What works here at UCA

Ways which work within UCA

Competition

Although your first port of call may be a bake sale, I urge you to think outside the box. Yes, bake sales do often work but you’re at a creative arts university so I’m here to tell you. Be more creative. With UCA being such a small campus, we have both the blessing and a curse of knowing many of the people here.

This is often a blessing, a great example of why is competition. Who wouldn’t to see friends battling against each other at a certain task. In recent years the Rugby club challenged the Football club to a charity football match claiming they could ‘destroy them’. This ended up raising over £139 for both of the clubs chosen charity Prostate Cancer UK. Isn’t this a great example of friendly competition for a greater cause?

Put yourself out there

Putting yourself through discomfort is often very appealing to friends and course mates. People get a certain amount of humour from this. Previously people have taken part in sponsored leg waxes or head shaves. With something like a head shave, it becomes a lasting reminder of what you did for a certain amount of time. You can use this to strike up conversations about what you are raising money for, what you did and can encourage future donations. Last years sponsored Head shave raised around £700 for the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

Use your skills

You have the benefit of learning a skill within UCA that not many people will either know about or be able to do. If you are good at drawing, use those skills. Most of our campuses have a community space that many people walk through.

In Canterbury there’s the main reception area. Epsom there’s the Quadrangle or the Backspace. Farnham the Quad and canteen. And Rochester you have the reception/canteen. These are areas which attract a lot of footfall. By setting up shop here and showcasing your skill you could get lots of donations or sales. Think about being interactive, don’t expect people to come straight to you. Could you draw caricatures as people go past? This gets people talking and donating time to hearing about what you’re doing.

Perform

Events are obviously a great idea. But it’s not always the best idea. Events often require a high upfront cost of: Venue hire, bar staff, security, and decoration. You could end up spending more than you expect to make! You could however take part in an event.

Maybe you’re a skilled magician, a soul singer or maybe even fancy 80’s dancing, why not work for one of our event nights and donate your earnings to your cause? Many people think hosting their own event will bring in more money but something as simple as being the DJ for four hours could bring you more money for much less effort.

Events

That being said there are certain types of events that do earn money. Spoken word society host a monthly Open mic evening where they allow students to perform and showcase their talents. They later go round with a donation bucket and ask for donations to the chosen charity of the week. Over the course of the year they made hundreds of pounds for many different charities.

We also have an opportunity for you to make money through The Platform. This is a simplified way of having your event get on to the Glasshouse calendar. The Glasshouse calendar is often packed with different events and it’s difficult for you to get a spot on there. By going onto The Platform, you can battle it out against other ideas for a spot to gain any profit you make!