Pi Gamma Mu®
International Honor Society
in Social Sciences
1001 Millington Street, Suite B
Winfield, KS 67156
Phone: (620) 221-3128
EMAIL

IDEAS FOR SERVICE AND OTHER PROJECTS, INTERESTING PROGRAMS, AND FUND-RAISERS

The purpose of this Web page is to provide chapter officers and sponsors with ideas for chapter programs and service projects.  This Web page contains four sections:

1. Actual service projects that specific chapters have undertaken.
2. More ideas for projects.
3. Ideas for interesting programs.
4. Ideas for fund-raisers.

1. ACTUAL SERVICE PROJECTS THAT SPECIFIC CHAPTERS HAVE UNDERTAKEN

CHAPTER	DATE / SOURCE FOR DETAILS	PROJECT
Penn. Alpha, Washington & Jefferson College	[September 2009 newsletter]	[Something to] support Animal Friends Inc. and Homeless Children's Education Fund; received grant from natl. Association of College Honor Societies
N. C. Lambda, Western Carolina Univ.	[September 2009 newsletter]	Organized meetings working with other groups to create a public park around an ancient Indian Mound in Franklin, N. C.
Neb. Delta, Wayne State College	[September 2009 newsletter]	Sponsored a Graduate School Workshop to provide information for students interested in continuing their education
Penn. Alpha, Grove City College	[September 2009 newsletter]	Coin-counting pizza party as part of the Loose Change to Loosen Chains Project
Philippine Beta, De La Salle Univ.	Feb. 2009 [September 2009 newsletter]	Held a forum on "The Challenges of the Social Sciences in the Philippines"
Penn. Delta, Univ. of Pennsylvania	October 2008 [March 2009 newsletter]	Participated in an annual marathon at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to raise funds for various youth-oriented and juvenile-delinquency programs
Mo. Omicron, Evangel Univ.	Fall 2008 [March 2009 newsletter]	Held a history “trivia bowl,” a graduate-school forum, and a monthly fireside chat about current events.
La. Eta, Grambling State Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Participated in the first-ever National Youth Summit to Solve the Climate Crisis “Power Shift”
Mass. Delta, Wheelock College	[March 2009 newsletter]	Baked and sold cakes at a community yard sale to raise funds for Rosie’s Place, a Boston homeless shelter for women
Del. Beta, Wilmington Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Collected over 250 children’s books to promote summer reading and literacy
Neb. Epsilon, Univ. of Nebraska—Omaha	[March 2009 newsletter]	Presented “Internships 101,” a workshop to acquaint students with local and national internships that are available to them
Philippine Alpha, Univ. of the Philippines	July 2007-Feb. 2008 [March 2009 newsletter and March 2008]	Held a lecture series to celebrate the chapter’s 75th anniversary; published the seven lectures in a bound volume
Va. Delta, Emory & Henry College	Dec. 2007 [March 2009 newsletter]	Wrapped and arranged presents and delivered them to a Christmas party for 45 needy children
Ga. Kappa, North Georgia College & State Univ.	April 2008 [March 2009 newsletter and March 2008]	Donated $300 toward NGCSU honor societies’ joint fund-raising effort that resulted in a $2000 donation to the local health-care clinic for uninsured people
Tex. Rho, Howard Payne Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Members perform volunteer work, usually folding and hanging donated clothing, for the Good Samaritan Ministries
Md. Epsilon, Coppin State Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Established a $2500 scholarship to reward students who maintain the ideals of Pi Gamma Mu
Neb. Delta, Wayne State College	[March 2009 newsletter]	Helped raise $400 during a Soup Fund Raiser to support the Every Woman Matters Foundation, an organization that raises money to help defray the cost of cancer diagnoses for uninsured women
W. V. Theta, Bluefield State College	[March 2009 newsletter]	Donated $250 to help develop the college library’s Latin American History Collection in memory of long-time chapter sponsor Patricia Mulvey
W. V. Theta, Bluefield State College	[March 2009 newsletter]	Conducted a health screening (body fat index) for members of the college community for a minimal fee
N. Y. Tau, Pace Univ.	2007‑2008 [March 2009 newsletter]	Held its annual lecture series, resulting in the annual edition of Current Global Issues, the collection of the year’s lectures
N. Y. Tau, Pace Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Published the 40th-anniversary edition of Political Science Lexicon, a dictionary of political-science words and their definitions
Ga. Xi, Brewton-Parker College	[March 2009 newsletter]	Sponsored the activities, meals, and materials for one night of the college’s Cultural Awareness Week celebration
Va. Epsilon, Radford Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Purchased toys and gifts for children, who then participated in “Winter Wonderland,” a program for underprivileged children sponsored by the university
Va. Epsilon, Radford Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Awards an annual $1000 Pi Gamma Mu Scholarship
Ohio Eta, Kent State Univ.	[March 2009 newsletter]	Donated $250 to the Freedom House, a facility that provides emergency shelter and supportive services to homeless veterans

2. MORE IDEAS FOR PROJECTS

• Take a road trip to:  a Pi Gamma Mu international triennial convention, colonial Williamsburg (Va.), the United Nations, a nearby prison, or a nuclear power plant.
• Formulate a chapter award such as Distinguished Citizen, Professor of the Month, Advisor of the Year, or Student Leader of the Year.
• Host a Pi Gamma Mu state, regional, or international meeting.
• Get a chapter picture taken for the school yearbook.
• Award a Pi Gamma Mu scholarship medal at Awards Day or commencement.
• Write a chapter history.
• Publish a newsletter for members and alumni.
• Order Pi Gamma Mu T-shirts or sweatshirts.
• Contact nearby chapters and establish a joint project.
• Take a road trip to:  a Pi Gamma Mu international triennial convention, colonial Williamsburg (Va.), the United Nations, a nearby prison, or a nuclear power plant.
• Design a bulletin-board display highlighting your chapter.
• Construct a homecoming float; nominate king and queen candidates.
• Perform a skit in the homecoming show.
• Hold a Favorite Faculty Brunch:  each member invites a faculty or staff person influential in his or her life.

Service Projects

• Cooperate with or start a recycling project.
• Help with orientation and registration of freshmen.
• Donate to the school library.
• Establish a book or tuition scholarship.
• Fingerprint children for Operation Child Find.
• Tutor students.
• Befriend foreign students.
• Participate in the Big Brother/Big Sister organization.
• Publish a university undergraduate journal.
• Give a study party during finals.
• Usher at school functions.
• Adopt a highway:  boost your chapter name and manners.
• Collect textbooks for a college in a Third World country.
• Participate in the college phone-a-thon.
• As students are moving out, collect items for a battered-women's or homeless shelter.
• Buy a Thanksgiving food basket and Christmas gifts.
• Honor retired faculty members at a dinner or reception.
• Register voters.
• Do something big:  sponsor a statewide conference or get a grant.
• Adopt a nursing home:  sing Christmas carols, write letters for patients, decorate for Christmas, pick a resident as a pal.
• Clean a Ronald McDonald House; contribute books.
• Give support to a medical clinic for the disadvantaged.
• Plant a tree.
• Assist in VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance).
• Prepare an alcohol-awareness booklet.
• Volunteer to help with Special Olympics.
• Print study tips in the school newspaper.
• Provide an escort service for women's safety on campus.
• Clean a city park.
• Work at a food-distribution warehouse or collect food for it.
• Assist and fold flyers for the honors program.
• Assist at blood drives.
• Co-sponsor local meetings such as Colonial Dames Day, European Studies Conference, Conference on the Third World, State Sociological Symposium, Conference on Women, Black History Month, World Population Day, or Spring Seminar for Community College Students.

If your school selects a Club of the Year--go for it!

3. IDEAS FOR INTERESTING PROGRAMS

• Build camaraderie:  Have fun.
         - Get acquainted.
         - Play ball.
         - Play Trivial Pursuit.
• Sharpen minds with monthly brainstormers:  "If you had your own time machine and could go anywhere, where would you go and why?"
• Offer workshops on résumé writing, graduate school, and social-science careers.
• Discuss current "hot" topics as a one-shot deal or for regular monthly meetings.
• Slate election debates for campus, state, and local candidates.
• Analyze the political situation at an election-night party.
• Feature nationally known speakers and visiting scholars as well as local faculty members.
• Hold an alumni forum with speakers from each decade on what campus life and the world were like when they were in school.
• Show films that provoke discussion.
• Co-sponsor events with other honor societies and clubs:
       - Hold a mock trial with the pre-law club.
       - Cooperate with the debate club in a demonstration debate.
• Conduct luncheon business and executive-committee meetings.
• Provide an opportunity for students to question school administrators about campus issues.
• Review books.
• Hear foreign students, exchange students, or honors candidates.
• Schedule a Trivia Bowl, Heritage Bowl, or Black History Quiz Bowl.
• Meet over breakfast, brown-bag lunches, or a covered-dish meal.
• Establish a professors' Last Lectures Series.
• "Pig-out" at Baskin-Robbins on a movie night for members.
• Eat pizza with professors.
• Apple polishing:  Each member secretly gives a professor an apple with a poem attached.  At a luncheon for these professors, the donors are identified.
• Hold an ethnic festival.
• Honor the Instructor of the Year.
• Host an alumni picnic or breakfast.
• Adopt a program theme, such as environmental awareness, for the year.
• Coordinate an annual honors banquet.
• Stage Pi Gamma Mu Week to increase awareness of the society.
• On Pi Gamma Mu night, hold a "roast" and recognize accomplishments of divisional persons.
• Become aware of the crack problem and how to curb it.
• Provide opportunities for students to practice presenting papers to a group.

Read the Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter for additional ideas.


4. IDEAS FOR FUND-RAISERS

• Used-book sale.
• Bake sale.
• Sidewalk and garage sales.
• Homecoming mum sale.
• Valentine's Day flower sale.
• Care-package sale during final exams.
• Sandwich and hamburger sales at athletic events.
• Hallowe'en-candy and caramel-apple sale.
• Christmas-stocking and Christmas-tree-ornament sale.
• Car bash.
• Donation party.
• Movies.
• Pie throw during finals week--relieves stress and makes money.
• Fair or fair booth:  sell hats and paints to decorate them.
• Raffle:  ask merchants to donate items.
• President for a Day raffle:  winner spends day with university president, then president spends day going to student's classes and taking notes.
• Watermelon booth at street fair.
• Doughnut sale.
• Hallowe'en bash.
• Flea market.
• Car wash.
• Dance.
• Concert.
• Newspaper drive.
• Theme party.
• Bike-a-thon or see-saw-a-thon.
• 1-mile, 4-mile, or 10K runs.
• Rat race with rats named after professors.
• Thanksgiving raffle for "stuffiest person," with winner getting turkey.
• Solicit alumni for funds.
• Clean up after large events.
• Roast a pig for the Renaissance Faire.
• Recycle beverage cans.
• Work on lawns and gardens.
• Stuff ads in newspapers.
• Assist candidates for election.
• Request assistance from student government.
• Seek grants for special projects.