reasons to support the EJF (and the auction). To make this happen we'd need one or more people to identify the best people to interview, then conduct those interviews and write them up into short pieces/profiles we could publish in the program. Photos would be good, too.
What do you all think? Does anyone want to get to work on any of these things?
Posted by toddc at February 9, 2004 12:31 PM | TrackBack