GR Economic Club Essay Contest

[Yankee Fan]

The GR Economic Club holds an essay contest every year for high schoolers. This year, their target subject is "The Economic and Social Impact of Green and Sustainable Practices."

As noted by the letter that they sent to their members, "Cash awards are given to the students who are selected as winners by a panel of judges and matching cash awards are also given to the student

[fotoman311]

The GR Economic Club holds an essay contest every year for high schoolers. This year, their target subject is "The Economic and Social Impact of Green and Sustainable Practices."

As noted by the letter that they sent to their members, "Cash awards are given to the students who are selected as winners by a panel of judges and matching cash awards are also given to the student's school."

Following are the categories for donations for the student/school cash awards:

Patron $500.00 Sponsor $250.00 Donor $100.00.

Since we talk so often about sustainability and green initiatives on UP, I thought that maybe we could, as a group, provide a donation from the UP GR forum. Maybe Jeff could head this up.

Anyone think that this is a good idea?

For more detail: Here is a link to the GR Econ Club website: http://www.econclubgr.com/

[GRDadof3]

I could give $5 or $10 to that. Perhaps a collection could be taken at the Founders/Hopson Flats Lunch and Learn?

[Rizzo]

When you find a trustee, it might be great to possibly set up an account with PayPal. Some way to donate electronically would help a lot.

[GRDadof3]

I did some more investigating, and there are ways to set up accounts that facilitate fund-raising for non-profits, such as this one. But they charge a fee of about $30/month, and take a certain percentage of the donation, but they do help make donations tax deductible. Probably not the way to go on this.

The other option would be for me to personally collect donations and then write a personal check on behalf of UP - Grand Rapids (for recognition). The donation amount would probably be small enough to not have any tax ramifications for me personally, but the donations would not be tax deductible (probably not a big deal for $10 or $20 donations). I could collect them at the HF/Founders tour.

What do you guys think?

[fotoman311]

I did some more investigating, and there are ways to set up accounts that facilitate fund-raising for non-profits, such as this one. But they charge a fee of about $30/month, and take a certain percentage of the donation, but they do help make donations tax deductible. Probably not the way to go on this.

The other option would be for me to personally collect donations and then write a personal check on behalf of UP - Grand Rapids (for recognition). The donation amount would probably be small enough to not have any tax ramifications for me personally, but the donations would not be tax deductible (probably not a big deal for $10 or $20 donations). I could collect them at the HF/Founders tour.

What do you guys think?

[GRDadof3]

I think that sounds like exactly what I was thinking above. Good idea.

[GRDadof3]

Thanks to all that donated! Just about $100 was the total tab, so UP - Grand Rapids will be an official "Donor" of this program.