Class project nets more than $13,000 for Lubbock, national charities

Written by Michael Castellon

DATE: Dec. 5, 2006

CONTACT: Michael Castellon, michaelcastellon@gmail.com
(806) 742-2136

Claudia Cogliser didn’t quite know what to expect when she randomly assigned 62 of her students to several groups and tasked them with raising money, in-kind donations, and volunteer hours for charities of their choosing.

Cogliser, an assistant professor of management at Texas Tech, merely wanted to create a project that would teach her students about group dynamics and organizational behavior.

In doing so, her students raised more than $13,000 benefiting local, state and national charities.

“I’ve done many group projects over the years, and have never had students so engaged in the process or able to connect their experience to course content as well as this project has done,” she said. “They certainly exceeded my expectations about the amount of money they would raise.”

The project raised a total of $11,752.48 in cash donations, and generated in-kind donations valued at $2,252.00. This included gift certificates for local restaurants, hotel vouchers, furniture and electronic equipment to be used by families at Ronald McDonald House or doled out by the local American Cancer Society agency, and 248 volunteer hours at Lubbock’s Ronald McDonald House.

The teams varied in the means by which they raised money. One group ran and promoted a series of country music concerts at the Icehouse (a Lubbock establishment frequented by students), where they negotiated that the $5 cover charge be donated to the American Cancer Society. That tactic raised a total of $2,400 across four concerts.

This team also partnered with Shallowater Independent School District on a fundraiser in the elementary schools, raising $2,000. Other teams negotiated arrangements with concession stands and vendors at Texas Tech football and basketball games and one team collected money at Raider Alley during home games.


The teams who were working for Ronald McDonald House used two different strategies. One team “adopted” a room at the local Ronald McDonald House, raising money from families, friends and local businesses to provide linens, furniture and electronics in addition to painting the room. The other team held a raffle for restaurant certificates valued over $400 – they raised over $500 from the raffle and then the winner donated the certificates back to families using Ronald McDonald House.

CONTACT: Claudia Cogliser, assistant professor of management, Rawls College of Business, (806) 742-2147 or claudia.cogliser@ttu.edu