Community Fundraising: How to Host a Fundraising Event:

At School

Read-a-Thon

Shameem, a 6-8th grade Honors reading teacher from Champaign, IL

During the annual read-a-thon, students bring in favorite books from childhood and then practice reading with expression, fluency, and enthusiasm with their peers. The classes then visit an elementary school and spend the day reading to the young people there. Students are expected to raise a minimum of $20.00 per person from parents and family friends in order to participate in the read-a-thon (though no one is excluded). Some raise money per hour spent reading, while others ask for straight donations. Students are given one week to ask for sponsors and one week after the event to make their collections.

On the day of the trips, Shameem divides her classes into groups of 20 and asks parents to accompany each group throughout the visit to the participating elementary school. The students read for 30 minutes at a time, and then move to the next class.

Last year, students raised over $2,100. Shameem emphasizes that the benefits are multiple: The students feel good about doing something for others. The younger students get to meet some students from the middle school they will be attending in the future, and they get to see that the older kids are not that scary. The donors feel good about helping their own community while helping people around the world. Shameem anticipates that close to 200 students will participate in 2008.

Shameem advises first-time planners to set aside approximately four hours of time for the following steps: make sponsor sheets, have students bring in books to class (keep in a locker so you don't need to label and keep track of all of the books), have students practice reading books to each other, find a school to partner with, have a person at that school make a plan for which classes will be read to and when, get out and back permission slips, plan for student transportation, create and send out a press release, fill out a sub request for you as a teacher, if needed, get parent volunteers (need at least 1 per group of students), and alert cafeteria of absences, if necessary.

Brian, a librarian from Camas, WA, organizes a read-a-thon every other year at his K-5 school (the PE teacher organizes a charitable walkathon on alternating years). A month long event (kicked off by the annual Read Across America Day), the school hosts an assembly where invited speakers, such as the mayor or a firefighter, read one of their favorite stories. Students collect pledges based on either pages read or hours spent reading, which is tracked by their parents. To participate, readers agree to read for at least 200 hours! Top readers and fundraisers receive an unusual incentive: they get to throw a pie in the principal’s face. The next group of top readers gets to dunk Brian with a bucket of water. Medals and t-shirts are distributed to all participants at a closing event, which Brian says helps keep students motivated. Brian also suggests that school organizers bring in a speaker from the charitable organization that will be receiving the funds to help remind the students of the impact they have by participating in the event. At the last read-a- thon, students read for 65,000 hours and raised over $1,000 for Mercy Corps.

Diane, a former teacher from Portland, Oregon, volunteered at her school in 2007 to help the librarian host a read-a-thon to benefit Darfur. They offered different incentives to students - wrist bands were given to students who either read the most or raised the most on a continual basis. Diane worked with the school staff to highlight the positive good Mercy Corps was providing in Darfur in all the read-a- thon publicity efforts. A school assembly was held in which the top students were recognized and seated in a “VIP” area to watch an entertaining sumo wrestling match between the principal and assistant principal. The school made a large check representing the gift to Mercy Corps and displayed it prominently for weeks. Example B: Penny War (Peter, a middle school teacher from Salem, OR) The idea for this fundraiser was born after several middle school students attended a program called Camp Darfur at the Oregon Peace Maker's Conference, and were inspired to make a change locally. The students conceptualized a campaign to raise awareness of Darfur through a three-pronged approach: they integrated lesson planning on Darfur into their social studies classes; they marketed the event through a newsletter article to parents as well as hand made posters at school; and they planned a compelling school assembly.

At the assembly, Katie Jay Scott, a prominent Darfur activist, talked about her work in Darfur refugee camps and how the conflicts there relate to middle school students. The student choir sang the inspirational John Lennon song, Imagine. Then the students announced the fundraising campaign called the Penny War, which pitted the boys against the girls. The stakes were high: the winners would be let out of school 5 minutes early the following week. This established a competitive atmosphere that maintained excitement throughout the four-day fundraiser.

In this competition, the goal is to earn more points than your opponents. Pennies in your teams jar count as one point each in your teams favor. However, members of the opposing team can put nickels, dimes, quarters, and bills in your jar. The silver and paper count against your team. Points are subtracted for the value of the silver or bill, e.g., minus 10 points for a dime, 25 points for a quarter, 100 points for a dollar bill. The scores are always in the negative because the opposing teams put so much silver and paper into the other team’s jar.

The school collected the coins and paper in 5 gallon water jugs. At the end of the day they took the jugs to a local bank that had agreed to count the coins for free with their machine. The students set a goal of raising $500, and ended up raising over twice that amount.

Penny War

Peter, a middle school teacher from Salem, OR

The idea for this fundraiser was born after several middle school students attended a program called Camp Darfur at the Oregon Peace Maker's Conference, and were inspired to make a change locally. The students conceptualized a campaign to raise awareness of Darfur through a three-pronged approach: they integrated lesson planning on Darfur into their social studies classes; they marketed the event through a newsletter article to parents as well as hand made posters at school; and they planned a compelling school assembly.

At the assembly, Katie Jay Scott, a prominent Darfur activist, talked about her work in Darfur refugee camps and how the conflicts there relate to middle school students. The student choir sang the inspirational John Lennon song, Imagine. Then the students announced the fundraising campaign called the Penny War, which pitted the boys against the girls. The stakes were high: the winners would be let out of school 5 minutes early the following week. This established a competitive atmosphere that maintained excitement throughout the four-day fundraiser.

In this competition, the goal is to earn more points than your opponents. Pennies in your teams jar count as one point each in your teams favor. However, members of the opposing team can put nickels, dimes, quarters, and bills in your jar. The silver and paper count against your team. Points are subtracted for the value of the silver or bill, e.g., minus 10 points for a dime, 25 points for a quarter, 100 points for a dollar bill. The scores are always in the negative because the opposing teams put so much silver and paper into the other team’s jar.

The school collected the coins and paper in 5 gallon water jugs. At the end of the day they took the jugs to a local bank that had agreed to count the coins for free with their machine. The students set a goal of raising $500, and ended up raising over twice that amount.