Hello! Our PTO is running a read-a-thon this year, and we have gotten some great advice from one of our members who helped organize a read-a-thon at her old school. Their R-a-Thon was the ONLY fundraiser that her school did, and they made tens of thousands of dollars (30-50 I think). Parents liked supporting an educational fund-raiser, and not having to 'buy' anything. Here are some of her recommendations:
-Pick a fun theme, design a t-shirt and a prize package (more on that below) and start getting community donations.
-run your read-a-thon at the beginning of the year first thing while everyone is still really excited about school, and parents are still willing to spend (before Christmas kills their wallets)
-Let parents know that it's the ONLY fundraiser that you do, so their support is needed.
-Host an opening night 'read-in' in the gym. Keep it simple (no food allowed in the gym anyway!) Have kids bring their favorite book, and their form for their first hour of reading 'free' if they come. Teachers can sign off on their slips as they leave. This is a great chance to talk up the awesome prizes that you'll be offering and meet other parents.
-This is the big thing: set a donation limit (say $25 or $30) to earn a t-shirt with your logo for the read-a-thon. You can get 2 color t's for around $3-$5 each, so that's an immediate profit of around $20-25 for every kid that earns a t-shirt, and she said almost EVERY kid got the t-shirt.
-Set your own prize packages...the nicer you make them, the more the excited the kids and parents will be. Some ideas: we're going to do a theme of 'dive into reading' and give tickets to the new Georgia Aquarium. You could do a space or dinosaur theme and line up your theme with a free field trip (with parent chaparones and a chartered bus on a Saturday) for the winners. Expect to pay for at least some of the big prizes, but also hit up local retailers and kid friendly places for donated prizes for smaller milestone winners...the more winners, the merrier everyone will be!
- Host a Prize Night about 2 weeks after the read-a-thon ends. We're lining our prize night up with a test prep night (the school wanted us to boost attendance to the test night if possible). We'll send the t-shirts home that day with an announcement to come see who won the prizes! We'll announce the prize winners starting with the highest prize (in the donated prize catagory) and they'll get their pick of the displayed prizes, etc. etc. until the lowest prize gets the final pick.
-the BEST part: prizes are awarded in ALL catagories for top readers AND top dollar earners. This gives all the kids (even those from limited support or income levels) a chance to participate!
-Other tips: reading in school doesn't count in this contest, as it's too tough to figure (plus the teachers don't need the extra hassle of signing slips all day)...stick with at home reading.
-For kindergartners, being read to (at home) counts! The bigger kids don't need this advantage.
-You can run your read-a-thon for up to a month (we're doing 2 weeks), but include as many weekend periods as possible to give the kids time to really rack up the points.
-the sponsor sheets go home over two weekends, the week before the read-a-thon starts. sponsors can give a flat donation, or sponsor by the minute.
-After it ends, give them a week to collect their money and turn their forms in (over two weekends) and then stretch it another half week to pick up the stragglers.
-great tip...the reading log should be broken down by 15 or 30 minute intervals...not by the minute (an accounting nightmare at the end, and a pain in the heiny as a parent filling them out!)
Have fun, hope this helps, and wish us luck!
