#3: Start a fundraiser

For those of you in college, you may have witnessed numerous events on campus, hosted by various clubs and organizations. Whether students encouraged you to wear purple for Domestic Violence Awareness, pink for Breast Cancer Awareness or red for AIDS awareness week--it was all for a cause and this kind of awareness is always meant to bring about a positive change for the promoted cause.

So why not start a fundraiser of your own? If there is a specific organization that is of great importance to you, get involved... Night-Owl's-Guide style!

Let's take St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for instance. I have admired St. Jude for quite some time now--most importantly their promise to never deny a child treatment because of the family's inability to pay. Its motto "Finding cures. Saving children." is one that has been resonating for years. Feb. 4, 1962 marked St. Jude's 50th anniversary of doing just what its motto states. According to their Mission Statement, their mission is "to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment... no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay."

If you're on college/university campus, how about spreading the word about an After Hours Fundraiser? Whether it's a pajama movie night on a big screen with s'mores as a snack or a game night with raffles, it should be fun, provide an incentive and be ready with information about the cause to which fees and donations will be sent to. You're already at a very good advantage--one can only imagine the turnout (given that there is effective and sufficient promotion, of course).

Do your research, create flyers, band with a friend to make this work and spread the word! Once the event has concluded and you see the donation jar filled up, you will feel a sense of accomplishment--not solely due to your efforts, but because children at Saint Jude will be appreciative of the gift of life.

To donate to Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital, click here or visit www.stjude.org.

WHY start a fundraiser?
Helping to raise money for a cause that is important to you is such a selfless way to get involved. There are so many organizations out there that need our attention, and the time you can take out of your busy schedule to help another life is such a blessing.