Money – it’s what makes the world go ’round.

And anyone who is a part of any type of organization knows that virtually nothing can get done without it.

But for some nonprofit organizations, money can be hard to come by.

To compensate, many nonprofit organizations participate in some kind of fundraising, and for some groups, the Jerome Schottenstein Center is the perfect place to do so.

“I have about 160 nonprofit organizations in my pool,” said Dan Phillips, general manager at Sodexho.

Sodexho is the company that runs all of the concession stands at all OSU sports facilities, including the Schottenstein Center, Ohio Stadium and the OSU baseball fields.

Sodexho uses nonprofit organizations, referred to as NPOs by Phillips, to work the concession stands at OSU venues, where the groups can make $40 per person working at the stands.

Both Sodexho and the NPOs benefit from this arrangement – Sodexho gains access to a large workforce and the NPOs have a way to raise funds while only having to invest their time, Phillips said.

These NPOs come from all over the Columbus area: local churches, Parent Teacher Associations and OSU student groups.

“We have been here long enough and (are) large enough to where a group calls in,” Phillips said.

And once a group calls in, it is fairly easy to start working, all they need to do is fill out some information and they will be put on a waiting list, Phillips said.

Susan Laser, who is in Young Buckeyes, the Franklin County alumni association for graduates under 35, has plenty of experience with concession stand work.

“We were looking for a way to raise our scholarship fund and give back to the OSU community,” Laser said.

Young Buckeyes have been working at OSU venues for about seven years, Laser said.

The group does other fundraising, such as selling entertainment books, but nothing has brought as much money as working at concession stands, Laser said. The group normally works at basketball games and concerts.

“We want a good basketball team that people will go see,” Laser said.

But the Schottenstein center is not the only place that NPOs can work.

Hannah Mugambi is a member of 24/7 Prayer, an organization dedicated to creating a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week prayer movement at OSU.

“I think I heard about it through word of mouth,” Mugambi said about how the group found out about the concession stand work.

Like the Young Buckeyes, 24/7 Prayer had tried to raise money other ways, such as sending out a newsletter, but according Mugambi, “bake sales don’t cover large expenses.”

Members of 24/7 Prayer have worked at OSU football games, OSU basketball games and even the spring commencement, but they will not work at events in which alcohol is sold.

Despite the positives that the company and NPOs receive, there is a downside to the arrangement.

“There is almost always an incident at inventory at the end of the night,” Phillips said.

At the end of the night, groups must account for how much money they have and how much they should have, and sometimes it does not match up.

If a group does not have the right amount of money, the amount they are missing will be subtracted from the money they are to be paid.