Want more pledges? Start tabling.

Want more active members? Start tabling.

Want a tool to reach a huge number of your school’s population? Start tabling!

Effective tabling is one of the best tools you can use to maximize the success of your OFTW Chapter. But how do you do it effectively? This article will show you how to prepare, how to be successful at the table, and how to follow up with folks who express interest.

Contents:

1. Tabling Strategy
   1. At the Club Fair
   2. Throughout the term
   3. During Pledge Week
2. Tabling Tactics
   1. Preparation
   2. At the table
   3. Followup
3. Key resources

Tabling Strategy

There are three principal times during the semester in which chapters table:

1. At the Club Fair
2. Throughout the term
3. During Pledge Week

At the Club Fair

Most schools have a Club Fair or student involvement day early in the semester where students learn about ways to get involved on campus. Students come to the Club Fair because they want to be involved -- it’s the perfect place to reach a large number of people who may join as members.

These conversations will typically be very brief -- usually 1-2 minutes at most -- as students visit the various club tables. Rather than getting pledges, the goal of Club Fair tabling is to collect as many emails as possible from students potentially interested in joining the chapter. You can use this general interest form to collect emails at the fair.

• The day after the Club Fair, send all of your signups your application to join the chapter, either as a Student Ambassador or E-board member. This is typically the main mechanism by which you will gain new members.

Throughout the term

Throughout the course of the semester, your chapter should consider tabling at least once every other week leading up to Pledge Week. Schools usually have a central area for tabling (typically by the student center) where student organizations can reserve tabling space. This tabling serves three key purposes:

1. It offers your members a space to pitch OFTW to their friends. Bringing up OFTW and extreme poverty can be a bit awkward! It's hard to find the right time to raise issues of global inequality and human suffering. The OFTW table gives your team a site where they can comfortably introduce the pledge -- with the support of your fellow tablers and tabling materials, it's much more straightforward to bring up OFTW than in more casual settings.
2. It allows you to spread awareness to people outside your immediate networks of the fact that OFTW exists. You can use this tabling to push attendance to your next event, to build out your mailing list, and to continue to recruit folks who might like to join your chapter as Student Ambassadors. Chatting with folks who pass by is an easy way to get the word out.
3. It offers a space for ongoing pitch practice. Giving your members some pitch training during your onboarding is a great start, but refining your pitch takes a lot of practice. The best way for people to improve their ability to communicate the core ideas of OFTW is simply to practice! An effective tabling apparatus during Pledge Week is essential to having a successful term; prepare your team for a strong Pledge Week by having them hone their pitches at tabling throughout the term.

During Pledge Week

Pledge Week is the most pivotal time of the semester, where chapters have historically generated ~80% of their pledges. During Pledge Week, your team will 'close' the various conversations about OFTW they've started with their contacts by having them take the pledge.

• The key activity during Pledge Week is typically constant tabling around campus -- establishing a consistent presence where you can sign people up in large numbers. Chapters typically table for 4-6 hours a day, Monday to Friday, during Pledge Week. 

Particularly during Pledge Week, it's vital to not only talk with people who happen to walk by, but to also have your chapter members invite all of their leads down to the table. These leads are the most promising, as people typically need to have heard about OFTW several times before being ready to take the pledge. 

Tabling Tactics

Find below best practices and tactical guidance for tabling:

1. Preparation
2. At the table
3. Following up

Preparation

Secure a table

• You will typically need to get in touch with your club advisor or the administrative department responsible for overseeing student activities to book tabling space. Don't wait until the last minute! Be sure to book space at least two weeks in advance so that you're able to get a well-trafficked spot and schedule team members to staff the table.

Prepare materials

• Bring laptop(s) to display your chapter's Donational page and mailing list signup form. This is how you'll get pledges -- by walking people through the signup process at the table.
  • See template mailing list signup forms here.

• Any physical OFTW marketing you have. Good examples of marketing material to include:
  • The I Give One % sign -- be sure to take a photo of anyone who takes the pledge next to the sign, and post it to your Instagram feed or story! 
  • OFTW stickers -- hand these out to anyone who takes the pledge.
  • OFTW pop quiz flyers -- these flyers are very effective for engaging people who walk by. Print them out and, if possible, laminate them so that they are more durable and reusable.
  • Impact reports -- sharing your chapter's forecast impact or OFTW's actual impact to date is a powerful way of emphasizing how effective our charities are and rendering our collective impact more tangible. Print these out or display them on a laptop. (More established chapters may choose to share their chapter's actual impact, but newer chapters will want to share their forecast impact or OFTW's overall impact instead.)
  • Top Picks overview -- a brief summary of our Top Picks charities and their cost-effectiveness figures is good to have on hand, especially to help newer members explain OFTW.
  • Our nonprofits 2023 Flyer -- a flyer that briefly describes what our 4 nonprofit partners do
  • OFTW Impact Calculator -- enter a starting salary for your school and print it out, or display it on a laptop for people to enter a salary figure of their own into.
  • The Red Cross's failure in Haiti -- this story is a great point of entry to the concept of effective giving, particularly given that most people have heard of the Red Cross and typically have a good impression of it. You can print out the first page, summarize the story, or display it on a laptop.
  • World Poverty Clock -- a good visual display of the current scale of extreme poverty to have displayed on a laptop.

• Food! Cheap snacks or coffee to attract people to the table. Be sure to buy cost-effectiveness snacks -- expensive food has not proven to generate more pledges. Read more about your chapter's budget and OFTW's reimbursement process here.
• Hand sanitizer -- as long as COVID is a concern, follow local health guidance to keep everyone safe. Having hand sanitizer on hand is a good practice for taking care of your team and fellow students.

Prepare your team

• Ensure that everyone is ready to make the OFTW pitch! They should be familiar with extreme poverty, effective altruism and the Top Picks charities.

• Create a schedule / system for people to sign up for tabling shifts. Try to have at least 3-4 people at the table at any given time, ideally with varying levels of OFTW experience, so that the more experienced members can coach newer members and help them secure signups.
  • Find a template Pledge Week tabling signup sheet that you can copy here.
• Assign a coordinator for the shift (likely your VP of Tabling), who's responsible for reaching out to members to make sure they show up, bringing materials to the table at the beginning of the shift, and packing the table up at the end of the shift.

At the Table

• Have at least 3-4 people standing in front of and around the table, actively engaging with passersby and bringing them over to the table. We've all seen the table of 1-2 people sitting quietly doing their homework -- those are never very engaging! Maintaining an energetic presence at the table is crucial for success, and having a larger group that stands in front of the table and approaches people walking by will help with this. Some good conversation starters include:
  • "Have you heard of OFTW?"
  • "What do you think the deadliest animal in the world is?" (Here you can reference the Pop Quiz flyers.)
  • And, of course, the timeless: "Hey, do you want a cookie?"

• Have multiple laptops open with a mailing list signup form form and your Donational page. Consider using QR codes with links to your Donational page and signup form as long as COVID is a concern.
• Drive warm leads down to the table. It’s relatively rare to get a stranger who has never heard of OFTW to pledge during their first conversation about OFTW. In addition to engaging passersby, your members should reach out to their leads and ask them to stop by the table. 
• Maintain a hierarchy of actions that people can take. If someone isn't ready to take the pledge, ask them to join your mailing list or RSVP for your next event.
• Set out free, tasty snacks to bring people over to the table. Keep hand sanitizer handy!
• Utilize your marketing materials:
  • Set up your OFTW, banner, and flyers. Make the table visually appealing and easily identifiable!
  • Hand out stickers to people who take the pledge.
  • Have members wear OFTW apparel if they have it. 

• Remember your pitching best practices -- It’s very important to ask people to take the pledge during the conversation. People won’t pledge unless you ask them! 
• Have fun! Not only do people naturally gravitate towards a laughing, smiling group, but remember that you are likely changing lives by encouraging people to practice effective giving!

Do not forget to follow up with everyone that you speak to at the table! 

Key resources

• Tabling sign up sheet
• Top picks overview
• Nonprofits Flyer 2024
• Expense reimbursement
• How to follow up
• Pledge Week
• Reimbursement
• Pledge Conversations 101