You may not know that American Model United Nations has an all volunteer staff. Just like the Representatives that attend our Conference, most of our staff do not live in Chicago. That means they have to travel to Chicago and stay in the Sheraton for the duration of the Conference. As a thank-you to our staff, we pay for their hotel and their meals during the Conference to try to decrease the financial burden of volunteering for staff. We raise funds for this in a variety of ways, some of which are visible to you and some of which are not. 

Two of the visible ways we raise money are the Conference Expo we host on the Monday of Conference and the Conference Program each participant receives. In addition to providing opportunities for our representatives about graduate school and career opportunities, the vendor booth fees and paid Conference Program ads are an important source of income. We invite you to visit the Expo and make connections with organizations included in our Conference Program. Our success in selling booths and ads is directly tied to your engagement. 

While the Expo and the Conference Program  are big-picture ways to help AMUN, there are many  smaller ways representatives, secretariat members and their families can help AMUN as well! Here are four easy ways you can help AMUN staff. If you make it a habit, it helps us a lot! 

1. Use http://smile.amazon.com/. Start at this website and put in your Amazon account email address or mobile phone and your password. Next, select “American Model United Nations” as your charitable organization before making any purchases, otherwise we will not get the donation.  Then shop!
   1. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from eligible purchases.
   2. You can use AmazonSmile in conjunction with your Prime account; just log into Smile and your Prime information will automatically link.
   3. Anytime you would use Amazon, just type “smile.amazon.com” into your browser instead, and the savings are almost automatic. 
   4. For instructions on how to do this on mobile, please click here. Make sure your mobile app is connected! If you switch phones it might accidentally turn off!

2. Use http://www.goodsearch.com/ and its related sites. Goodsearch is a search engine provided by Goodshop that gives a penny for every search. Goodshop, an online shopping mall, gives a portion of each sale as a donation to AMUN, at no cost to you.
   1. When you first go to the site, in the top right click on “Find a Cause to Support” then search for and select “American Model United Nations.”
   2. If you would like to track the amount of money that you are earning, create a free account with Goodsearch. If you’re into that kind of thing, watching your donation amount grow is incredibly satisfying!
      1. Note, you need to be logged in to an account for your searches to automatically count for AMUN. If you don’t create an account, you’ll have to manually choose AMUN each time you visit the site. In addition, you can download the app for Goodsearch to your smart devices.
   3. There is also Goodshop at http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop, which earns AMUN a percentage of the money you spend at Goodshop-affiliated stores.  To use Goodshop, you go through the same steps as Goodsearch to select the cause of AMUN.  Goodshop gives you coupons for over 30,000 stores and then donates a portion of the participating store purchases to AMUN. For example, you can use Goodshop to connect to several travel booking sites (e.g., Expedia and Travelocity) and purchase your plane tickets to Conference (with flight insurance). This is our biggest generation of funding!

3. If you think your company would be a good fit for the students attending AMUN, encourage them to advertise in our Conference Program and/or be a part of the Graduate School and Career Expo. 

4. Encourage your families and friends to use Goodsearch, Goodshop and AmazonSmile for American Model United Nations. In addition, they can donate to AMUN by going to this link. AMUN is a 501(c)(3) organization, and we welcome donations!

Share this article on social media! In 2021, AMUN earned almost $500 for staff meals through AmazonSmile and GoodShop/GoodSearch. AMUN prides itself on the professionalism of our volunteer staff, and we try to make it as easy as possible for them to help us staff the Conference. Taking away some of the worry of logistics of attending AMUN is a small way to show them how much we appreciate them. Many of our staff use AmazonSmile and GoodSearch/GoodShop, but now we’d like to ask our Representatives to use them as well!