Pro Tip: Fundraising for Your Pro-Life Group: No one likes asking for money. It can feel awkward and even a little dirty. Most people don’t feel comfortable even talking about the concept of money... so we’d like to point out a few important things about raising money for your pro-life group, in addition to sharing some practical tips. We’re here to help your pro-life group in every way we can - and this includes fundraising.

Be Proud of Why You Need It

It would be one thing if you were approaching people about funding your summer vacation or new iPhone. But you aren’t. You need help funding your group’s pro-life activities. Maybe you need to install changing tables in your school’s bathrooms, host a pro-life speaker on campus, or take a little trip called the March for Life. Every life-affirming event your group does on campus takes us one step closer to abolishing abortion. Remembering the pride you take in your role will show and make your donors feel it, too.

Remember Who You’re Talking To

The people who are putting money towards your group believe in your cause. Not everyone is in the perfect position you are to change our culture for life. Contributing to your group is the next best thing for many people wanting to make a difference. They genuinely want to support what you’re doing. An SFLA fundraising adage: While we give by going, you can go by giving. Keeping that in mind should help calm any anxiety you may have about fundraising.

Practical Tips

STOP. And get organized.

Especially when dealing with money, put on your businessperson hat. We need to be good stewards of people’s resources. Being disorganized is a great way to waste or even lose people’s contributions. Have a budget meeting with your leadership board and create a detailed financial plan for your group. Consider food for meetings, event supplies, speaker fees, trip costs, event tickets, and anything else your group plans to do.

Pick your method.

Fundraising is not an exact science. Different things work on different campuses. Not to mention, different types of fundraising may work better than others depending on the type of event you’re raising money for. The following are a few examples:

Baked goods or other small sales. These are easy and can be good for smaller financial needs, like funding your “Food for Meetings” account or mitigating the cost of tickets to your local PRC Banquet.
Local restaurant fundraisers. Oftentimes, your college campus will have one or more eateries that allow student groups to have a “fundraising night” where a percentage of food sales benefit the group. For high schoolers, the same goes for local restaurants in town. Arrange it with the manager and make sure the advertise like crazy for it to get the most bang for your buck.

Xavier University in Cincinnati is great about doing frequent, smaller fundraisers like this:

Letter-Writing. Use one of your group’s regularly scheduled meetings to write letters to family/friends/pro-life acquaintances to ask for funding for whatever project or event you have in mind. This method tends to be good for larger-scale activities, like the March for Life/SFLA National Conference trip. If you have fifteen members in attendance, and each writes five letters, and each letter recipient donates $20 to the group… that’s $1,500 right there.
Local presentations. There’s a good chance that people in your group have connections at local churches, or maybe even Knights of Columbus councils in town. Appeal to the decision-makers at like-minded organizations and ask if they would let you and/or your group make a presentation with a fundraising ask. Don’t be afraid - the worst they can do is say no!

*CREATIVE BONUS IDEA Last month, Kent State Students for Life came up with the idea to sell rides during Homecoming Weekend. They charged $3/person, safely driving classmates who were enjoying the weekend’s festivities. They advertised that the money benefited the group’s March for Life fund - so you can bet they even had some pro-life conversations! You should never let money be an obstacle to your pro-life aspirations. Even if the idea of raising money scares you, ask Students for Life of America for help. There’s a Regional Coordinator (RC) in every corner of the country whose sole mission is you. This list is just a few general tips. Your RC can go in-depth about every facet of fundraising. He/She will sit down with you and your group and help you come up with a fundraising plan that gets you where you need to go. As pro-life activists, we make many sacrifices for the sake of saving babies. Fundraising doesn’t have to be a painful one!

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Why Students for Life?

79% of Planned Parenthoods are 5 miles from a college. 52% of abortion seeking women are under 25. College and high school is a time when worldviews are challenged and formed. Culture is shaped by the young. If we want to end abortion, we have to start with the youth. Read more.

How do we plan to reach an entire generation?

Millennials crave authentic relationships and community. In the past 11 years, Students for Life has experienced rapid growth, 100 to over 1,200 groups on campuses, because we’ve relied on a proven three-step evangelization model: Belong, Believe, Behave.

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Students Trained:

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$ 51,307,530

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