Event and Activity List
Use this list to spark your imagination and provide inspiration for your group as you develop a plan for events and activities. This list is just a start – be creative! Many of these ideas can be combined or altered to fit your group's needs and capabilities. The Activist Toolkit contains other ideas and information on how to implement these types of activities.
While many of these events will be fun to plan and attend, remember that the goal is to raise awareness of human rights issues, Amnesty International, and your group. In all of your events, be sure to tie in a human rights theme, provide an opportunity for action and promote ways to get involved in your group.
AWARENESS ACTIVITIES
- Newspaper. Have your campus or community newspaper feature a section or issue on human rights. (See Working with the Media)
- Displays. In schools and libraries, create displays and bulletin board notices with information about your group, how to get involved, and general human rights information. (See How to Promote Your Group)
- Amnesty Bookmarks. Distribute bookmarks at the library, bookstores, and at school.
- Educational Events. Organize talks, discussion forums, guest speakers, and video screenings.
Parade. Organize your own parade or make an AI float for an existing parade. One AI group dressed up as candles and handed out flyers to bystanders.
FUNDRAISING
- In-Kind Contributions. Solicit donations of paper, stamps, envelopes, or other materials necessary for group activities.
- Pledges. Ask people to make pledges for the amount of work your group can carry out, such as the number of letters written or the number of new members recruited.
- Sales and Services. Raise money through car washes, dog-walking, face painting, gift-wrapping, or yard work.
- Concession Sales. Volunteer your time at sporting events or amusement parks, and use the money you earn for Amnesty.
- Amnesty Merchandise. Sell Amnesty T-shirts, mugs, buttons, bumper stickers, temporary tattoos, candles, and magnets.
- Auctions, Raffles, and Garage Sales. Ask individuals and merchants to donate goods and services that can be auctioned, raffled, or sold at a garage sale.
- Local Businesses. See if a popular movie theater or restaurant will sponsor an Amnesty night, where a percentage of profits are donated to your group.
Sporting Events. Organize events such as bike races, marathons, tournaments, walk-a-thons, skate-a-thons, bowl-a-thons, and dance-a-thons. Charge an entrance fee and have prizes donated. If appropriate, have participants get pledges and find local business and organizational sponsors.
(For more details see Raise Funds.)
ACTIVISM AND THE ARTS
- Art Shows. Ask art students or local artists to create and donate works with a human rights theme for exhibition and/or raffle.
- Literary Magazine. Compile a human rights literary booklet, or suggest that your school or community literary magazine adopt a human rights theme.
- Wine-and-Cheese. Consider combining a wine tasting with a human rights short film, art exhibit, speaker, or poetry reading.
- Quilt. Make a human rights quilt out of cloth or paper. Illustrate each of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with words or images.
- Performance Art. Sponsor a poetry or literature reading or perform a play with a human rights theme.
- Film Festival. Ask your local movie theater to sponsor a series of films with a human rights theme, or plan your own film festival.
Jamnesty. Organize a concert. If you need help with a large project like this, join forces with other local Amnesty groups or other community organizations.
FOOD AND DRINK
- Bake Sale. Ask local bakeries and grocery stores to donate cakes and other items. Or sell goods that are baked by group members.
- Cookbook. Collect recipes from the school and community and produce and sell a cookbook. Or gather recipes from the countries that your group focuses on, to raise awareness of other cultures and human rights issues.
- Amnesty Café or Amnesty-Tea. Host poetry readings at a local coffee house. Charge a fee or negotiate a percentage of sales profits to go to AI. Organize letter writing with tea.
- Thematic Meals. Host a dinner featuring dishes from other countries, either by preparing food yourself or gathering at a local restaurant. Team up with other cultural groups. Have a theme, play international music, and decorate.
Prisoner of Conscience Dinner. Hold international or country dinners in honor of a prisoner of conscience. Serve food related to the country or ethnicity of POC and have a small talk about the case. Set a place for the POC and leave it empty.
PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Organize public demonstrations such as vigils, protests, rallies, or street theater events. See the calendar for ideas of dates to organize events and fund-raisers around days, such as Earth Day and Human Rights Day.
HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS WEEK
During Human Rights Awareness Week, organize events on your own, or work with other community or student groups. Include information tables, speakers, debates, and musicians.
ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS
- Foreign Language Classes. Suggest that your class write AI letters in the language you are studying.
- Typing Class. Have your typing classes type AI letters.
- Human Rights Debate. If your school has a debate team, suggest a human rights question or issue to be discussed.
- Extra Credit. Ask teachers if students can get extra credit for participating in Amnesty activities or writing Amnesty letters.
Letter Writing Contest. Organize a contest between classes and award a prize to the class that writes the most letters.
