Back in my high school days, the school’s SGA was infamous for its aggressive fundraising. We would start the year with a car wash, then move onto bake sales and gift wrapping, before settling into the routine of selling overpriced pizza every Friday at lunch. We’d have at least one bake sale every month, which meant we had to find a new recipe each time.

This was our version of Satyagraha – the non-violent resistance movement that Gandhi pioneered. The idea behind it is simple: if you can’t get your way by fighting, fight anyway. If you can’t win by beating up your opponents, beat them down by force of will. It is the ultimate expression of non-violent resistance, and it works like this:

First, you get everyone together and tell them what you’re going to do. Then you tell them why they should join you in protest. Then you tell them how they can help – by donating money or giving their time or whatever else is needed. Finally, if they’re still not convinced, you go out there and do it anyway!

That’s exactly what we did every Friday at lunch: assemble a group of people who were willing to give up their favorite meal (pizza) in order to support

The only way to raise money for a school is to ask for it. And the best way to ask for money is in person.

I know this from experience because I was SGA fundraising chair at my college. The spring of my junior year, I was the guy who asked students for donations on behalf of the student government.

The job was a lot harder than I expected. At first, I felt really uncomfortable asking people for money. But over time, I got better at it. In fact, I got so good at it that by the end of the school year, I’d raised more money than anyone had in the history of my college’s SGA — and then some.

Here’s how I did it:

The best time to start fundraising is while you’re still in school. While it’s not easy asking people for money, it is a skill that you should learn. And it’s a skill you can use your entire life, whether you’re raising money for a start-up or a charitable organization.

I learned the basics of fundraising when I was president of the student government at Cornell. We had an annual budget of about $1 million, and we raised almost all of it from students (we were only allowed to raise a small amount from outside sources).

We started by asking our friends. This isn’t as trivial as it sounds. Most people are uncomfortable asking for money, so when they do ask, they tend to ask people who don’t give them any resistance or excuse. That means family members and close friends. Of course these people also tend to be the ones with the least money to give, especially if they are in college too. They end up giving out of pity, which is not what you want either.

It’s worth working through that discomfort, because once you get past your family and friends you enter a much wider world of potential donors.

We are the students here. We are taught to think of the students as being in the center of our lives, and the people we ought to serve. But that’s only half-true. The other half is that they are our customers, and they pay our bills.

I don’t mean that in any disrespectful way. We are supposed to respect students, and we should. But it’s also true that if they didn’t pay us, we would be out of a job. Our ultimate responsibility is to them. They buy what we sell, and if they don’t want to buy it anymore, we have to change what we’re selling or go out of business.

The importance of this is beginning to dawn on me now that I’m running a fundraising campaign for the Student Government Association (SGA).

The word “fundraising” is not one that most people associate with the word “fun,” and the word “student government” is not typically linked to “fundraising.” For many people, SGA raises funds through a variety of programs including student fees, parking tickets, and other forms of revenue. Others know that SGA even has a fundraising committee (fondly called ROWLATT) that holds events throughout the year to raise money for various causes.

ROWLATT was formed in 2013 to help finance an organization or program that would be meaningful for students. In its first year, ROWLATT raised over $1,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society. In 2014, ROWLATT held two successful events and donated the proceeds to Generations United, an organization that connects youth with older adults. This past winter break, I had the opportunity to intern with Generations United and see firsthand ROWLATT’s impact on their organization. The funds raised helped Generations United create new programs for young teens as well as support their existing projects.

At first glance, it may seem odd that SGA’s fundraising committee is called ROWLATT. However, if you know what Gandhi did in 1919, it all makes sense; he was protesting against

The presidential election of 2008 was not the first time that I had seen Senator Obama in person. I saw him speak at my school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 2002. He was then running for U.S. Senate and my college roommate, a fellow Illini and now a close friend, persuaded me to join him at an Obama speech on campus. After hearing Obama speak and meeting him personally, I became an ardent supporter of his campaign and voted for him during early voting that fall.

Even during his U.S. Senate race, Obama projected the qualities he would display during his presidential campaign: confidence, charisma, and a fair dose of charm. He even managed to win over my college roommate who had previously been a staunch Republican. However, as much as I admired all these traits and appreciated his vision, I did not think they were enough to predict that he would become president of the United States just six years later.

At that time in 2002, the country’s political landscape was extremely polarized between Democrats and Republicans; there was little room for compromise or bipartisanship. In fact, many Americans defined their political identity by what party they supported (and despised).

Obama’s message of hope and change stood out from

he was a close ally of Gandhi and was present when Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. He organized the Rowlatt Satyagraha in Amritsar, Punjab, India. He along with other prominent leaders such as Vithalbhai Patel and Saifuddin Kitchlew were responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which happened in 1919.

As a member of the Imperial Legislative Council of India, he moved the Rowlatt Act. He is also famous for founding the National School of Drama in 1959. He remained its director until 1966, nurturing many young actors and production designers.

Rowlatt was born on 3 March 1871 at Clifton, Bristol, England. His father was Sir Sidney Rowlatt, who presided over the infamous Rowlatt Committee during British rule in India that recommended harsh measures to curb political activities and led to enactment of the Rowlatt Act in 1919 during his tenure as Chief Justice of India.

Rowlatt’s education took place in various places including Sidcot School near Bristol, Cheltenham College and Trinity College at Cambridge University where he was awarded BA degree in natural sciences tripos (1893) and LLB degree (1895). In 1896 he was