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Success Stories

• Members Stories
  

• Tips for Success

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Member Stories

Get ideas and encouragement straight from other organizers!

The Vagina Monologues Benefit The Women in Learning and Leadership (W.I.L.L.) program at The College of New Jersey raised $3,500 for MADRE through their annual production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. Nancy Sai, a former MADRE intern and member of the W.I.L.L. program, shared some of her thoughts on having MADRE as a beneficiary: “The Vagina Monologues is about unity, about hope and it is about standing up against the violence directed at women and children. As our beneficiary, I know MADRE will carry this message out in their advocacy and programs.”

A House Party for Iraqi Women A student at Northwestern University in Illinois hosted a house party and raised $150 for the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq’s shelters. She found that raising money for MADRE was a natural offshoot of the potluck dinners that she typically organized: “My friends and I have get-togethers regularly where we ask guests to bring a dish or drinks. For this party, I brought all of the food and drinks and asked people to bring donations instead…this is something we could do repeatedly.”

A College Party for Women's Rights Global Rights of Women, an activist group at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, raised $1,047 for OWFI’s shelters through a party of approximately 200 attendees that featured a jazz band, DJ and food.

"It's Our Right!" A student at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut raised $325 for MADRE by hosting a coffeehouse event called “It’s Our Right!” and selling t-shirts at the event.

Do you have your own success story to share? Share them with us! Call 212-627-0444 or email us at organizing@madre.org.

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Tips for Success:

If you’re strapped for cash but still want to throw a great event, try tapping into these resources:

Student Government:

Persuade your student government to rally around your group.

Seek out sponsors:

Sometimes companies will donate products for groups to sell at a fundraiser. Reach out to local and national companies and see what your options are. You can also ask for donations of food and supplies from local small businesses like supermarkets, bakeries and party supply stores in exchange for acknowledgement of their business in a pamphlet or event flier. You might be surprised to find how generous some businesses can be!

Your current network can be a valuable asset:

Don’t forget to approach your friends, sympathetic faculty and other student groups who may have resources to donate!

And don’t forget to always, always publicize:

The more people that know about your event the more awareness and funds your group can raise!  Think about taking out ads in your city or university’s newspaper, creating events and message blasts through your social networking sites, chalking campus sidewalks, creating banners for student unions, putting ads on the side of city or university buses, setting up event information tables at dinning halls, or posting flyers in coffee shops, dorms, community or religious centers.

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