Another option that we utilize: we don't collect pledges, but rather have our students collect donations towards their efforts. These donations are collected before the event (I think about a week before the event) and are not linked to the number of laps the kids complete. We encourage them to collect at least $40 so that they recieve a free event tee ($10-12 each otherwise).
As for the number of laps they complete on the event day, the kids earn raffle tickets for prizes raffled off at the end of the event based on the # of laps they complete.
In the end, the money is already collected and is not contingent on how many laps are completed. The kids decide how many laps they want to run based on how many raffle tickets they want to earn. It really does make things easier in the end.
Another idea is to explore corporate matching. Many parents work for companies/businesses that are willing to match whatever the parents/donors are giving. Even though these are hard economic times, there are still tax write-offs that any company might like to take advantage of.
We didn't collect the pledge forms the day of our walk-a-thon. We gave out a 3X5 card with their laps to take home-- then each child had a week to collect pledges and send them back to school in order to be placed in a raffle for prizes.
We also found that the kids ran on average a higher number of laps than we thought they would.... they really got into it-- music is a big plus when doing this event and if you can get teachers to jog with them, even better!
Our school is getting ready to do our first ever Jog A Thon. There is one thing that is unclear to me. The pledge sheets should be turned in the day of the event right? And then do you transfer their number of laps to that sheet and send it back to the parents? How do you keep track of all of that?
