(You can unsubscribe anytime.). You no longer need to spend days or even weeks coordinating faculty, staff, and volunteers and allocating precious school funds to host your next fundraiser. Another way is to hold a contest and ask students to brainstorm ideas for your theme. Take advantage of our outreach and marketing toolkit to spread the word about your Read-a-thon! This article will walk you through a guide to running a read-a-thon fundraiser. - In the past year, mobile giving donations have increased by 205%. a dance-a-thon, these sports fundraisers are fun and engaging events for your entire community. Work with a vendor who offers plenty of options, so you can provide your donors with the most flexible and convenient donation experience. A read-a-thon doesnt require a lot of in-person involvement from kids and parents. We make it super easy on you (as the coordinator), your students/parents, and your donors. 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. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development. Add unlimited participants and manage your goals and donations from a single dashboard. Your first (and most important) step is to head to the Read-A-Thon platform and create your free account. Remember to help kids and parents raise more money with any marketing material they may need. The donor will have a defined amount added to their mobile cell phone bill. Just like with any other fundraising method, you must keep track of the results of your text-to-give campaign. This makes it simple for family & friends to support them (which often doubles or triples the amount raised). After you are done editing save, and download (upper right corner) it gives you an option to download directly as a jpeg or pdf file. Everything was very easy to navigate. Here's how it works: donors visit your fundraiser and make their donation to a participant on your experience. You could even sell popcorn and other snacks in the weeks before your event for participants to snack on during opening night! Create your signature and click Ok. Press Done. This message is to thank you for your generous contribution to our cause for the people of Afghanistan. Spell-a-thon: Students receive a spelling test during distance learning class or their parents give them the spelling test. 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. Wilson High School students took a page out of Penn State's playbook and danced to help fight childhood cancer. There is also a text-to-donate option. Lastly, promote your campaign page online to reach more people online and increase participation. You're not only thanking them for their money but also their involvement. The event itself can last anywhere from a few hours to an entire day, with participants taking turns dancing or dancing as a team. If raising enough funds is your concern, start an online crowdfunding campaign to meet your fundraising goal within a short period of time. Display a thermometer showing donors how close you are to meeting your fundraising goals to encourage even more giving! Simply go into the platform to monitor the progress of your online fundraiser. You can read more about all of these fundraisers on our Fundraising Ideas Page. Use the sliders below to adjust your participation and donor levels. A call to action should be included in every promotion of the text code, whether it is digital or in person and involves print, animation, podcasts, video or anything else. 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. Donor data can also always be deleted upon request. Want to learn more about Read-A-Thon? Can I create an a-thon with one participant? Through this crowdfunding campaign, the Grace Community Church helps a kid called Maris raise funds to support literacy in Brazil. If you want to raise money to build or purchase land (or other big projects), add a read-a-thon to your capital campaign and promote it to the rest of the community. Challenges: Run/Walk/Bike, Jump Rope, Dance Tutorials, Kids Workout, & more. He and his family will enjoy their all-expense paid trip later this year. Of those who encouraged a friend or family member to contribute, 75% did so by talking with others in person, and 38% did so via voice call. Campaign organizers or individual participants can enter activity results into the PTFundraiser system at any point during or after the fundraiser. Join a 30min Live Demo to see how Donorbox can help you reach your fundraising goals! However, due to the limited amount of segmenting and personalization this method offers, theres a potential for alienating donors. Online school fundraising has never been easier. One of the most widely publicized text-to-give campaigns was The Red Crosss relief efforts after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Click Home and then Create a Write-athon from your home page. Decide on what kind of signature to create. A-thon-style events have the potential to bring in significant fundraising dollars for any organization that takes them on. All you have to do is continue to encourage your students and watch as your Read-A-Thon fundraising account collects revenue. Otherwise, you might be overwhelming your donors. We have secured a total of $7,500 so far, and we hope to reach $50,000. That's how confident we are that your online fundraiser will be a success! Please note that Text-to-Donate is not the same as "Text to Give. The latter is when someone sends a text message with a donation amount, rather than a text code, to a special short code. Of all the online fundraising tools at your disposal, Read-A-Thon will always be one of the richest and easiest virtual fundraising programs available to you. Grand Prize Grade Level Prize Classroom Prize The student who logs the Get the Hit a thon fundraiser template completed. Watch a short video outlining what you need to know. Our intuitive, highly accessible platform takes no time at all to integrate into your school's normal fundraising activities, guiding you every step of the way to host a more successful and rewarding fundraiser than you could have ever imagined. The keyword or the shortcode triggers the next step. ", so let's settle that now: 99Pledges is Free. The second season of the American television comedy Abbott Elementary created by Quinta Brunson premiered in the United States on ABC on September 21, 2022, is set to conclude in 2023, and will consist of twenty-two episodes. If youre able to, designate a text-to-give coordinator or a coordinating team (depending on the size of your nonprofit and the program). They dont even have to turn on their computers. There are three variants; a typed, drawn or uploaded signature. Via email, text, or other means, keep a tight circle of communication for duties and delegate responsibilities to the appropriate team members. Parents Love not having to sell or deliver items. 1. Letting donors set up recurring weekly, monthly, or annual donations, in addition to increasing revenue, bring in the much-needed stability to a nonprofits finances. As you consistently share your replicated donation pages to promote the fundraiser, you'll begin to collect donations. After all, knowing where you stand and the health of your fundraiser is your greatest asset to maximizing the success of your campaign as it unfolds. Have your kids read instead of selling fundraising products! 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. In 1973, a small group of Penn State students held the first dance mMarathon, with 39 couples participating and raising $2,000. You can turn this event into a reading event for all community members by including some games and fun activities for parents and teachers as well. With Read-A-Thon's effortless online platform, you can raise thousands of dollars just by encouraging students to read. We are having a Read-a-thonSchool Goal Our goal is to raiseWe are having a Read-a-thon$19,000!Student Goal Each Student Raises $25Example: We are having a Read-a . 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. With the help of a trusted text-to-give service, your donors will be able to give in a matter of seconds. These campaigns provide critical funding for your institution and you can't afford to invest time and money into campaigns that might not work. Thank you for making this the easiest and most successful fundraiser we've had! 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. When choosing the right text-to-give platform for you, make sure your providers software offers all the below-mentioned features. Congratulations!! After theyve given, donors should automatically receive a confirmation email in their inbox that includes a, Nonprofits receive donations either directly from online. Text-to-give donors are likely to encourage their family and friends to give online and usually do so in person. Held daily challenges for students that included reading, STEM, community outreach, and exercising. Effort: Medium . Step by step procedure: Deciding a schedule for your read-a-thon is quite a crucial choice. Get unlimited creative control with PTFundraiser in your corner. Here are 7 steps to help you plan a bowl-a-thon: 1. It is an active, fun event that can be organized easily and quickly. Mobile giving is a simple and effective way to appeal to donors on the go and take advantage of the widespread use of mobile devices. Use our five-digit short code, 44321 (only on U.S. phone carriers), at no cost to your nonprofit. In order to ensure a successful event, we recommend that you start planning at least six months in advance. Now more than ever, we're seeing schools adapt their annual "a-thon" fundraisers to be 100% virtual. START A READ-A-THON You could raise $63,937.50 If 75% of your students got just 5 sponsors each based on an average donation of $34.10 per donor Use the sliders below to adjust your participation and donor levels. Nearly half41%of its Haiti mobile donors were 34 years old or younger, far below the age of a typical Red Cross supporter. Take your donor experience to the next level! Depending on all this, you have to come up with a fundraising goal. In a matter of days, watch as hundreds of reading hours and thousands of dollars roll into your Read-A-Thon account, all for an activity that your students are already doing! We can help you prepare. Here is how you can sign-up and get started! Whether you're choosing to host a walk-a-thon, a hit-a-thon, or (our favorite!) Learn how to make the most of Text-to-Donate on our Resource Hub (for members, but open to all). Choose a theme Themes can make your read-a-thon more fun and give kids a way to get involved from the beginning. We wrote a list of everything your text-to-give platform needs to have. The first 3000 dollars helped us provide food and basic necessities to 50 at-risk children. We invite you to join the 99Pledges family to see these game-changing results for yourself and your organization! Revolutionizing fundraiser for teams and groups. To begin organizing a read-a-thon fundraiser, you should review your options with your organization. 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. And remember, our customer service will help every step of the way as well. Give Lively does capture and securely store some non-payment data about donors, for instance a donors first and last names, email address and donation date, among other data points. I plan to have the charity event in NC is TBD. 1. Set Fundraising Goals That way, you can invite the kids parents to create fundraising pages in the kids names. It consists of signing up, tracking your progress, sharing your fundraiser, and raising funds! You can also collect books or donations from the community to purchase more books to support them. Text of Read-A-Thon Fundraiser. With the right text-to-give software, a transaction can be completed in just a few clicks. Each organization will have a different reason for holding a read-a-thon. However, this may depend on what text-to-give software you choose. 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. Themes can make your read-a-thon more fun and give kids a way to get involved from the beginning. You'll gain access to Fund-A-Thon fundraising campaigns, which will include your very own replication donation pages. What a-thon activities can I create with RallyUp? From tracking funds raised to providing social media and text marketing tools, Read-A-Thon will handle the entire fundraising process. And surprisingly, the typical text-to-give user is actually a woman between 49-59 years old who has a college degree. 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. 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. When organizing the faculty, staff, or volunteers that will make up your fundraising team, be sure to keep everyone informed about what is expected of them and how they can complete their tasks. Once in, go to templates at the top left and click on it. I would like to join the indigenous people of the country to say 'shuker' to you as a word of thanks for your gift. Create your signature and click Ok. Press Done. Thank all kids and parents, not just the winners. Most people use mobile phones on a daily, so donating via texting is quite an intuitive process. IN PICTURES: 24-hour ski-a-thon raises over $150K. Here are some of our fav fundraising ideas to get those creative juices flowing. 6 Simple Ideas to Make Your Read-a-Thon a Success, 12 Donation Form Best Practices to Inspire Your Online Fundraising, How to Set Up a Nonprofit Donation Page (5-Step Guide), 100+ Best Fundraising Ideas for Everyone (Quick, Unique & Easy) in 2023, How to Choose the Best Nonprofit Donor Management Software, How to Start a Nonprofit Organization [10 Step Guide] | Donorbox. Instead of texting a full phone number, donors text the keyword to a shortcode to donate. The learning curve is low, so donors can give without much hassle. galas, marathons, walk-a-thons, and more). Hayley White, a fourth-year student from Cumberland, Md., and captain of the Fayette THON team, said the team may be small, but . In this day and age, social media is your best friend. 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. Read-A-Thon Fundraising Company Inc. All rights reserved.All Content and materials on Read-A-Thon.com are the property of Read-A-Thon Fundraising Company Inc. Readathon and Read-A-Thon are trademarks of Read-A-Thon Fundraising Company Inc. 1. This happens because donors are required to either just text a code to a number (where theres no immersion with your brand whatsoever) or are led to a simplistic donation page where they enter minimum information. In case youve opted for a more traditional text-to-give vendor, theres usually a $5-$10 caps on all donations. Just sign up, create your event, and encourage students to create donation pages to send to family and friends. We recommend using a multichannel approach when it comes to promoting a text code. About the Author For example, Overall, 76% of Haiti text donors say that their friends or family members did indeed make a contribution to earthquake relief using their phones. The longer or more complex the code, the more likely your donors will forget it or abandon the process. Facebook Group Page). Include a photo, drawing, or mention favorite characters or books. Remember me . 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. During your virtual event, have families email pictures & videos that you'll post on your organization's website or have them post on your community page (e.g. Text-to-give fundraising can bring in a high volume of donors, and it can be integrated with other fundraising methods. Launch fundraising campaigns in minutes with beautiful, customizable and responsive donation pages. It allows children to participate in a healthy competition with other classrooms while having fun 'sabotaging' their finds and other classrooms. Getting Started with Read a thon Watch on A book swap can be a great solution. Share the kids progress on your social media accounts and your crowdfunding campaign. Thank you so much! You can also use this as a way to start community partnerships with businesses and corporations. Single participant a-thons are common, where only one person is completing an activity and collecting per-unit pledges for their cause. Thanking donors is always important; so it is with text-to-give fundraising. All you have to do is partner with a dedicated library fundraising platform, such as Love My Library. This will vary from one service provider to another. Our easy, mobile-first method for capturing contributions when donors are on the go. From physical flyers to email blasts, be sure to instruct donors that by sending out a special text keyword to a specific number, they will be directed to a mobile-friendly online donation page. Your callers must listen and show them you want to hear their ideas. Other than a couple of hiccups with the system we were extremely happy!! After donating, they will automatically receive a thank you note and receipt (if you are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, you can include Tax ID in the receipt). This lowers the barrier to giving and opens the door to a whole new pool of donors. Hence, you can turn it into a hybrid fundraiser and reach more people than just those in your community. To begin selling your own custom merchandise, create an online store on your school website. The website was so easy to use. It is the simplicity of this fundraising method that makes it a successful fundraising method and popular among nonprofits and donors. Collect Donations. 12345) provided by your vendor. Generate outsized returns for your team in record time. It comes as no surprise that more and more nonprofits are exploring text-to-give as a way to empower people to donate. The first group you should address is your board. Reading keeps our kids' brains engaged and active so they can return back to school ready to learn again! Then, count how many words were spelled correctly. This will help track and inspire people to make more donations. Choose My Signature. You can also hand out physical data forms to track reading progress. 9 Creative Swim-A-Thon Ideas for Your Next Fundraiser (With Tips) By Nonprofit Point January 16, 2023 A swim-a-thon is a great way to raise money for your organization. Love how fast you guys are at responding to questions. With some of the next-generation platforms, you also get payment information, the number of times each donor has donated, and how much theyve donated each time. How will students collect pledges and donations? With text-to-donate, after texting a keyword to a shortcode, supporters are led to a mobile donation page where they give. Promote the event. Create a tracker. 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. What contests will your read-a-thon include? In the past year alone, mobile giving donations have increased by 205%. Think fun stuff like dancing, hula-hooping, and bowling! The text code is best kept short, memorable and easy to type, so that it can be spoken aloud, shared on the web or social media, printed on handouts or projected at events. Read-A-Thon takes the pressure of online school fundraising out of your hands! We recommend that you invest in dedicated online fundraising platforms, like Read-A-Thon, which will more effectively track these key metrics and provide you with an accessible interface to organize your campaign. Shes passionate about meaningful work, sustainability, and social movements. Its essential that you work with a PCI-compliant service provider. The entire process only takes minutes to complete. Donorboxs text to give feature went live in January 2021. Dance-a-thons are a highly effective and fun peer-to-peer fundraiser that can help you raise a lot of money and engage your supporters in an exciting way. Set up a fundraising page with text, images and videos for your Text-to-Donate campaign. Collect Donations. Youll also want to find ways to excite students with the prizes and class competitions. These streaming services do much of the heavy lifting, facilitating mass streaming for however many donors choose to participate in your event. Also, share your text-to-give information in your direct mail outreach or your e-newsletters. You can never go wrong with a Read-a-thon fundraiser. The best part is, it is extremely simple to start and utilizes the ease of donating on mobile phones. By contrast, Read-A-Thon is easily accessible to everyonefrom technologically-challenged teachers to elementary school students. Your read-a-thon is finished and kids and parents helped you fundraise. Your organization can use this fundraiser to build sponsorship relationships with local businesses. Not to mention, these types of tools allow you to run everything online without having to deal with paper forms or track down people for payments. So spreading the word about your online fundraiser to the student body should be one of your greatest concerns. Most text-to-give providers these days dont have a limit on the amount a donor can give via text message. Additionally, create a guide of some kind for team members to reference with questions. Recipient of Society of Women Engineers Certificate of Merit, RIT Computing Medal, AP Scholar with Distinction, top 30 individually at Maine State Math Meet for class of 2021 in both 2017 and 2018 . Then create your crowdfunding page. zoom_out_map open_in_new . Help your supporters give on the go, directly from their mobile devices. In an effort to navigate distance learning for the upcoming school year, schools are using funds for technology & other needs: St. Aloysius School, Willett Elementary, Cadence Park Elementary, & St. Michael School (among many others) held Virtual Jog/Move a-thons. Put together a social media and marketing plan to promote your campaign. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to design your hit a then pledge form: Select the document you want to sign and click Upload. Sponsors can donate using our secure credit card payment processing system and your school will be mailed the earnings of your Read-a-thon after its completion. Announce the fundraiser to students/parents (without pressuring to participate). (You can unsubscribe anytime.). Also, be as specific as possible (i.e. Find local businesses that cater to kids and families. Including it in board members email signatures and display it prominently on your website. Its probably the fastest way for donors to give. It applies the a-thon fundraising formula to the concept of a canned food drive. If of your students got just sponsors each based on an average donation of $34.10 per donor. Revolutionizing fundraiser for teams and groups. Disadvantages of text-to-give fundraising, Text-to-give fundraising tips and best practices, Here is how you can sign-up and get started, recurring weekly, monthly, or annual donations, 12 Donation Form Best Practices to Inspire Your Online Fundraising, How to Set Up a Nonprofit Donation Page (5-Step Guide), 100+ Best Fundraising Ideas for Everyone (Quick, Unique & Easy) in 2023, How to Choose the Best Nonprofit Donor Management Software, How to Start a Nonprofit Organization [10 Step Guide] | Donorbox. You can add an event-ticketing form to your page, multiple ticket levels as per your strategy, and highlight the tax-deductibility of the tickets by inputting fair-market value and the tax rate. Supporters will be able to donate online by giving a flat donation (e.g. Then, the system automatically charges each donors credit card with the amount. Hold an assembly, in-person or online event, for parents and kids. You keep 75% or 80% of your profits. What incentives are there for students, parents, and community members to participate. Get your students reading 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. Minimize required fields, use large text, and dont cram your page with design elements to maximize your conversion rates. Laura Magone, president of the Monongahela Area Historical Society, said $981 was presented to each of the merchants Feb. 24. Adapted annual Walk-a-thon to a Virtual Walk-a-thon. -Fifteen twenty minute sessions, during class, over three weeks.