Robin...you have inspired me just with the different name of Jog-A-Thon! Do you think postcards would work instead of letters to the relatives? I'm trying to think of something easier for the students to jot a note on and send. I would love to learn more about this event. We have 33 schools in our district and I hope to reach all ages with this event. Thank you for your wonderful idea!
My son's school just completed it's 2nd annual Challenge - Jog-a-thon on Wednesday, we out did last years dollars raised. As the chairperson, I searched these message boards and took the best of what I found locally too. We raised, $12,500.00 this year. I anticipate closing the event with proceeds of $11,500 after expenses. We consider this a huge success considering todays economic climate.
Some things we found helpful, was a letter students could send to out of town relatives and friends. I think I may have even found it on this message board. We provide the instructions and the base letter the children add comments and mail it from home. We gave everyone 3 weeks to collect donations. We asked for flat donations only, no per lap donations. Another school locally changed their jog-a-thon to include this and their donations went up. Additionally we offered a prize to the teachers for the most donations received. This encouraged communication from our teachers in their newsletters. Their prize will be donated to their classroom account.
We give drawing prizes for all students to potentially win. They are delighted to hear their name called as they run/jog around the track. This seems to inspire all the students to give their personal best while on the track. The prizes range from a $20 gift card to a scoop of ice cream.
This fundraiser is the most popular event in terms of volunteers we put on each year. It also seems like the most popular amongst the teachers and staff of the school. The other schools that do this locally have seemed to reach a ceiling for their donations, close to $25,000. These school have been running a jog-a-thon for 10 years.
Thanks for the confirmation, Jay. It'll be interesting to see the results of this year's walk. My prediction is that the net will be about 20% lower than last year....
There is a lot of evidence that the same exact event will lose steam over time. In order to reverse a decline in attendance and participation, something has to happen to retain existing participants, attract lost participants and gain new ones. Basically it's a matter of re-inventing the event or increasing marketing efforts enough to generate fresh interest.
If you have a combination of a great event and exceptional marketing you do have a chance at a long run (the Boadway play 'Cats' comes to mind). If the first event wasn't that entertaining, there will not be a 'buzz' to do your marketing work for you and attendance will drop.
Our school hosted a fun walk last year for the first time. Several thousand was raised against very little cost due to business sponsorships. Our PTO is repeating the walk this year. It's held during school hours with just the students participating (not the community).
I'm curious as to the typical life cycle of this kind of fundraising activity? I suspect that the walk will have lower results this year than last because it's no longer a new idea. I also anticipate that the results will decline each year after that until the PTO abandons the idea after the 4th or 5th year (unless significant changes are made to the scope of the fundraiser). However, I don't have any concrete facts to support my speculation; this is just a gut reaction.
If your PTO has experience with walks/runs, what can we expect as to the longevity of the event?
