We can't have it during school time so having all students participate was totally out. I tried but they couldnt do it. So I had to send it out like a normal fundraiser.

It all depends on how you define "participation". In our first walk-a-thon last year, we had every single child walk/run. That's one way to define participation. AFTER the event, our kids turned in their donations. We never asked for any commitment before the day of the run since we knew that every kid would run. By the end of the 2 week donation period (after the run in which every kid paricipated), we had at least $1 from 96% of the kids. We even counted an empty donation envelope as "participating" so every kid had an equal chance to get our participation prize even if Mom & Dad couldn't donate $$. I would take away the upfront registration requirement and announce that every child will get to participate in the walk. The day of the walk, send home a collection envelope with every child that shows how far they walked/how many laps. Give them a reasonable deadline to return the donations (2weeks or 2 weekends) and give your prize for anyone who returns their envelope. We also offered bigger prizes based on donation level etc.. Overall, our average donation was about $70 per child. We have about 700 kids.

Yes school basically started right after Labor Day, unfortunately the primary is first to go with fundraising. We actually have one more wee to go. So I think I am going to type a "reminder" for parents.

The good news is I checked my PTO mail box and I am up to 75!!!!!!

Take a deep breath here! Maybe it's not time to panic yet. When are the pledges due by? I'm only down the thruway around Syracuse so I'm guessing that you guys started school just after Labor Day like we did and I know, around here anyway, parents are just getting a handle on the school-year schedule with classes, soccer, dance, PTO meetings, fundraisers, etc.

So, you very well might have a lot of parents still looking to turn in pledges for the walk-a-thon but if they are like our parents (and myself for that matter - my bad!) then you will probably get a load of responses at the last minute.

You could send home another note that subtly reminds the parents that your PTO was trying to mix-up the fundraisers and "We only have 2 a year and count on these 2 to fund our programs, etc." And also play up the health benefits and family time that would all come from a walk-a-thon. The prizes sound great so with everything the parents have going on this time of year, they might just need another nudge. Good Luck with it!

Well our first fundraiser went out beginning of last week. We sent out a flyer to collect pledges for our Walk a thon in Oct. There was a reply slip so you could reserve your school frisbee and let us know if they were participtaing. We have 500 students in the school and right now I have 70 yes 70. I can't believe its so low. We tried to do something different this year because the parents have been complaning terribly they "hate buing all the junk" well at least with the junk(candles, cookie dough,catalogs) we had more participation.

I am just at a loss as to how to save this so I am not starting out with such a low budget until our second fundraiser. (we only do two)

We have been making announcements we have a prize for each grade level and a grand prize for all participants a raffle for two Sabres hockey tickets. Which are hard to come by around here.

I really need some insight on what to do.