This week, the Marquette club Quidditch team has a bigger goal than just catching the golden snitch.
The team organized a fundraiser this month to help raise more than $6,000 for a trip to Florida in April to the sixth annual Quidditch World Cup competition.
The fundraiser was organized on Fundly.com, a website where users can set up an account and supporters can make donations to the cause online. According to the group’s Fundly page, the team has raised $925 from 24 donations, including an anonymous donation of $300.
Curtis Taylor, a senior in the College of Business Administration and founder and captain of the club Quidditch team, said the fundraiser is solely for air travel purposes. The team has raised more than $1,700 so far through other means for expenses, such as housing and competition fees, but it is still in need of $4,500 just for airfare to Florida. The Fundly page reflects the money raised for air travel.
“The total cost of what we are trying to fund by this Monday is $6,416,” he said. “We understand that this is a lot of money, but we have already fundraised $1,730, and that makes it a little less than 500 people each giving $10.”
Taylor said the organization was forced to fundraise because it received no financial support from Marquette Student Government when it requested.
“We asked for financial support through Marquette Student Government using the Student Organization Funding request form for club sports,” he said. “We received $0 again for the third straight funding period.”
According to the Marquette Division of Student Affairs Office Development webpage on student organization funding, there are seven funding periods per year for non-club sports organizations to request sponsorship and one opportunity per semester for club sports. After students apply for funding from MUSG, applications are reviewed by the Student Organization Funding committee, which is comprised of senators and members of the MUSG executive board.
According to the webpage, MUSG does not guarantee approval of every application. The student activity fee can fund transportation for the teams, coaches and fans, and lodging, field or facility rentals and publicity for events. It does not fund equipment, fundraisers or any event that charges admission.
Cole Johnson, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration and the financial vice president of MUSG, said the committee must make decisions regarding funding with the student body in mind. At the time the committee met to make funding decisions for this period, Johnson was not in his position and was not present at the meeting.
“The tough decision of the committee was ultimately reliant upon the expressed current interests of students, which indicate that off-campus travel expenses are much less supported than similar on-campus and local events, conferences or tournaments,” he said. “Additionally, our committee is constitutionally limited in our ability to pay for off-campus conferences and will not generally allocate funding toward any airfare expenses for club travel.”
Johnson said MUSG has a certain budget aligned for club sports, which usually only includes local travel.
“In this fiscal year, MUSG has a budget line for student organizations totaling $134,450,” he said. “This includes a $52,300 line dedicated to club sports and a non-club sports organizations line of $82,150.”
The Marquette Quidditch team is 21-4 this year, with a No. 9 ranking in the coaches’ poll and No. 16 ranking on the official International Quidditch Association website. This year, it came in second at its first tournament of the year, at Indiana University; first at the Midwest Regional in Dayton, Ohio; and second in the national invite at the University of Kansas.
The national invite, unlike the Quidditch World Cup, was part of the team’s regular season, called the Collegiate Cup. The tournament consisted of 15 top teams across the Midwest and Southwest.
Rebecca Dempsey, a sophomore in the College of Communication, donated to the team’s fund online.
“When it all comes down to it, I have a lot of friends on the Marquette Quidditch team, and I want to help them make it to nationals,” she said. “It has been hard for them to find funding around campus, and I know how important this is to all of them.”
http://www.marquette.edu/osd/policies/handbook/fundraising.shtml
http://fundly.com/marquette-university-club-quidditch
