college

Fundraising in college can be tough. Although many students are passionate activists with large social networks, their time and resources are often limited. That's where the 48-Hour Flash Fundraiser comes in.

Vivanista is pairing up with Eventbrite to launch a fun competition for college students who want to raise money for good causes, but might not have the time or budget to do so otherwise. This March, student groups can apply for a $100 micro-grant through Vivanista, and if selected, use that money to organize and execute an innovative 48-hour fundraiser.

The group that raises the most money from April 16th to 17th wins $1,000 for the 501(c)3 organization of their choice, in addition to their own fundraising proceeds. Vivanista will announce the overall winner on April 18th.

The competition also includes a social aspect, asking users to vote for their favorite groups in the categories of Most Spirit, Best Creativity and Greatest Social Impact. The three winning groups for each category will be announced on April 25th, with awards of $500 each.

While this concept of flash fundraising is relatively new, it is quickly becoming more popular. We recently witnessed one such example with Zynga, whose players raised over $1 million in just 36 hours for Save the Children's Japan relief effort. Zynga incorporated donation options directly into their games, exemplifying fun and tech-savvy fundraising.

As an undergraduate, I know I tend to thrive under pressure and love a good challenge. Vivanista's 48-hour competition might be a great way to engage students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to organize a fundraiser as well as a way to encourage donating on college campuses.

It will be interesting to see how college students will use and expand upon social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter when promoting their Flash Fundraisers. Will groups produce videos or photo galleries to document their fundraising events? And how effective will these types of “flash” acts prove to be?

Learn more about the 48-Hour Flash Fundraiser and apply online here.

Guest Blogger Lauren Scherr is an intern at the Case Foundation.

I spoke with Jordan Goldman, the twenty-fix year old founder of Unigo.com and a recent grad of Wesleyn University, last Tuesday about their new site and how it can be used as a cross-campus platform for information and concerns -- particularly in these scary economic times. They were recently written up on the New York Times Magazine -- a pretty impressive feat for a web site four days after it was launched!

Unigo does for college info what blogs are doing for news: providing real-time news for millions of people that used to be the captive domain of old-line publishing companies. Jordan wanted to create a resource that reflected campus-life in real time from the perspective of students -- as opposed to the array of hard-copy guides that are generated from the college's (usually their communication office's) perspective like Princeton Review that take years to put together.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently posted information about the Department of Education’s request for feedback on proposed regulations regarding implementation of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

Come again?

Basically, this new law forgives the remaining debt of student loan recipients who have worked as full-time “public service employees” for a period of 10 consecutive years while making their payments. In other words, you graduate, land a solid gig at a nonprofit, government agency, or other still-to-be-defined “public service” employer, and you won’t have to pay any more monthly debt owed after 10 years working there or remaining in the sector.

I stumbled across a new website from the Hearst Company called The Daily Green. It has great tips for living a green lifestyle. The list of the 12 greenest college campuses caught my eye. Here are the top six on their website: