Stickers featuring Urban Meyer, Too’s epitaph and Ohio State’s newly constructed clock tower are being sold to raise funds for Relay For Life. Credit: Courtesy of Abbi Voda
The Tom W. Davis Clock Tower has finally made it –– the campus landmark is now featured on a laptop sticker.
With student organizations constantly searching for creative fundraising tactics, it can be difficult to come up with an idea that stands out.
Abbi Voda, a third-year in English and recruitment director of Ohio State’s Relay For Life event, is tackling this challenge by selling themed laptop stickers of popular campus memes and icons. Currently, the collection features $2 stickers with three designs, including the clock tower, Urban Meyer’s head and a tribute to former campus bar Too’s Under High.
With major fundraising events happening on campus, it was important for the group to create something that would excite students. With the help of other Relay For Life directors, Voda said they used the Ohio State meme group chat and the input of friends for inspiration.
“We were just brainstorming ideas of how to raise money because it’s not always easy, especially with Buckeyethon, and so we started thinking about stickers,” said Lexi Heger, a second-year in sustainable plant systems and entertainment director of the Relay event.
However, the idea didn’t happen overnight. At first, Voda said she created and sold Relay For Life-themed stickers to other members of her organization to gain some publicity.
The organization’s marketing technique only turned into a fundraising effort after Voda came to the realization that the laptop stickers motivated students to donate to the cause.
“I’m a big Redbubble person,” Voda said. “I have a lot of stickers myself and I liked the idea of having Relay For Life merchandise. So first we did the Ohio State Relay logo on a sticker and that was originally just for committee members. It was never supposed to be a fundraising effort; it was just free marketing. People could have it on their stuff and then other people would ask what Relay’s about.”
Voda said she realized she was making a small profit off these stickers, and then decided to expand her idea by designing stickers to sell to other Ohio State students.
Abbi Voda holds a sign sharing why she participates in Relay For Life. Credit: Courtesy of Abbi Voda
“We decided we should look into something that would appeal to a wider audience,” Voda said.
The first of these stickers was crafted in November, around the time Too’s Under High was closing. To honor the bar, Voda said they created a design featuring a tombstone with the words “RIP Too’s.”
Voda said she hopes to expand next year with more sticker designs as new Ohio State jokes and memes pop up around campus, similar to the social-media hype following the completion of the clock tower in September.
So far, sticker sales have been generated through word-of-mouth, but Voda said she plans to publicize her endeavor through social-media posts when Ohio State’s Relay organization holds a fundraising competition with University of Wisconsin in the coming weeks.
“Fundraising is hard for college kids because a lot of us don’t have money to spare, but when people buy the stickers they are getting something in return, so they’re more likely to donate this way,” Voda said.
Voda emphasized her passion for Relay For Life stems from not only its mission to raise money for cancer research and provide support for cancer patients, but also because the cause directly relates to her life in more ways than one.
“My family has a genetic disorder that kind of promises we’ll get cancer in the future,” she said. “I lost my dad in high school to leukemia and my brother’s a two-time survivor and we get tested once a year to make sure everything’s good. So [raising money for Relay] is kind of investing in my own future in a way because we know it’s something we’ll have to deal with down the road.”
