University Events
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How It Works
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Canstruction is an international hunger relief charity that raises millions of pounds of food each year for local food banks. Its university events give young adults the chance to enhance their design skills and work together to create fantastic, innovative CanArt® structures using unopened cans of food.
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University events take many forms: Some events are competitions where groups compete against one in award categories. Other events are held as group activities where all participants build one or more structures together.
Register
You can sign up as a sorority/fraternity, a class, a religious group, or a social group to name a few. To qualify for a university event, participants must attend an active university, college, or school for higher education.
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Canstruction, Inc. is 501(c)3 U.S. non-profit charity. All Program fees paid to Canstruction, Inc. are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law and go towards overhead expenses and helping expand the work we do. If you don't have a 501c3 USA tax exemption, ask your local food bank if you can use their tax exempt ID as part of your Canstruction competition.
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You can register here. Registration costs $200 annually.
Upon registering, you will receive the following event support materials for hosting your local competition:
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​Canstruction's Official Competition Manual which includes planning materials, rules & regulations, general guidelines, planning checklists, judging score cards, etc. The manual takes you through every part of the process like recruiting teams and sponsors, logistics, fundraising, and marketing.
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Canstruction's Branding Style Guide which provides graphics and branding materials (ads, signage, posters, banners, stationary), logos, fonts, color options, etc to create posters, signs, press collateral for promoting your citywide competition.
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Customer support from our National Headquarters
Find Mentors
University event participants are responsible for designing/building their own structures. For this reason, teams are encouraged to include a volunteer mentor with an art, mathematics, architecture, physics, engineering, or construction background to help them design and build the structure.
Purchasing Food
Each university event is responsible for purchasing their own food. Some universities require teams to provide their own food. Others hold food drives, raise money to buy food at a discount from distributors, or ask for donations from grocery stores and other food distributors in exchange for publicity.
For example, some universities purchase food ahead of the event and then obtain sponsors who advertise at the Canstruction exhibit. Alternatively, they may ask for donations when people come to view structures asking visitors to make a donation in a box next to their favorite sculpture in order to cast their vote for the winner of the People’s Choice award.
Your local food bank or hunger organization can be a vital asset in helping organizing these events. Food banks often get food at a discounted price from distributors and have prior experience marketing their causes and generating PR.
The official university competition manual explores these topics in depth with suggested sponsors, PR opportunities, fundraising, and marketing ideas.
Competitive Events
Typically, university events are competitive event where teams compete for awards and recognition or a group build where participants complete one or more cansculptures together. If you decide to host a competitive event, you can purchase official Canstruction awards in the Canstruction store.
Hosting the Event
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Upon registering you receive access to the official Canstruction manual and corresponding materials. These materials will work as a roadmap that guide you through every part of the process of creating an event from start to finish including how to:
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Select a venue to display structure
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Recruit judges, teams, and sponsors
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Obtain canned food
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Fundraise
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Market the event
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Organize the event
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Score structures
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Craft speeches
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Submit to the international competition
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And more!