One Dollar For Life’s message is simple: if every person donates one dollar, we can unite as one to make a world of change. And in a time of complicated fundraisers with over-specific causes, a simple message is exactly what students need to rally behind.

The One Dollar For Life campaign is admirable in ways that previous fundraisers have failed to be. It is fairer, nobler and more direct.

ODFL is a rare fundraiser, especially compared to the many where classes have tried to strategically donate in order to win. It is a dignified cause, not asking for people to empty their entire pockets of cash but seeking to prove that students can bring about change if they all participate.

The ODFL campaign is smarter because it operates on an individual basis. It breeds none of the unhealthy competition that previous fundraisers have had; it has all the goodness of an honest cause. Because the campaign relies upon the individual, independent of classroom and class-wide associations, to donate one dollar encourages students to donate out of personal motivation and kindness.

This fundraiser is especially outstanding compared to others in terms of following up: once the dollar is donated towards ODFL, we will be able to know where it goes. Many fundraisers have the problem of failing to communicate not only a fundraiser’s progress, but its direct impact. After taking our money, we often have no knowledge of where it goes, or whether it made the difference that the campaign pledged it would.

By contrast, after promising to show us the results of our change, ODFL follows up on the money collected by telling us exactly what it will go towards: a birthing center in Nepal. That way, students will be more motivated by having a definite goal for their efforts.

ODFL is an intelligent campaign, one that seeks to bring about change elsewhere in the world while cultivating motivation and caring among students right here. Let ODFL teach us that we don’t have to make fundraising a competition in order to truly win.