Entrepreneurship Students Raise €31,776 for Various Charities
Thirty-two students taking the New Venture Creation module in Year 3 of the BSc Business and Management degree at TU Dublin have raised €31,776 for charity in Semester 1 as part of their course work.
The goal of the assignment was for students to experience entrepreneurship in action by undertaking an online fundraising initiative for a charity of their choice and then understanding what they have learned from it by writing a reflection paper.
The assignment required the students to generate their own fundraising ideas, organise the fundraising initiative and write a paper reflecting upon their experiences. The event had to be organized through self-selected Groups with no more than three students per group, but the paper had to be submitted on an individual basis. Students could select their own ONLINE fundraising initiative (subject to agreement by a Review Panel) and their own charity. Their events had to meet all TU Dublin Health and Safety requirements and the requirements of the Insurance Company. Finally, because of COVID restrictions and lockdown, the initiatives could only be held online, and no offline events could be undertaken.
The lecturer leading the module was Prof Tom Cooney who has been utilising this assignment for 15 years. During that time, over €780,000 has been raised for various charities, with students benefiting greatly from the experience. This year, Prof Cooney partnered with iDonate.ie who provided the fundraising platform for the students and also offered their expertise in terms of promoting online initiatives, and the other partner was BDO accountancy firm who provided a Business Mentor for each of the 12 groups.