Tau Beta Pi

Educational Activity & Professional Development

Some members may find value in participating in activities that provide new knowledge or skills. These activities are intended to offer academic help to members or an opportunity for their professional growth and career-building. These activities may be open to other non-members after giving members the chance to sign up first.

Outreach & Volunteering

Outreach activities are a great way for members and chapters to give back to their school and local community. They are another way to boost your chapter's image on campus and good activities to mention in a letter to a company for sponsorship. As part of the character evaluation in the candidate election, some chapters make it a requirement for candidates to participate in 1-2 selected community service activities before the Initiation Ceremony.

Examples:

• Volunteering at college of engineering, university, or community events including cleanups, STEM-related activities, science fair, college tours, annual events
• Volunteering at local organizations such as homeless shelters, soup kitchens, animal rescue places, etc.
• Organize STEM-related activities
• Tutoring K-12 students at a local school or tutoring center
• K-12 MindSET (grants for K-12 outreach events)
• Offering mentoring opportunities for freshmen/sophomore students or high school students

Fundraising Events

There are several ways to raise funds for your chapter. It is wise to first identify what you will use the funds for and come up with a goal that you want to meet. Here are some simple and creative ways to fundraise. Read more about these tips from the SAB's List of Campus Fundraising Opportunities.

Other Ways to Raise Funds:

• Request fund from your college's Dean. Here's a template from the SAB - Funding Request Letter to Dean
• Request sponsorship from a local alumni chapter.
• Request sponsorship from local industry contacts. See more on this on the last page of List of Campus Fundraising Opportunities.
• Apply for funding from your university's student government and/or the college of engineering student government.
• Alter your initiation fee. Although other fundraising methods are recommended to reduce financial burdens on students joining Tau Beta Pi, this is the easiest way to raise funds for a chapter. See the information on initiation fees for more information and for an idea of typical initiation fees.

Image-Boosting Events

There are several ways to raise funds for your chapter. It is wise to first identify what you will use the funds for and come up with a goal that you want to meet. Here are some simple and creative ways to fundraise. Read more about these tips from the SAB's List of Campus Fundraising Opportunities.

Examples:

• The TBP store offers free posters! Post them all over campus!
• Whatever your chapter does, always take photos and post them on social media. Candidates look at these when they get the eligibility letter!
• Give out free coffee/donuts/pie on campus near the engineering building(s). Partner with alumni chapters for funding.
• Attend club fairs, orientations, freshmen classes, and other tabling opportunities.
• Hold events (professional, social, or community service events) that are open to all engineering students, invite everyone! For example:
• If you have a guest speaker on an interesting topic, open it to all students, put up posters for it, and ask the engineering departments to send out an invite to their students.
• Host a new Engineering Futures session that can be open to all or partnered with another organization.
• If possible, hold chapter events in locations and at times that ensure other students will see what you're up to.
• Take good care of your Bent monument on campus. Hold a polishing event during school hours and you'll likely get several students' attention and interest.
• Initiate Eminent Engineers! Initiating Deans, department chairs, and popular professors can help build credibility for your chapter.
• Whenever you hold an initiation ceremony, ask the school to publish an article about it and invite your local alumni chapters if you can.
• Give extra emphasis to any member that earns a scholarship or other award from TBP.

Collaborative Events

Divide up the task of organizing events and share event costs/profits with other organizations. This may have the added benefit of more impact on the student body and possibly increased future membership. See SAB's Guide to Collaborative Events with Other Organizations.

An easy way to collaborate with other organizations is to team up with other groups on campus. Some examples might be running a science fair with another honors society or running mock interviews with another engineering society such as SWE, AiCHE, NSBE, SHPE, etc.

You may also collaborate with a local alumni chapter if there is one in the area. Check out the alumni chapter page or contact the to get in contact with an alumni chapter.