I don't really have a quick and dirty document to share thru email, but I will do my best to highlight some of the ways we structured our run, so hopefully others can learn from our experience (which was gleaned from the experience of at least two other PTOs who had done a fun run before us).
Key Points
You need a tool that the child can use to collect $$ from outside the immediate family. Catalog sales often extend to relatives, neighbors, co-workers. We used a pledge-per-lap form which gave the child something to show grandma. We did NOT want the pledge form back. It was just a tool for the child.
In your planning, remember this is a fundraiser first, and a team-building or healthy-living activity second.
About a month ahead, we sent home a packet that explained why the switch away from catalog fundraising and what we hoped to use the $$ for. The packet also explained the format of the run, included the pledge sheet, and the prize scheme.
Every child participated in the run. Every child and every staff member was given a free t-shirt to wear the day of the run. We held a logo design contest several months in advance to build excitement and showcase student artwork. We also used the logo on all our correspondance and marketing.
We had a kickoff assembly about 2 weeks before the run to psych up the kids and explain the event. We held a celebration (awards) assembly 2 weeks after to hand out prizes.
The day of the run, every child received a special $ collection envelope marked with his/her # of laps. If they returned their donation envelope within the 2-week collection period--even if it was empty, they got a rubber wristband. Using envelope returned as our metric, we had over 90% participation. Our average donation was higher than our average catalog sale amount. And yes, there were 1 or 2 empty envelopes. We collected and counted money every day for 2 weeks, and handed out the wristbands every day too. That got other kids motivated to bring back their envelopes by our prize entry deadline.
Our prize scheme was very simple. Top 3 donors school-wide got a special prize. Top individual lap runners per grade got a prize. Anyone who donated at least $50 was entered in a raffle for Principal for the Day. The # of chances increased (1-5-10) as the donation amount increased. The class that ran the most laps per grade was awarded an extra gym class. You could definately get more creative with your prizes. I know another school in our area had about 100 raffle prizes to hand out to their students. That's cool, but I don't think it necessarily brought in more money.
The day of the run, each class is scheduled to be outside for about an hour total. 4 classes are scheduled at once. The group started with a class photo, then stretching and warm-ups with a guest trainer. Each class is a differnet color and they start on our square 1/10 mile track at the matching color corner. We had loud music from a DJ outside. When the music started, the kids started running or jogging. They ran for 15 minutes. At each corner (their own corner), the child received a rubber band on her/his wrist from a parent volunteer. That counted the laps. When the music stopped, the kids lined up for water bottles and fruit, and to have their laps (rubberbands) counted. Volunteers recorded the laps on the donation envelopes which were later delivered to the classes to be sent home.
Day of the run, Parent volunteers were needed for the corners, to tally the laps, to hand out snacks, at first-aid, to escort the classes in/out of the building, to deliver the donation envelopes to the classes, and to help set up the track, tables, etc. outside.
Volunteers are also needed in the planning for marketing and PR within the school, to recruit and schedule other parents, to plan and organize the t-shirts (big job), to organize the run, hire the DJ, plan the snacks, and to collect, log, and count the money (huge job). In all, we had about 100 parents volunteer in some capacity (most of those were volunteers the day of the run), but you could do it with less. Our core planning team was about 14 people. We started our initial planning in March and held our run in September. We didnt' do much over the summer. We have about 700 kids.
I hope that helps. It's a fun event, and has been very lucrative for us in the 2 times we've done it. I don't know if it will sustain the $$ levels over time - people might decide they want something for their $$. But for now, it's our fundraiser of choice.
