Guidelines and Forms

Scope and Responsibility of the Organizing Committees of SLCAO Appointed for Special Events and Fundraising

Version 1.0, Date: Oct 13, 2006
Edited by Future Directions Committee of SLCAO, 2006

About this document:

This document is a draft document which explains the scope and responsibilities of the organizing committees appointed for a special event or a special fundraising activity such s Christmas party, Sri Lankan New Year celebration.

This does not contain all the potential activities and should be used as a document that provides general direction and guidance. Detailed activity lists included in this document may be changed as required by the subcommittees or the executive committees appointed for the year.

Version History:

Draft Version 0.1 : This was extracted from the document entitled "Roles and scope of subcommittees" V0.3, dated 10-03-2006.

Version 1.0 : Edited by the SLCAO Future Directions Committee on Oct 13, 2006 to be adopted by the SLCAO AGM as general guidelines for the operation of Organising committees.

Co-ordination of activities between the Executive committee and organising committees:

The Executive Committee will have a pre approved list of events for the year and appoint organisation committees to organise those events. See Appendix A for an example list of events.

The Executive Committee should appoint an organising committee well ahead of the event so that the organising committee have sufficient time to organise the event. This include booking of halls and making appointment with the guests.

After the establishment of an organising committee, the organising committee members shall meet with the executive committee and clarify their role. A high level plan for the event may be drafted and discuss with the executive committee for its approval. Once approved, the organising committees can organize the activities on their own to fulfill these objectives. The executive committee may keep some of the special items of a program under their control and will be informed to the organising committee at the beginning of their work. The information on these activities should be passed to the members/executive committee as appropriate.

After completion a progress report shall be provided to the Executive committee which includes among other things the achievements the things that could have been improved, the volunteers that have been supported the activity etc. The executive committee may send letters of appreciation to external participants and/or the specific members as identified by the organising committee The organising committee should identify the relationship with any steering committees to their planned activity and communicate with them in order to avoid miscommunications. If any issues cannot be resolved by talking to a steering committee directly, the executive committee should be informed.

Officers: Organising Committee may be managed by several officers. The number of officers and their roles may vary depending o the activity and key leaders will be appointed by the Executive Committee. More positions may be created by the organising committee as work progress.

These are some of the other responsibilities identified. All of these may not be applicable to all the events.

Responsibilities:

1. The Chair of the committee will organize, schedule and delegate assignments to its members.
2. Book venues for events well in advance
3. Begin and close all events at prescheduled times, avoiding delays
4. Organize ticket sales. Maintain a record of volunteers who will sell tickets, number of tickets sold and returned and total money collected from each volunteer. This information must be available to the Executive at the next meeting.
5. Identify potential sponsors and advertisement opportunities Advertisement requests should be discussed with the executive committee and agreed upon. Providing an attractive program broacher may be considered depending on the occasion and advertisement may be used to cover the costs. Similarly where appropriate publishing a souvenir may be considered to cover the costs.
6. Organise fundraising activities during the event where appropriate.
7. Maintain records showing how much money was spent and collected for each event. All receipts must be saved and filed for submission.
8. All money collected along with information from 5. To be submitted to the treasurer along with all the receipts within one week.
9. Contact people with special talents in music, drama, dance etc. Book them I advance.
10. Book sound and camera equipment etc. in advance (2 - 3 months). Make certain that such equipment is in perfect working condition well before the event.
11. Items that need to be purchased should be done so well in advance. Make sure that adequate supplies are at hand to cover the event. (paper products, utensils, soft drinks, tea and coffee etc.). Save all receipts and submit to treasurer.
12. Organize teams of volunteer's initial set up and final clean up.
13. Lots of good humour!

Appendix A: Example List of Special Events, Sri Lanka Canada Association of Ottawa

Other Events Suggested:

• Casino night
• Fashion Show
• Puppet Show
• Book Readings by writers of children's books
• Cooking / Baking Demonstrations
• Talks on - Parenting
  1. Bullying
  2. Conflict Resolution
  3. Anger Management
  4. Human Rights
  5. Ethics for every day living
  6. Rights and Responsibilities
  7. Money Management
  8. Credit Card and Debt
  9. Success and Self-Esteem