Has anyone featured Equality Now fact sheets or similar on tables during their events? Not sure if such heavy subjects may feel out of place in what is meant to be a fun event, but the whole thing is meant to be in aid of E.N. and other charities: what do you think?

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14th April 2014, Blackwood, South Wales, UK

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Equality Now has sent out brochures on who they are and what they do and cities often put those out. Last year's introductory video featured a drama piece written by Joss for Equality Now, that was very strong and hard to watch but said clearer than anything why we raise money for them.
Seems to me that if material is on a table, people can look at it or leave it as they wish.

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Global Steering Committee 2016 -2018
Global Team - 2011 to 2015
Event Organizer - Toronto 2006 - 2010

We had EN brochures and keychains out on a table at our first event. For the last couple of years, the Avalon Centre (our other, local charity that works with victims of sexual assault) also provided a banner, various pamphlets on consent/sexual assault, bracelets, stickers etc. We had a small table for their stuff in among the auction tables, and put the banner behind it. We also put our big bowl of free fortune cookies on that table, so most people went over to look at the "free stuff" table! Not too many people took the Avalon material, but a number took EN keychains. We felt it wasn't out of place: that our mission is to support the charity/cause, and that means raising awareness, not just money. (We also hoped that having that reminder there might help a little with the silent auction bids! Not sure it did though.)

Last year, we chose not to show the sketch Joss wrote for EN, however. This was a tough call, because we very much support the cause of EN, but we watched it ourselves and were uncertain as to its reception with our usual audience. We then ran it past a small focus group of men who are feminist, Browncoats, and friends...and we all felt it ran the risk of alienating those in our audience who weren't already there as part of that cause. We didn't want anyone to feel attacked or unwelcome - and it's fairly long, too. Joss's speech from the year before hit a better balance (for our audience, in our opinion, ymmv) between raising a serious topic, keeping it light, and being adequately brief. That, together with the EN animated short ("what does equality mean to you?") and the CSTS welcomes from actors, was our intro.

The way I see it, having info available is fine: doesn't force people to read it, but may make some people feel better about what their money is going towards, and maybe encourage higher donations (or new volunteers for next year!)

On the other hand, in Nowra, when they ran their first event last year, after seeing Joss's piece, all sorts of people came up to the Organizer and said "Now I understand why you are doing this." and donated more.
But last's year's piece was unusual as it was Equality Now's 25th Anniversary

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Global Steering Committee 2016 -2018
Global Team - 2011 to 2015
Event Organizer - Toronto 2006 - 2010

Thanks everyone for the advice

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14th April 2014, Blackwood, South Wales, UK

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