POL311
Legislative Process
Dr. Sellers
February 6, 2006  

Fundraiser

The fundraising stage of the election simulation extends from Monday, January 30 to midnight on Thursday, February 16. As explained in class, the successful fundraiser will attract numerous Davidson students for a long period of time. At each campaign’s fundraiser(s), the amount raised will depend on how much time attendees spend at the event. Each student hour spent at the fundraiser will be worth $1, which the campaign will receive to spend on campaign supplies, etc. Fractions of hours will count, so that two students each spending 30 minutes at a fundraiser will together count for one hour of total attendance. An additional wrinkle is that political science majors are automatically designated as wealthy contributors. Their time is worth three times that of non-political science majors. In other words, each hour of a political science major’s time is worth $3.

Finally, budget constraints limit the money available for campaigning to a total of $100. If both campaigns raise less than 50 hours, each campaign will receive an amount equal to the number of hours raised. But if at least one campaign raises more than 50 hours, I will allocate the campaign money on a proportional basis. I will combine the total hours raised by each campaign and then calculate the percentage of this total raised by each campaign. Each will receive a dollar amount equal to this percentage. If one side raises 75% of the total hours raised, that side will receive $75 for campaigning.

To receive funds for campaigning, a campaign must turn in several things at the start of class on Friday, February 17:

• The total number of minutes raised by the campaign in all fundraisers;
• The record of students attending each fundraiser, including name, entry and exit time, the student's signature, and whether the student is a political science major; and
• A written summary of how the fundraiser(s) fulfilled several tasks crucial to fundraising: identifying potential contributors (i.e., fundraiser attendees), creating a fundraising message or pitch, producing publicity and/or invitations, specifying a budget (taken from each campaign’s overall starting budget of $25), and working out details of the actual event (such as how to track students’ entry and exit times). The summary must be no more than two pages in length.

I will base the group grade for this assignment on the amount raised and the extent to which the campaign and its fundraisers fulfill the tasks above. My assessment of the latter will come from watching the actual events unfold, as well as the written summary.

One additional note: the campaign that raises the most money (excluding expenses) will receive an automatic “A” for this assignment. It is still possible for the losing campaign to receive an “A”, but such a grade is not automatic and depends on the quality of their fundraiser.

Assignments turned in 10 minutes or more after the start of class will receive a late penalty.  The penalty is ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that the assignment is late. The summary should be typed, with 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point.  The assignment can be either single- or double-spaced.  Finally, the Honor Code covers this assignment; make sure that you pledge your work.