Campus Crusade for Cthulhu

Slainbylich

In an effort to make my college campus a stranger place this semester, I am planning on starting my own club / organization. My only issue is that I have very few ideas on what to do, if this even works out. Initially, I suppose it will be a horror literature discussion group thing, but I really want to lean it more towards gaming as if I don't get into something soon I'm going to physically mangle myself.

To 'raise awareness' and all that jazz, I have a "sell your soul for a cookie day" idea. I work at a location that gives me cheap access to large quantities of cookies, so I figure I could use that power for good, instead of evil.

That's about it. I've never done something like this before, and would appreciate any sort of advice/suggestions.

Dman

Talk to the people in charge (prof, IT department, student society/union) and get yourself access to a room with a projector on weekends/after hours.
Connect console to projector and stir in free cookies.

Voila, your club is an unmitigated success!

TychoCelchuuu

It really depends on your college. Some places, the best you're going to be able to do is print off a bunch of fliers and stick them up in various places, whereas on the other end of the spectrum some schools will give your club money and free ads in the student newspaper and stuff like that. Just ask any of your friends in any other clubs whether they get any support from the administration/student union.

Hevach

Ask a professor or inquire with the student government. In my college, you needed a professor sponsor and the approval of half of the student government to get a new club started, and approval of 3/4 of the council and meet some community outreach requirements to get a budget allotment (you could fundraise your own budget without meeting this). My senior year, the new student president threw a new monkeywrench in the mess in which the presidents of all existing clubs were offered the chance to speak their opinion on proposed clubs (their opinions didn't officially matter, but the council members often listened to large and/or loud clubs).

SkyGheNe

I started a club at my school called the video game organization that organized a 100+ person brawl tournament really well this last semester. We had the two big names in the competitive scene show up and it was a pretty decent success at fundraising some money for child's play.

The one thing I learned about clubs is that you need to be persistent. The administration and bureaucracy is your enemy in some cases, often delaying things, making up bullshit excuses as to why you can't have this room or receive this funding, but if you annoy the ever living shit out of them, you'll be all set.

I also recommend talking up the members on your student government as they are often the ones who will be determining just how much funding you get. My club got about 6 grand worth of stuff this last semester, but it took us a year of lobbying to get it.

More importantly, you need to really think about what your club is about and how it will be beneficial to the community or the university and what it's goals are. You need direction, and you also need people who are interested in supporting the club in its direction.

I recommend going to whatever offices you need to be at and educate yourself on what is necessary for starting a club. Two years ago I literally spent an entire semester running between offices, sometimes with people telling me the right info, sometimes the wrong, and it is frustrating but well worth it once you get the hang of things. Just don't piss off the wrong people, or they can and will make your life difficult.