For the last couple of years, Active Minds at Ithaca College has been doing a Halloween fundraiser we call “Scare Away the Stigma!” For this fundraiser, we get candy and little bags, and we create strips of paper with facts about mental health that are commonly used in an attempt to reduce the stigma around mental health. We table in our campus center for a few days around Halloween, and people can fill a small bag of candy (+ the message about mental health) for a relatively small amount of money- usually $3. To keep costs low on our end, we try and get the candy donated, but even if we do have to buy the candy, the whole fundraiser only costs around $30 to do, and we have previously made a decent profit from the fundraiser, and it is a fun thing to do around Halloween! We also always tie an event or one of our meetings to this fundraiser, also called “Scare Away the Stigma,” where we discuss Halloween costumes and horror movie tropes that further stigmatize mental illness and mental health.
To do this fundraiser, you’ll need:
- A few large bags of Halloween candy (amount depending on how long you’re tabling and how many people you’re expecting to come by your table)
- Clear cellophane bags (Halloween-themed preferable)
- Printed facts about mental health (ex: 1 in 4 college students struggle with their mental health)
All of these things can be found at Walmart or another chain store, it’s a pretty easy fundraiser to pull off, and people tend to enjoy that we do programming around Halloween!
