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Paint (or Pop) Out Poverty

Awareness event name:

Paint Out Poverty or Pop Out Poverty

Chapters:

Oregon, Ohio State, Syracuse, McGill

Description:

Many Chapters use Paint Out Poverty as an awareness event, as a Venture, or as a recruitment tool, and each has their own unique way of doing it. In general, a Chapter paints the word “poverty” on a large piece of paper with some kind of support behind it (cardboard, plywood, etc…) Then the Chapter props it up in an area on campus with heavy foot traffic and politely, but not shyly, asks passers-by to paint a word they associate with poverty alleviation over the word “poverty.” You should use this as an opportunity to engage people in a conversation about poverty and what can/should be done about it. You can gauge each person’s interest and pitch Nourish to them if they seem interested. Have action steps that an individual can take if they are interested! Invite them to your next meeting and give them a flier. Collect their contact information and text them afterward thanking them for participating. Have them like your social media page or add them to a Facebook or GroupMe group. But keep the conversation going!

This is a great way to raise awareness about your Chapter and your cause and a fantastic way to start conversations on your campus about an issue that often gets overlooked or ignored.

Things you will need for a classic Paint Out Poverty:

  • Large sheet(s) of paper – check your craft center or see if your members have access to free sheets.
  • Support for your paper – Oregon used large pieces of cardboard and stapled the paper to it (as seen below), some use plywood. See what your Chapter members have access to.
  • Paint, get different colors. Consider Nourish colors.
  • Brushes and trays.
  • Ask an artistic friend to help! It doesn’t have to look amazing, but it helps if it looks somewhat professional!
  • Easels or something to prop your sign up with.
  • Drop cloth to put under your sign so you don’t get paint all over the place.
    • Respect your school, don’t leave a bad impression by leaving a mess when you leave.
  • Get photos! Post them on social media.
  • Get contact info! Name, email, phone number. Follow up with them thanking them for their participation and remind them of your next meeting. Maybe offer to grab coffee with them if they’d like to chat more!
  • Have info about Nourish. Flyers, business cards, etc…
  • Prizes or swag. You’d be surprised how much people like free stuff, even small things like stickers!
    • Gift cards are even better if you’re doing Pop Out Poverty!
This gallery contains 6 photos.

Variations:

During a football game day, Syracuse paints their opponents logo and goes around to tailgates charging fans (or taking a suggested donation) to paint over the logo! Check out photos on their Facebook page!

Oregon did a Pop Out Poverty. This involved a big piece of plywood with the word “poverty” painted on it and balloons filled with paint pinned to the board. People walking by would throw darts at the balloons in hopes to pop them and send paint splattering all over the word. Each colored balloon was filled with paint that matched the color of that particular balloon. Except for a few. Some had purple paint inside and anyone who was able to pop a balloon with purple paint they got a prize, a gift card that was donated. Students loved to walk by and try this out! It was a great way to engage students in a conversation while making it fun! Make sure you have small prizes for every participate, like a Nourish sticker with your information on it. We all know how much college students love free stuff!

Things you will need for a Pop Out Poverty:

  • A large piece of plywood. Oregon got theirs from Home Depot, this is kind of cheap. Try to find somewhere you can get this for free.
  • A way to prop up your board. We used the table we were given (it got paint all over it so be careful.)
  • Thumbtacks.
  • Balloons of various colors. Blue, red, yellow, orange, and green are common colors. It’s easy to find this color paint too.
  • Paint of various colors, ideally the same colors as the balloons plus one color that is different – Oregon used purple as the special color.
  • A large drop cloth, paint tends to spray so get a big one and be prepared to clean up paint off your table and yourself! (So worth it to see the people have fun at your event.)
  • People to fill balloons with paint. It’s a messy job, but somebody’s got to do it.
  • Darts.
  • Prizes. This can be a participation prize, like a small sticker (check out stickermule.com), or a special prize like a gift card.
    • If you want to give prizes (which you could also charge for, like a carnival game) then fill some balloons with paint that is a different color than the rest of the balloons. Oregon had red, green, yellow, orange, and blue balloons and used purple paint for the prize balloons.
    • Anytime someone hits a balloon filled with purple paint, they get a prize.
  • Extra balloons
    • They WILL all get popped so be ready to refill the board.

Marketing:

Below is an Instagram post posted on National Nourish Day. Promote your work on social media, invite your friends, have them take photos and use the relevant hashtag.

You can consider offering prizes if you’re doing Pop Out Poverty.

You also might consider tallying the words used on some sort of leaderboard and having a conversation about whether participants think the words most used are good choices.

Be friendly when approaching passers-by! We all know how annoying people can be during the student government elections, don’t be aggressive, but don’t be afraid to approach people! Ask them a question, ask if they’d like to paint, ask what they care about, ask if they think poverty is unavoidable or if it’s not, be interested in them!


Profits and Other benefits of Venture (Marketing for an upcoming event, advance ticket sales, social value created, etc.):

You can promote your meetings, you can recruit members, you could even consider selling the finished piece at an auction or asking if your school would hang it up somewhere!


Challenges:

Remembering all of the materials, finding a good place, and approaching people.


Tips:

See above.

If you have any tips please contact your Chapter support person or email them right to jd@nourish.org


Would You Recommend To Other Chapters?:

Yes!


Contact Info:

uo@nourish.org
syracuse@nourish.org
jd@nourish.org

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