If you are like me and somehow find yourself as the Fundraising Chair for your child’s elementary school, welcome to the club!
My need to learn more about the school where my children spend their days, and constantly raise my hand to help, landed me the position (unfortunately whether I actually wanted it or not!)
Hopefully you get a say in the fundraising events for the year, and aren’t just thrown into running a Boosterthon like I was for the past three years.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely see the benefits of a Boosterthon Fun Run. It is pretty turnkey, and has the potential to raise a lot of money for your school.
However, it is a pretty tough event to pull off when you have about five parent volunteers that will reliably help out. And they take a pretty large percentage of your funds raised.
Thankfully, I helped change courses for the school this year, and got the Admin and Staff on board to host a Read-A-Thon instead.
As a complete Read-A-Thon newbie, I’m here to help you understand why it might be the fundraiser for you. And help provide tips and tricks to make yours a success!
The Read-A-Thon promotes literacy, gets kids off screens, unites the whole school around books and best of all allows the school to keep eighty percent of the profit!
1. Set the Right Timelines & Goals.
Read-A-Thon recommends running for 10 to 14 days. They believe a shorter timeframe doesn’t give families enough time to reach out to donors and a longer timeframe causes campaign fatigue.
We chose ten days because that was the length of our past Boosterthon Fun Runs, making it easy for parents to remember.
Next, set your financial goal. In the past we have been able to raise anywhere from $20-$23k for Boosterthon. Which is why we are aiming for $25k now that we get to keep more of the profits.
2. Determine Classroom and School-Wide Rewards.
Our most popular school-wide goal of Boosterthon past was an inflatable race where the teachers raced around the gym in inflatable costumes. And the losers received pies in their faces.
The kids find nothing funnier than their teachers trying to run in a huge blow-up chicken or dinosaur costume! And the teachers enjoy watching their colleagues get pied.
To incentivize the kids to raise money and get their reading minutes, we are offering a Kona Ice Truck Day for the classes from each grade with either the most funds raised or most minutes read.
In order to keep momentum going throughout the full Read-A-Thon we have also added smaller rewards like bring a stuffy to class, choose the book for a class read aloud, a treasure chest toy, a bookmark and even a half-off coupon for a book at the local book store. Thank you again Fred & June’s for your partnership!
A Read-A-Thon Hype Crew will be delivering the smaller rewards inside classrooms throughout the fundraiser to keep kids excited about logging minutes and receiving donations.
3. Get Teachers & Staff on Board Early.
Your school staff holds the key to Read-A-Thon success. If teachers are excited, the kids will be frantic to log their minutes!
We try to keep it as easy as possible for the teachers. Our PTSO handles the envelopes and prizes, so they can focus on the reading!
Additionally, we are encouraging guest readers and class reading time. By scheduling ten to fifteen minutes of drop-everything-and-read time during the school day, students get a head start on their daily goals.
4. Start the Read-A-Thon with a Bang.
We are hosting a Character Parade on the first day of the Read-A-Thon to get families excited about the fundraiser.
Children are encouraged to dress as their favorite book character, and parents are invited to watch their child march in a parade on the school grounds.
This is the perfect tie-in to get families involved and provide an avenue to collect donations.
5. Don’t Forget to Say Thank You.
By sharing the final numbers with families and students after the fundraiser, they are able to see the impact that their contributions made to the school. This will be blasted on our school app, as well as across Facebook and our socials.
An especially big shout-out will go to any local businesses that choose to sponsor the event, as well as Fred & June’s for their contributions to the prizes.
In Summary.
I’m very excited to help make our upcoming Read-A-Thon a success. It’s hard not to get behind this wonderful fundraiser that builds community, fosters a genuine love for books and raises serious funds for a school in need (without any selling involved!)
You’ve got this! With just a little planning, you’ll succeed at running an event that parents, kids and your school staff will remember all year long.
Have you successfully run a Read-A-Thon before? Share your tips in the comments below!
