36 Creative Ways To Take Action For Animals On Your Campus (or Community!)

Through SAFA, you’ll be able to access:

• More creative ideas for how to take action for animals on your campus.
• Guides for everything—from growing your club, to holding speaker events, to getting veg options in your dining hall, we have a how-to!
• Materials like leaflets, posters, stickers, and buttons.
• Grant money and financial assistance for your activities to help animals.
• One-on-one mentorship from our Regional Field Organizers. They'll help you every step of the way!
• The opportunity to connect and collaborate with our nationwide network of volunteers and student activists.

Now let’s get into it!

Low-key events

Pressed for time? Check out these quick and easy event ideas you can do in two hours or less.

1. Chalktivism. Write out veg and animal welfare messages or upcoming event details using colorful chalk. Doing this as a group at night can be a fun camaraderie-builder. Be sure to consult campus and local policies first.
2. Fast Action Network. Host an event (yummy free food could be an attraction!) where everyone signs up and takes action on the Fast Action Network (FAN), a platform for taking high-impact digital actions to help animals.
3. Postcard writing sesh. Host a postcard writing session to politicians on animal protection or plant-based issues.
4. THL events. THL is always hosting events of all kinds. All you have to do is join virtually or locally!
5. Screenings. Make a playlist of your favorite educational videos (TED Talks, Youtube videos, etc.) and screen them. You can discuss with the group between each one.
6. Social events. You can invite club members and students to have dinner together at a local vegan restaurant, or host a potluck on campus.

Next-level events

Ready to organize something a little bigger? These events are sure to impress.

7. Tabling with treats. Hand out treats like hot cocoa or cupcakes in exchange for people watching a short video on animal agriculture, like Dairy is Scary.
8. Virtual reality experience. If your library has virtual reality gear, table or hold an event where people can experience the inside of factory farms here. THL Captains can also order virtual reality headsets—talk to your THL Field Organizer for more details about this!
9. Spa night. Host a spa night introducing and trying cruelty-free and vegan cosmetic products.
10. Roadside activism. Organize roadside activism by holding signs like “watch Cowspiracy on Netflix” or “honk if you oppose animal abuse.”
11. Farm sanctuary tour. Visit a farm sanctuary! These University of California Santa Barbara H.E.A.R. students visited the Loving Farm Animal Sanctuary:

12. Beach clean-up. Organize a beach clean-up to protect marine life.
13. Food bank. Collaborate with your local food bank or shelter service to cook and serve vegan meals.
14. Nutrition 101. Invite a nutritionist in—even your campus nutritionist!—to hold a how-to vegan information session.

Long-term projects

Build momentum on your campus with advocacy projects that you work on over the course of the semester.

15. Pledge to go veg. Organize a pledge campaign for people to go vegan for a week and host food events throughout that week. Students from The Northern Michigan University Animal Club tabled to garner pledges for their “Peas on Earth” challenge:

16. School garden. Start a campus garden to grow vegetables.
17. Speak out. Enter campus speaking and writing competitions with vegan-themed submissions.
18. Book display. Collaborate with your library to organize a vegan-themed book display corner. Students from The Northern Michigan University Animal Club organized a display in their library on the various benefits of a plant-based diet:

19. Give a presentation. Give THL’s ready-made Humane Presentation. Consider presenting to non-vegan clubs you are involved in, classes, at the library, etc. Access the Changemaker Community Center training on this once you register as a volunteer!
20. Mentorship. Start a vegan mentor-mentee program, pairing seasoned vegan students with newbie vegan students.
21. Book club. Start a vegan book club.
22. Campaign. Petition and publicly protest to end or reduce animal testing on campus.
23. Curriculum. Increase animal studies, food sustainability, and cell-based meat-related classes by getting in touch with your academic advisor or professors in fields like Sociology, Anthropology, Biology, Philosophy, History, and Economics.

Veganize your dining hall

Dining halls are at the center of making it easier to choose veg on campus. Build a relationship with dining hall staff and collaborate with them to create a veg-friendly campus.

24. Promote dining hall options. Partner with your dining hall and promote new on-campus vegan options by tabling outside the dining hall with samples of those options, paired with educational material on the environmental benefit.
25. Tasting sesh. Organize a roundtable tasting session with students and dining hall staff where students can give feedback and work with the dining hall staff to create good vegan options.
26. Veg-forward practices. Work with your dining hall services to implement practices that encourage students to choose the veg option, like labeling the environmental footprint of different menu options. Even something as simple as having the veg option first on the menu can encourage students to choose more veg! Refer to DefaultVeg for ideas! For example, veg and environmental activists worked with Hamilton College’s dining hall to display the water and carbon footprint of different food options. This initiative was so successful, Beyond Burgers sold out on the first day this was implemented:

27. Educational initiatives. Work with your sustainability office and/or dining services regarding including information about plant-based options and initiatives in the dining or sustainability sections of your school’s website.
28. New policies. Work with dining services to adopt the Better Chicken Commitment, start Meatfree Mondays, or introduce a cage-free eggs only policy.
29. Thank you letter writing sesh. Gather with your club’s members and send thank you emails to your dining hall when they make improvements.

Collaborate with other students

Expand your reach by partnering with other clubs!

30. Film club. Host a screening of vegan-themed films with the film club.
31. Fashion magazine. Help write a special on veganism and sustainable fashion for your school’s fashion magazine.
32. Debate team. Host a friendly debate on a vegan-themed topic with the debate team.
33. Charity club. Do a vegan bake sale fundraiser with the charity club.
34. Slow Foods club, or another club dedicated to farm-to-fork and sustainable eating. Plan a trip with the Slow Foods club to a crop or mushroom farm, or the farmer’s market.
35. Environmental club. Co-host a sustainable fashion show with environmental groups where contestants can only use reused, vegan materials.
36. Cooking club. Do a vegan cooking or baking contest with the cooking club.

See our full list after you sign up for Student Alliance for Animals! We’re excited to support you in turning these ideas into a reality on your campus!