Students holding a banner that reads 'how can they say consent is mandatory if consent education is optional?'

Campaigns Hub

The LSE Students’ Union Campaigns Hub exists to support student campaigners at LSE. We can help you lead your own campaign or you can attend sessions to build up your skills to help others, as well as be the first to hear about new campaigns on campus.

What can we offer you?

  • 121 guidance and support throughout your campaign
  • Campaign materials
  • Funding of up to £250
  • Digital and physical communications
  • Research workshops and training
  • Activist socials and networking

New to campaigning?

The process of becoming a Students’ Union supported campaign is simple. If you have an idea but don’t know the details, email  SU campaigns to set up a chat to develop your idea.
 
If you have a more concrete idea, know who will help you organize your campaign, and have done some research about the issue, you can set up basic campaigns training with a staff member to develop a campaigns plan. By the end of the session you’ll have completed a plan.

Campaigns Plan(Downloads Word document)  


If your campaign plan is deemed to be contentious, your campaign plan will be sent to the Students’ Union executive for a democratic decision to approve or reject your campaign. If your campaigns plan is non-contentious, you will receive immediate approval and be able to get started!
 
You will be given the option to book in additional training during the writing of your campaigns plan. Even if you’ve never campaigned before, we’ll give you everything you need to hit the ground running.

If you are unsure if your group should be a society or campaign, please have a look at the document here, which lists the key differences. 

What A Campaign Is:

A Students’ Union-supported campaign is:

  • Student-led
  • On an issue that affects members as students
  • Runs over a minimum of 3 months
  • It combines events with community-organising
  • Aims to make structural change at LSE
  • Doesn’t duplicate an existing campaign

A campaign is a series of activities that aims to lobby the University or the Government to make structural change at LSE over at least three months. This can be through running events, stalls, campaigning tactics, community-organising and engaging with (student) media. Campaigns are run by more than one student.

What A Campaign Isn't:

  • A one-off event
  • Fundraising
  • A week of talks organized by a society
  • Sole aim of ‘awareness-raising’
  • An academic project
  • Service delivery

Funding

Running campaigns might be more expensive than you think. For instance, take into consideration printing costs for leaflets and posters, blue tac, materials for workshops, travel costs for speakers, audiovisual support costs, event supervisors, BSL interpreters for events, etc. There are two ways to receive funding for your campaign:

Fundraising

Fundraising for a campaign goes through Raising and Giving. Please collect a form and bucket from the 3rd floor offices.

Apply for the campaigns fund

Applying for the campaigns fund is done with support from the campaigns coordinator. Your campaign can receive a maximum £250 if the campaign is budgeted carefully and appropriately.

Support For existing campaigns

Resources:

Materials available:

  • Easels (20)
  • Small Whiteboards (2)
  • Large Whiteboard (1)
  • Whiteboard Markers
  • Whiteboard Eraser
  • Small Pinboard (1)
  • Paints (Black, White, Blue, Red, Green and Yellow, Orange, Peach, Turquoise, Burnt Sienna (Brown), Pink and Purple)
  • Banner Material
  • Guillotine
  • Blue Tac
  • A portable PA system
  • High vis vests
  • The resources are subject to the rules of use.

To use the resources, email su.campaigns@lse.ac.uk stating what you’d like to use, when and what campaign it is for.

Room bookings:

Room bookings:

For organising a meeting, you can book the Activities Resource Centre (1st Floor, Saw Swee Hock) by filling out the ARC bookings form at least 3 days before the event. The sooner you book it, the more likely the space will be available. If it is unavailable, we will try to accommodate you with a similar time slot on a different date.

If you would like to book out another space at Saw See Hock, please email su.campaigns@lse.ac.uk with your requirements, e.g. capacity, time and date.

If you would like to book a space at LSE, please fill out the LSE bookings form and risk assessment and email it to su.campaigns@lse.ac.uk.

ARC Bookings Form(Opens in a new tab) LSE Bookings Form (Download) Risk Assessment Form (Download)

Event Planning:

Event planning:

If you’d like more information on how to plan an event at LSE, have a look at the wealth of information on the Organisers Hub. The planning framework is a good introduction, and you can find guidance on costs, risk assessments, external speakers and academic chairs on there.

Important Documents

Important documents

If you are planning a civil disobedience, direct action, a demonstration, protest or rally, and you would like Students’ Union support, you must fill out a risk assessment form and book in a time for a chat with the campaigns coordinator prior to planning. This will save you time in the long run.

You may also need to fill in a reimbursement form. Once completed, please email this to su.campaigns@lse.ac.uk.

Risk Assessment Form (Download) Reimbursement Form(Opens in new tab)

Training

Further Training Available

 

  • Writing a press release & engaging with the media
  • Volunteer recruitment and management
  • Inclusive organising
  • Using research to strengthen your campaigning
  • Using SU, local and national democratic structures for campaigning
  • Activist burnout

 

All campaigns must complete basic training before starting their campaign. This is embedded in writing a campaign plan.

The training available is in the downloadable table below with the learning objectives. Email su.campaigns@lse.ac.uk to book in the training for an existing campaign, or to suggest any new topics for training.

Training Table(Opens in new tab)

SOCIETY ENDORSEMENTS

If you would like to expand your reach as an existing campaign, consider getting endorsements from societies. This will allow you to communicate with their membership once a term, and show that your cause is broadly supported. You can find societies to reach out to here, including a subsection on political societies. If you've found a society that would like to endorse, you can ask them to fill out the endorsement form, and the endorsement will get added to your campaign page.

When collaborating with a society, you could think about organising:

  • A joint event
  • An society Instagram takeover
  • An email to all their members
  • Inviting members to a campaign organising session

Explore this section: