Fund–raising Ideas
Easy

Pie in the Eye

Chapter: Sigma Omega at West Virginia University
Level: Easy

Materials:
To complete this program, you will need professors willing to have a pie thrown in their face, the same number of canisters (coffee cans) as you have willing participants with their individual faces on each canister, a table to set out the canisters on, and one pie (ready-made-crust filled with whip cream) to kindly throw in the face of the winner. One homemade pie is baked to give to the participant as a thank-you gift after the event.

How To:

1. Kindly ask your education professors and other professors at your university or college if they would be willing to take a pie in the face in efforts to support your organization.
2. After you have found participants, take their pictures and place their snapshots on concealed canisters. Ask them their favorite pie. My organization covered coffee cans with brown paper bags, and that seemed to work out nicely, for no one knew which professor was receiving the most votes.
3.
Seek permission from your institute to set up a table for your picture cans, and seek volunteers from your organization to sit at the canisters during the week before finals. Individuals vote for which professor they would like to see have a Pie in the Eye by placing change or money in their professor's canister.

ADDITIONAL STEPS: At the end of the week, you add up the money in each canister to see which professor raised the most money, and then you speak with the winner about what time during finals week would be best for them to receive their pie. Advertise the winner and the final event, including time and place. Always remember to thank the winner for supporting your organization. When you throw the pie in their face, make sure you bring supplies to cover the professor's clothes and hair. They walk away with the home-baked pie that is their favorite. Have a photographer at the event.

Add a Twist:
Advertising for Pie in the Eye is the greatest thing you can do to enhance this program. Make sure you let fellow members know when the winner is going to receive the pie. Finally, the more professors you can get involved in the event, the more money you are going to raise. Take pictures to post on your chapter’s website or KDP bulletin board. Call the campus newspaper or university radio station for press coverage. At the event, introduce the winner and thank them. Also announce how your chapter will put the funds to use and how it will help your chapter complete a service project, etc… Advertise your efforts to those attending. Increase the visibility of your chapter on campus by displaying the event in a lobby or on a bulletin board with the photographs you took at the event.

EXPLANATION OF HOW THE PROJECT WENT AND ANY CHANGES MADE:
We've tried this program for several semesters, and it has always been a success. It is a fun way to end the semester and a great way for our organization to raise money to support our graduating seniors. Possible changes that our organization might make in the future would include more advertising. You can never advertise your fundraisers enough. The more individuals you let know about the event, the more people you will have get involved. Even fellow professors vote for their colleagues to receive the pie. It is such a fun activity in which to participate. Generally speaking, even the individual receiving the pie walks away smiling. It is a sense of comic relief during a week when everyone is stressed.