Got ideas for a 2-week school charity drive?

October 22, 2010 12:34 AM

Starting this Sunday, me and some 40 people will be running a 2-week charity drive to get as many donations as possible for Pakistan flood victims. Do you have any ideas?

The leader who started the event spoke with a charity which will take care of transportation. We will be collecting biscuits, blankets, jackets and other warm clothes which were specified to us by the charity. However, we are not collecting any money.

I'm in charge of the publicity team, which will be targeting people aged 11 - 18 (Grades 7-13 which contain about 1000 students) throughout the high-school section. So far, we are making simple A1/A0 posters by hand, going around to registration classes in the morning, speaking at assemblies and hopefully, will have a large banner screen printed.

Me and the leader decided that we don't want to make it a mediocre event, so I'd love your input, whether it's about our speeches, our posters or if you have a brand new idea.

posted by Ragingmelon to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

If this is at one school, put the collections in a prominent place so the students can see the progress they've made. Otherwise a continually updated blog could do the same, the feeling of a joint effort often does more to inspire than a moving speech. Make sure to mention specific people who brought stuff in. Photos are good if you have a blog. Mention precisely where the blankets etc. will be going, hopefully the charity will have resources on general names of area families and their circumstances (just as examples, not that that particular family will get your stuff). Make sure to mention the lack of aid and media compared to other recent tragedies so that people will feel they're doing something relatively different.

You don't mention how involved the teachers will be but the more you involve them the better - Mr X brought in three blankets and a box of biscuits often does better than you'd expect. Sell it to the teachers as a learning opportunity and they may be able to co-ordinate whole classes on the subject. Two weeks might not be long enough for sponsored quizzes or uniform free days so generate what buzz you can with a lobby-based display and internet/intranet fan pages where people can discuss it and comment continually for the time period, not just an assembly they might promptly forget.
posted by shinybaum at 12:56 AM on October 22, 2010

You might want to send out press releases to the local news media; one of my co-workers (who is from Pakistan) led a fundraising drive for the local Islamic society and got a bit of good press coverage: a TV interview or two, a mention in the paper. It really helped him have a successful event and in your case it will serve to remind the community at large that the situation there is still bad.
posted by TedW at 4:57 AM on October 22, 2010

Keep track of how much has been donated by each grade and publish that regularly. Make it a competition. Can the grade 7s beat the grade 13s?? Who will be (School's) Next Top Philanthropist?
posted by heatherann at 5:02 AM on October 22, 2010

Do you want it keep it to that one school? Or why not place an ad on kijiji advertising what you're looking for, and have a place in the school where people who aren't associated with it can also drop off the goods specified.
posted by Penelope at 7:36 AM on October 22, 2010

Thanks for the help - here are the results (after 3 weeks):

http://on.fb.me/dwS7xm

-Ragingmelon
posted by Ragingmelon at 12:00 PM on November 11, 2010