iAbolish.org | American Anti-Slavery Group

First, let us help you figure out what sort of event is right for you! The event should reflect your passions, which don’t have to be limited to fighting for justice! We can help you incorporate your skills and hobbies to make it more personal. The more creative you are the more of an impression you will leave – the sky is the limit!

Get in touch with AASG and we will help you figure what direction to go in! Remember, no contribution is too small! Speaking events, candle light vigils, and canvassing campaigns, are all popular options but there are many more!

Check out our Success Stories to get your creative juices flowing. Good luck and have fun!

Speaking Event | Candlelight Vigil | Athletic Event | Raffle, Sale, or Auction | Art Shows & Other Creative Events | Canvassing, Change Drive, Collection | Other Ideas

Speaking Event

Hosting a speaking event is not only a way of raising money for the fight against slavery, but also a way of educating and inspiring the community. Book a speaker here.

• Think about a specific topic you want to center around. Modern-day slavery is a huge issue so if there is something that you would like to focus on we can help you select a relevant speaker and ask them to tailor their comments appropriately.
• Start looking at when and where you want the speaker then give us a call and we will help with the rest!

Candlelight Vigil

A simple and moving event you can organize is a candlelight vigil. By coming together, the crowd sends a message to leaders and creates a spirit of vigilance in the face of injustice.

• We will provide you with informational flyers to hand out to vigil attendants.
• You can make posters and or a banner which will draw people to your event.
• Think about how you want to focus the vigil and we will help you accomplish that.
• Be creative! Invite local gospel choirs, bring a petition for people to sign, or get a local restaurant or coffee shop to donate hot cocoa or coffee.
• Have a speaker!

Athletic Event

If sports are what you love, an athletic event is a fun, energetic, and effective way to raise awareness of modern day slavery and support anti-slavery work. Athletic events raise awareness by gathering groups of concerned individuals, while generating media and community attention.

• Decide upon the type of athletic event you will be hosting, the date, time, and location.
• Consider who you want to attend the event.
• Think about whether people will pay to register and participate or collect pledges.
• AASG will help you disseminate information about modern day slavery to make this an educational event.

Raffle, Sale, or Auction

Holding a sale or auction where the proceeds are donated to a worthy cause is a common and effective way to simultaneously educate about modern-day slavery, support anti-slavery work, and let your creativity shine. A few successful examples include: bake sales, sale of hand-made bracelets, lottery drawing for coupons and gift certificates donated by local businesses, and an auction of donated goods.

• Think about who will be involved and who your target audience will be.
• We will help you set reasonable goals — they do not have to be monetary. Your goal could be to attract media coverage, to sell at least 25 items, to reach a new audience, or even to get five new people really interested and concerned about modern-day slavery.

Art Shows & Other Creative Events

Holding a concert, poetry reading, dance performance or other art event is a way to do many things at once: appreciate the arts, educate about the realities of modern-day slavery, support anti-slavery work, and have a good time.

• Enlist the help of co-sponsors and volunteers.
• Think about who will be involved, where things will be located, and who will do what when.
• If there is a theme that best represents your interests — think about this too.

Canvassing, Change Drive, Collection

Simply asking for monetary support is a direct and simple way to simultaneously educate and solicit support for anti-slavery work. Canvassing, a spare-change drive, or a collection can happen independently or in conjunction with another event.

A canvassing campaign may be inspired by a particular event such as hearing an AASG speaker, attending a candlelight vigil, or an event in current affairs. If you choose to canvass, think about who is being canvassed and their understanding of the issue.

• Going from door to door asking for money is not appropriate. Calling members of an already established community is.
• Volunteers should be knowledgeable about modern-day slavery issues and AASG and be provided with information to give out and reference. We can help you with all of these details!

A spare change drive is an easy way to raise money and awareness of slavery.

• You will need only volunteers and depositories!

A collection can be taken at a speaking event, a concert, or any other event that already revolves around educating and raising money for anti-slavery work. Additionally, a collection can be taken at an event that does not directly pertain to modern-day slavery. The reason for the collection and to whom it will be contributed should be made clear.

Other Ideas

• Comedy night
• Pub quiz
• Car wash
• Treasure hunt
• Craft fair
• Football tournament
• Garden party
• Coffee morning
• Movie night
• Bingo
• Birthday donations
• Wedding donations
• Photography sale or auction
• Pizza sale
• Yard-work
• Animal wash
• Table at a fair or festival

Get Permission!

It is important to secure permission to hold an event. If you are holding an event at your school, on campus, at your church, synagogue or temple, then remember to talk to the administrators. If you are hosting a public event, be sure to check with your local police department about laws regarding public gatherings and get all relevant permits - you may have to wait a week or two before your permit is approved.

Rent Audio Equipment

Depending on the size and location of your event, you will need to rent different equipment for your speakers to be heard. Good places to rent include party supply stores and music stores. When you call the store tell the representative as many details as possible about your event such as how many people will be there and if you have an electric outlet. If you are associated with a school, look for campus groups or music groups to let you borrow microphones, speakers, and amplifiers. Test out any equipment before the day of the event.

Co-Sponsors and Volunteers

Co-sponsors can help defray the costs of an event and be a source of volunteers. So look for groups and individuals who would be willing to help out. Political, cultural, and religious organizations are a good place to start. Go to one of their meetings, call them up or send them an email to get them excited and motivated to co-sponsor.

Without publicity even the best-planned event will be a failure. On the other hand, a well-publicized event can have positive, far-reaching effects beyond your expectations. Publicity comes in many different forms; choose a combination that works for you. The following are suggestions but we don’t expect you to do it alone! AASG is here to make sure that you can accomplish your goals.

Here are some effective publicity methods:

• Hand out and post flyers in public places
• Make phone calls to people who may be interested
• Contact other school groups (such as student government and other organizations)
• Table or canvass
• Writing letters to the editor or columns in local papers
• Have a newspaper listing in the "events" or calendar section
• Send out a press release
• Hold a press conference
• Make a public service announcement on the radio or on TV
• Give tickets to your event away to a radio station for a free give-away

Things to remember:

• When you disperse information, you often have to take the initiative and approach people.
• Regardless of the setting be respectful and wear appropriate attire — you are representing a larger group.
• It is a good idea to have prepared answers to basic questions such as: "What are you doing?" and "What is this all about?" and "What is the American Anti-Slavery Group?"
• Finally, know that it is illegal to drop leaflets in mailboxes, although you can put them through a letter slot in a door or leave them in door handles or on the doorstep. If you are planning to solicit contributions, check local and state regulations.

Tips for Publicity & Outreach

Posters and leaflets:

• If you are postering at a university or in a public space, be sure to check the rules and regulations beforehand. You may need to get a campus group to provide their stamp of approval before you can poster on campus. Remember to include an event title, time and date of event, location, and contact information.

Tabling:

• Tabling is a good method to raise funds or to publicize a fundraiser and raise awareness in the community. Choose a spot with a lot of pedestrian traffic where people will see you.

Online:

• If you know how, set up a webpage for the event or post the event on an existing website such as Myspace or Facebook. If you can, include a volunteer sign-up page and a registration page.
• Create a link between the website and iAbolish.org.
• Contact the American Anti-Slavery Group and tell us what you are going to do. We can help advertise by sending mail to all of our Freedom Action Network members about the event

Press Coverage:

• During the weeks preceding your event, be sure to call local and student newspapers and radio stations to give them information about your event.
• Advertise in local calendar listings, both online and in newspapers, so that more people will hear about your event.

Writing a Press Release:

• A press release, a short announcement of a newsworthy event, is sent to newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations to interest them in doing a story.
• Keep it short. One page is best. Cover the 5 Ws in the first paragraph: who, what, where, when, and why.
• Write a concise, catchy headline that summarizes the story.
• Use the "inverted pyramid" style to write the release: Put the most important facts in the first paragraph and supporting information in descending order, so that the least important information is last.
• Underline the text that gives the location, time, and date of the event.
• You may also want to include photographs, a fact sheet, or a flyer.
• List the name of the "contact person" and try to have someone available to field calls.

Writing an Op-Ed:

One of the best ways to explain your position on an issue is through an op-ed. These lengthy pieces essentially do the same thing as a letter to the editor, but explain your stance on an issue more fully. Be aware that papers may have a strict policy about accepting guest Op-Eds, so consider calling first for information.

Here is an effective format to follow:

• The Attention Grabber: An Op-Ed should always start with an effective grabber/attention getter. Be creative; use humor or current events to catch the reader's attention.
• The Body: This is essentially your chain of evidence. Address in as clear terms as possible the issue and your position on it.
• Conclusion: Briefly sum up your point in order to make sure that it doesn't get lost or forgotten after the body of the Op-Ed. This should be an echo and strong reinforcement of the point you made in the beginning and can include a call to action.
• Limit your Op-Ed to 700-750 words; shorter is better. Type and double-space.

Letters to the Editor:

Letters to the editor provide citizens with the opportunity to comment on articles and editorials appearing in their local newspapers, or sometimes to bring up issues not mentioned in the paper. The following tips may help you as you write:

• Letters should be typed and include your name, address and telephone number. Be concise and specific.
• Pieces should rarely exceed one page; try to limit your letter to 100 to 150 words. Pick a topic to focus on and stick with it throughout the letter.
• Keep in mind each paper's particular guidelines, which are found on the editorial page

Conducting an Interview:

You may be able to do an interview in order to promote your fundraiser, or to talk about it after it is over.

• Contact the station with information about who you are, how the issues you will talk about are current and relevant to the station's audience and other information on your event.

Holding a Press Conference:

A press conference is most appropriate for an important story that does not lend itself to standard print media and a press release.

Hold a press conference when:

• It is beneficial to the media and serves better than photographs and press releases.
• You have important or newsworthy people available to present your story.
• Experts will be available to answer questions.
• The story involves something that has to be seen to be understood.

Jeff helped raise $5,000 for the anti-slavery movement when he ran the Boston Marathon in 2005.

Marathon Sponsorship

When Jeffrey Louis Perrin decided he would run the Boston Marathon, he knew he wanted it to be for a good cause. He chose to use the opportunity to raise money for AASG given the organization's admirably "multi-faceted" approach to ending the slavery and genocide in Sudan. Jeff emailed his friends and family about his plans and then called AASG with his idea. Within hours, we had a web page for his campaign up and running; we also sent an action alert to members of our online Freedom Action Network (FAN), encouraging them to support Jeff's efforts. 26.2 miles later, Jeff had raised a whopping $5,000 for the anti-slavery movement.

Benefit Concert

The Moorestown Friends School of Moorestown, NJ has nurtured a local tradition with their three year-running “Emancipation Rocklamation” – a benefit concert raising money to free slaves in Sudan. Moorestown students invited student and local bands — including SGR, Public Access, No Damn Problem, and The Skautopsies — to perform in their ska music extravaganza. Altogether, the past three Emancipation Rocklamations have raised over $10,000 for AASG’s work.

Bat Mitzvah Project

For her Bat Mitzvah project, Jenna Cohen chose to help free slaves in Sudan. Her plan of attack was a combination of education and fundraising. She created flyers and fact-sheets about modern slavery which she posted around her school. In addition, she made bracelets and necklaces which she sold for $3 and $5 each. In all she raised $540 — enough to free fifteen slaves in redemption campaigns.

Staged Demonstration

Concerned for the plight of victims of the Sudanese genocide, Bucks County Community College’s Human Right’s Club organized a trail of mourning and "die-in." The trail of mourning involved posting photos of Sudanese victims throughout every level of the school — from the bottom floor of the College's Student Center up to the top floor of the cafeteria. There in the cafeteria, the students held a "die-in" which involved ten students dressed in black falling to the floor and remaining there for almost an hour, while several other students went through the cafeteria begging. The event caught the attention of the campus as well as that of the local media local press attention and raised $1,000 for AASG.

Jewelry Sale

Amelia and her friends decided to spread awareness of modern slavery while financially supporting the movement to end it by making 100 brass rings. To the rings, which they sold for two dollars each, they attached tags with the slogan "Let Freedom Ring" on one side and AASG’s website address on the other. At their sale table they featured a large show board educating their classmates about the horrors of modern slavery and handed out fact sheets. The rings sold out, raising $285, which was doubled thanks to a matching grant — totaling $570. To learn more about matching grants, contact us.

Niki and Sarah tabling at their Student Union.

Movie March and Demonstration

As self-proclaimed “poor college students,” Niki and Sarah were not sure whether they were in a position to help support the movement to end slavery and genocide in Sudan. Then, inspiration struck. They decided to stage a dramatic demonstration, marching down Main Street to the local theater, in front of which they organized a demonstration themed “Prevent Hotel Darfur,” after the critically acclaimed 2004 movie “Hotel Rwanda,” which tackled the genocide that ravaged the country there in 1994.

Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, Niki and Sarah sought to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur while earning course credit for their work by crafting an independent study. Their study developed an anthropological understanding of the human rights crisis in Sudan, in order to then spread awareness on our campus community. They displayed bulletin boards in the Student Union, held information nights, and handed out petition letters to representatives and congressmen at information tables in the Student Union at peak times. They sold green ribbons for $1 apiece and donated the proceeds to AASG.