The Campus Alliance de La Raza, like its parent organization, the National Council of La Raza is successful because it realizes that it is not involved in a zero sum game.  We are all in this together, regardless of what our background is.  We need to work together to build stronger communities and a greater America. 

Based on this, it will be important for your chapter of La Raza to build strong relationships with other progressive people and organizations on your university campus.  You should develop close relationships with the presidents of other organizations, such as your Black Student Union.  Exchange information such as cell phone numbers and AIM screen names with the executive board members of these entities.

Annual Coalition Series: The CALR should consider developing annual coalition building events with leaders of the African American community, such as the executive boards of the Black Student Union.  Annual “Welcome Back Bar-B-Qs”, or co-sponsored events are appropriate and reinforce the unity between the African American and Latino communities.

Other examples of Black/Brown Unity events include:

• Co-sponsoring an event with prominent African American and Latino speakers who talk on the issues of coalition building
• Black/Brown voter registration drives


Download: Coalition Politics, Tips from the National Council of La Raza

La Raza Familia/Family Values 

La Raza rests on family values, meaning that our executive board should be considered a family, where each member strives to ensure that other family members are maximizing their success.

Mentoring: Each upperclass La Raza member should assume at least one freshmen mentee.  The upperclassmen should strive to ensure that his/her mentee maximizes his/her social and intellectual potential.  The mentor should:

• Help the mentee adjust to campus
• Help the mentee adjust to independence
• Help the mentee maximize financial aid if necessary
• Guide the mentee with respect to selecting classes/professors
• Surround the mentee with positive role models, especially those within La Raza
• Provide the mentee with leadership opportunities
• Prepare the mentee for leadership roles within La Raza
• Help the mentee secure funding for conferences
• Ensure that the mentee is successful on and off campus and is competitive for employment and/or graduate and professional school.

Partnerships With Residence Life 

The missions and goals of La Raza and the Office of Residence Life often overlap.  As the executive board of La Raza, you should consider partnering with the Office of Residence Life whenever possible.  These partnerships have paid dividends for the Latino community on other campuses, such as the University of Delaware.  At UofD, many executive board members of La Raza are resident assistants and hall directors within Residence Life.  ResLife co-sponsors, and offers significant monetary contributions, many La Raza initiatives.  Replicating the partnership between ResLife and La Raza at UofD on your campus may be extremely beneficial for you and your constituents.
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CALR chapters have had high levels of success recruiting from cultural organizations.  It is important to be cognizant of the fact that freshmen and other new students to campus often go to social and cultural organizations in an effort to meet other students and take their place among the university's social network.  These students often are eager to meet new people and to get involved on campus.  Target them and you should experience significant success.  Other recruiting strategies include:

• Facebook: Using facebook to identify and target incoming freshmen
• Organization Fairs: Participating in Campus Organization Fairs, where student organizations are invited to the Student Union to set up a table to showcase their organization to prospective members.
• 1:1 contacts and networking: Have your current membership identify new faces in class, at the dining hall, and around campus.  1:1 contacts are very effective in bringing our new recruits.
• Introductory Meetings: Have an introductory meeting in the beginning of each semester that showcases what La Raza is, what it does, and how new students can get involved. 
• Handbills: Always have CampusLaRaza.Org handbills available for distribution.  Your website should be a big selling point for your organization, so do what you can to maximize traffic to your site.

Budgeting

Student organizations are often funded, at least in part, by host universities. At the University of Delaware, the CALR is classified as a  student government entity. Student government entities at the University of Delaware are awarded an annual allocation of approximately one thousand dollars ($1,000) each.  You should check with the office at your university that oversees registered student organization to find out if your chapter of La Raza qualifies for an annual budget, and if so, what you need to do to secure that money.

Whatever amount of money that you chapter gets, it will be important to draft a budget so that your chapter does not run out of operational funds before the year is over.  Examples of budgets are below:

Tips for Fundraising

During the 2006/2007 academic year, the CALR at the University of Delaware had expenses of approximately $18,000. The organization supplemented its annual allocation by engaging in traditional fundraising efforts and seeking financial assistance from the La Raza Alumni Association, the University of Delaware’s Special Events Allocation Board, and the University of Delaware’s Office of Residence Life.  Your university may have similar entities that could offer financial support throughout the year, especially your Office of Residence Life.

NCLR competitions serve as additional supplemental funding mechanisms. For example, the CALR competed and won the NCLR’s LEAD Voter Registration Drive competition, which offered a $500 prize to the campus organization that registered the most people to vote before the 2006 election.

Other fundraising ideas and methods: NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA: Center for Emerging Latino Leadership, Fundraising Ideas and Methods, By Kelly Dolan

Marketing La Raza On-Campus 
 

Marketing your chapter of La Raza on campus is important and easy.  The following are just a few "best practices" on marketing CALR on the yard.

Student Organization Fairs:  Many university hosts some sort of student organizations fair in the beginning of each semester.  These fairs provide each registered student organization on campus with a table where they can showcase their organizations and recruit new members.  These fairs are usually advertised across campus by the university administration and attract a large segment of the student population, especially those who are looking to get involved.  If your campus has one of these fairs, make sure La Raza signs up and has a table - it's a great way to market your chapter.

Introduction Meetings: Having a "Welcome Back" Community meeting where you showcase La Raza and recruit new members has also been effective at marketing your organization.

Flyers:  Flyers featuring photos, colors, the CALR logo, and meeting dates and times are effective reminders that can be posted around campus (in areas approved by your campus administration)

Handbills:  La Raza handbills (1/4 size flyers) can be set out in areas across campus, such as the student union.  These handbills will likely find their way into the hands of interested CALR members.  They also serve as reminders of upcoming CALR meetings and events.

Events:  Having large scale events, such as brining highly popular speakers to campus, will serve as water-cooler talk around campus and in your community.  CALR events are effective ways to market your chapter on campus.

T-Shirts:  Ordering and wearing CALR T-Shirts is an effective way to market La Raza on campus.  Make sure that those who own and wear your shirts are responsible upstanding members of the campus community - because they will be walking billboards of your organization.