Thanking donors is always important; so it is with text-to-give fundraising. Also, see below to get specific ideas from a few of the schools we've worked with. You keep 75% or 80% of your profits. You can either use a read-a-thon company to help set up and execute your fundraiser, like this one, or choose to organize this event yourself. Collect Donations. Keep an eye on important metrics such as how many gifts you have secured, total donations raised, return on investment, and conversion and engagement rates for your online communications. This has been used to help provide funding for fun events such as the end of . The only requirements for your child to win books and awards is (1) READ and (2) submit those minutes through the app. Will the school have free reading time for contest participants? Now is the time to celebrate as a team and hand out prizes. (7) $3.75. With this online tool, you can create a long-lasting, hands-free online fundraising initiative that could potentially multiply the worth of every donation going through your donation portal. You could even assemble students in your auditorium to create a kind of pre-fundraising pep rally. This way, readers can give as soon as they read your letter or e-newsletter. Hour-a-thon, which exhibited at the 2021 . It is an active, fun event that can be organized easily and quickly. $30, $60, $100, etc.). Shortcodes are phone numbers shortened to 5-6 digits. Claudia went on to be the top reader and got the most donations during her schools Read-A-Thon. All nonprofit organizations can benefit from this straightforward and effective fundraising method, but its particularly effective for: The text-to-give process is simple and straightforward: A. For example, Read-A-Thon not only encourages students to read, but also incentivizes them to participate in return for redeemable prizes from our online store! Use the sliders below to adjust your participation and donor levels. Online school fundraising has never been easier. Remember me . While your specific metrics will vary depending on the type of fundraiser you've selected, these fundamental data points will help you to figure out how your campaign is going and where you need to improve. Math-a-thon: Students receive a math worksheet at home based on their grade level and count how many math problems were solved correctly. Team Jaguar Fundraising Committee Online Read-A-Thon and Fundraiser February 27 - March 12, 2023 Students choose whatever they want to read and log their reading on their secure social media style profiles while parents can invite sponsors via email, text, and social media. The activity can be almost anything, from reading to running to bowling. The following funds will go partly towards these kids and partly towards the next batch. From tracking key fundraising metrics to providing robust online marketing tools, Read-A-Thon has everything you need to dive into your most successful online fundraising program while still remaining extremely easy to use. Have the coordinator plug the information that you collected during the text-to-give process (i.e., donors names, phone numbers, email addresses, and billing addresses) into your existing donor database or CRM and use it to better your segmentation and outreach efforts. St. Francis - St. Stephen School raised $5,352 with 99 students that went directly to their financial aid fund to support returning & newly enrolled students. Text donors are most likely to be between 49 and 59 years old, female, married, and college graduates. We would love for you to take these ideas and build upon them to make them your very own! 12345) provided by your vendor. The goal is to create a memorable text code that increases a campaigns visibility and the likelihood of receiving donations. See how much money your school can raise with our Read-a-thon calculator: Click Here, Get the answers to your basic questions in our Read-a-thon FAQ section: Click Here, Get a brief explanation of how our Read-a-thon system works: Click Here, Check out a sample prize store: Click Here. Work with a vendor who offers plenty of options, so you can provide your donors with the most flexible and convenient donation experience. Then create your crowdfunding page. Even the best online school fundraising ideas can be derailed by a disorganized or misinformed team. You dont want to make any individual child feel ashamed or left out, but by making it a competition, youre able to gain excitement and raise more funds. Just be sure to pick out high-value goods and experiences that participants would be willing to bid on, partner with a reliable auction software provider, and promote to parents and community members. However, most dont differentiate between the two terms and use them interchangeably, regardless of if the donation is made by donors giving on a mobile donation page or via their cell phone bill. Facebook Group Page). Choose My Signature. From tracking funds raised to providing social media and text marketing tools, Read-A-Thon will handle the entire fundraising process. The donation amount is then automatically charged against a card on file with an involved organization. Nonprofits and schools support the students efforts with free books, free reading time in school, classroom contests, and prizes. Virtual gala and auction It's a classic for a reason! Activity ideas: Running, Jogging, Walking, Biking, Dancing, Jump Roping, Skipping, Playing Sports. Click on that and your file will appear in the editing area. Organizers. 99Pledges runs thousands of successful fundraisers every year. Getting Started with Read a thon Watch on He and his family will enjoy their all-expense paid trip later this year. A-thon fundraising software allows your supporters to easily set up their personal fundraising pages, log their participation, and choose their prizes when they reach certain milestones. Regardless of how your organization decides to run the fundraiser, read-a-thons are an excellent way to raise significant amounts and encourage more kids to read. Maintaining the support of this new generation of philanthropistsand immediate access to them via their phonesrequires restraint. While this sounds like matching gifts are exclusive to nonprofits, there are actually many companies that match gifts for schools! Get the Hit a thon fundraiser template completed. Furthermore, since the opportunity to give is so immediate and the process so fast, donors are more likely to follow the initial urge and less likely to get distracted. This will vary from one service provider to another. At the end of the day, the focus is to get students active and engaged whether that's physically and/or mentally. This fundraiser is based on your participants successfully serving as many serves as they can in a specific timeframe. The school district hosted a Mini-THON Friday night. Post-Katrina, the Red Cross has reserved text campaigns for extreme circumstances, according to McAndrew. You have the option to log in as a fundraising admin, a teacher, or a student. Colonial Elementary raised $36K at the start of the year with their first-ever Read-a-thon. Part booster-thon and part book fair, library fundraisers encourage students to collect online donations for their school or local libraries and in turn gain access to virtual books of their choice. This "war" is so much fun. We have secured a total of $7,500 so far, and we hope to reach $50,000. No Contracts. If your nonprofits work with cellular companies to run the text-to-give campaigns, the cellular companies will transfer the funds to the nonprofit once donors pay their phone bills, which means the money might take 30 to 60 days to reach them. Any kind of a-thon fundraiser is possible with PTFundraiser. A small thumbnail of your template will appear. Your callers must listen and show them you want to hear their ideas. However you organize your information, make it fun and easy to understand. Hence, you can turn it into a hybrid fundraiser and reach more people than just those in your community. While all of the fundraisers on this list have the potential for major fundraising success, read-a-thons are one of the only campaigns that enrich your students' educational experiences as they raise money. In the past year, mobile giving donations have increased by 205%. Each student will be responsible to raise money based on a team average of 100 serves per event. This excites them about the event. Additionally, create a guide of some kind for team members to reference with questions. Sometimes a donor may suggest changes to the organization, your fundraising campaigns, or events. But if you're looking for a youth sports fundraising idea that everyone will enjoy, a hit-a-thon fundraiser is a fantastic way to raise funds for your sports team that is pretty easy to plan and execute. For instance, if youre hoping to build a new gymnasium on your school premises, your read-a-thon theme could be Read for Your Health.. Kids and families alone cannot do all the promotion themselves. While it might be tempting to use text-to-give for every campaign and throughout the year, it might be wise to reserve this fundraising method for specific fundraising campaigns. Begin your fundraising campaign with a bang and generate as much support as possible by organizing a memorable kick-off! Also, pledge pages are mobile-friendly, so they can make a quick donation while waiting in line at their local grocery store. Most people use mobile phones on a daily, so donating via texting is quite an intuitive process. Who is in charge of monitoring students reading? To help you pick the best possible online fundraiser for your school, consider the following points: Before you fall back on old habits with a cookie dough sale or pick a random idea out of a hat, be sure to weigh out the pros, cons, and finer details of the fundraising options you have available to you! The event itself can last anywhere from a few hours to an entire day, with participants taking turns dancing or dancing as a team. Text-to-Donate can be used in a wide variety of circumstances. zoom_out_map open_in_new . To ensure the success of your school's future fundraising, you need to have a strong grasp of the steps and best practices for organizing your own online school fundraising program. Take a multi-channel marketing approach to ensure that students, parents, and the community are aware of your upcoming text-to-give campaign. With the help of a trusted text-to-give service, your donors will be able to give in a matter of seconds. Send out a vote for the best family-friendly movie to watch, charge a virtual "admission fee" before sending out the link to your stream, and press play as donors enjoy a fun movie night from the comfort of their own homes. Take advantage of our outreach and marketing toolkit to spread the word about your Read-a-thon! The Jog-A-Thon Fundraiser supports the Students and Staff at Raleigh Park Elementary School. Create momentum and get the word out. 5. a dance-a-thon, these sports fundraisers are fun and engaging events for your entire community. Running an a-thon online allows you to hold a "pledge-per" fundraiser without the need for paper forms or tracking people down for payments. And they have free and unlimited use of our five-digit short code. The entire process only takes minutes to complete. Johnny sent text messages to 10 friends and family members to promote East Dover's Read-A-Thon and that earned him a spot in the Disney drawing. Can I create an a-thon with one participant? A-Thons - PTFundraiser A-THON FUNDRAISER Launch a charity pledge fundraiser to inspire donations for your cause Run remarkable walk-a-thons, read-a-thons, or anything-a-thons when you use the PTFundraiser platform. With minimal effort and setup needed from the school itself, read-a-thons simply require that sponsors donate money to your school for every increment (every 30 minutes, for example) that a student reads. What kind of aid (ex: volunteers, investment funds) do you need and have available to you? Our award-winning platform makes it easy for you to raise money while boosting education. Learn how to make the most of Text-to-Donate on our Resource Hub (for members, but open to all). In fact, a recent study of 4,000 students across the United States showed that . Purchasing any sort of fundraising software can be a significant investment for your nonprofit. Online fundraisers have rapidly become a cornerstone of school fundraising programs, offering an organized, safer, and more effective way for you to raise money for your institution. From sip-and-paints for adults to arts and crafts nights for your young students, virtual art classes are a simple way for you to engage your different volunteers at little to no cost. Take to popular platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to announce your campaign, share donation pages, and ensure that your fundraiser gets the traction it needs. What incentives are there for students, parents, and community members to participate. Spell-a-thons can take pledges per word. Use our five-digit short code, 44321 (only on U.S. phone carriers), at no cost to your nonprofit. The idea behind this fundraising type is to cast as wide a net as possible and gain a lot of support in a short amount of time. 1. The professional platform feels easy to customize, and connects you to a wide range of useful features that simplify and super-power your teams a-thon fundraising goals. Easily add and highlight text, insert pictures, checkmarks, and icons, drop new fillable areas, and rearrange or remove pages from your paperwork. Thank you for making this the easiest and most successful fundraiser we've had! Include both the keyword and shortcode on all promotional materials, website content, and advertising that runs for the campaign. Send us a message on Live Chat - click the blue circle at the bottom right, Downloadable Overviews to share with your fundraising team, 99Pledges Pricing: $0 startup cost & 0% platform fee, Customer References: Hear directly from our customers about their experience, Make any school fundraiser completely virtual & social-distancing friendly. Have your kids read instead of selling fundraising products! Read-A-Thon takes the pressure of online school fundraising out of your hands! Who doesn't love a movie night? Youll want to keep your expectations and goals reasonable. The Ultimate Online School Fundraising Program, How Read-A-Thon's Online Fundraiser Works, many companies that match gifts for schools. We invite you to join the 99Pledges family to see these game-changing results for yourself and your organization! As you consistently share your replicated donation pages to promote the fundraiser, you'll begin to collect donations. First day of school is just around the corner! "We've had more donations coming in . Use a donor management system to manage your donors and donations. 2. Text-to-Give has numerous advantages when utilized in the right setting and fundraising campaign. You can also hand out physical data forms to track reading progress. 5.0. 9th Sep, 2019. You can also collect books or donations from the community to purchase more books to support them. From tracking funds raised to providing social media and text marketing tools, Read-A-Thon will handle the entire fundraising process. For online fundraisers, technology will be a huge help to keeping your fundraising team informed. Help your supporters give on the go, directly from their mobile devices. Inspire donors to give by tracking and presenting contributions in real time. Leverage features like online campaigns, crowdfunding, and peer-to-peer fundraising. The longer or more complex the code, the more likely your donors will forget it or abandon the process. 1. Wilson High School students took a page out of Penn State's playbook and danced to help fight childhood cancer. A hit-a-thon fundraiser comes with a high profit vs investment in materials. They decide how much theyll read and the amount they hope to raise. Set up a fundraising page with text, images and videos for your Text-to-Donate campaign. To begin this simple, effective, and rewarding online school fundraising program, create your free account with Read-A-Thon. Blue Mountain fundraiser features relay-style event and 24 hours of skiing and snowboarding down the Smart Alec run. Donorbox comes with all these fundraising tools and a simple-to-use donor management system to offer you a one-stop-shop for all your fundraising needs. Once you've created your account and shared the instructions for students to sign up and log their reading hours, Read-A-Thon will take care of the organization and management of your campaign. If youre able to, designate a text-to-give coordinator or a coordinating team (depending on the size of your nonprofit and the program). If you're hoping to raise a lot of money (and have a lot of volunteers on hand to help!) A-thon-style events have the potential to bring in significant fundraising dollars for any organization that takes them on. Minimize required fields, use large text, and dont cram your page with design elements to maximize your conversion rates. Play Video Seamless fundraising tech Built like the fastest race cars, stripped of all but the essentials. A read-a-thon doesnt require a lot of in-person involvement from kids and parents. Held daily challenges for students that included reading, STEM, community outreach, and exercising. Keywords like YEMEN 19 or MARINE help differentiate campaigns for both donors and nonprofits. 90% of text message reminders are read in 3 minutes After their books are done, kids can feel frustrated that they cant find more. Could a pledge supporter be charged an unlimited amount. Time to set-up your Read-A-Thon! Ultimately, your school's students and parents are going to be the ones doing most of the actual donating or fundraising. These powerful features make your a-thon one-of-a-kind, Create a branded page for your a-thon fundraiser, Add teams, leaderboards and individual page functionality, Run any a-thon imaginable with unlimited participants, These built-in tools make it easy to maximize donations, Increase pledges with social sharing and dedicated links, Automate everything from pledge collections to emails, Inspire action with prizes attached to pledge goals. Display a thermometer showing donors how close you are to meeting your fundraising goals to encourage even more giving! As a fundraiser, you should not be running any event on your own and walk-a-thons can take more work than one person can handle. The kids can then promote their pages and collect donations. Downloads: 7433 Hot! Now more than ever, we're seeing schools adapt their annual "a-thon" fundraisers to be 100% virtual. Ask your volunteers to assist them whenever needed. To guide your purchasing decision, also consider if text-to-give will be a one-off method or an integral part of your fundraising strategy. A fundraising coach to help meet your fundraising goals, An account ambassador who guides you through challenges, Team of tech experts whenever you need their support, High-performance tools that guarantee more donations and better donor management. The days of collecting cash donations from your school's bake sale table are now a thing of the past. Additionally, print marketing materials, such as flyers or posters with QR codes, are another must, even for fundraisers that are going to take place entirely online. Say goodbye to manually collecting funds when you run an a-thon fundraiser. Congratulations!! Also, be as specific as possible (i.e. As with all Give Lively nonprofit fundraising products, Text-to-Donate is free. Here are 7 steps to help you plan a bowl-a-thon: 1. This is another a-thon fundraiser that fosters a giving spirit and sense of duty within the larger community. Abbott Elementary is an American television series created by Quinta Brunson for ABC.It stars Brunson as a second grade teacher at Abbott Elementary, a fictional predominantly Black school in Philadelphia.The ensemble cast includes Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph and William Stanford Davis. Our goal for this annual fundraiser is to help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital find a cure and continued research in the fight against ALL childhood cancer & other childhood deadly diseases. We can help you prepare. Go here if you're looking for a Sports & Music Fundraising version of this article. With text-to-give, simplicity is everything. Smyrna Elementary is using funds to build an outdoor classroom. Usually, through word-of-mouth, through digital marketing means, or at an event/service, a donor is asked to give via text. You'll gain access to Fund-A-Thon fundraising campaigns, which will include your very own replication donation pages. Challenges: Run/Walk/Bike, Jump Rope, Dance Tutorials, Kids Workout, & more. Everything was very easy to navigate. Youll also want to find ways to excite students with the prizes and class competitions. Yes. Transitioned annual Jog-a-thon to a Stay-Fit-a-thon, where they invited students & families to complete a 20-minute fitness challenge at home. 16 "Athon" Fundraisers To Try SPONSORED CONTENT Go beyond the typical school fun run fundraiser with one of these ideas to raise money and school spirit. Try something New, Easy, Profitable and Educational! This increases security by reducing the chances of breaches. Be sure to indicate that you're a "Teacher" and follow the guided tour. A Read-a-thon is a great way to raise money because 100% of the money raised goes back to our school! First, seek out a crowdfunding platform or use your own crowdfunding website. The donor will instantly receive a text message that includes the link to a mobile-friendly donation page associated with the campaign they selected.