Success Stories

PledgeStar's online fundraising system helped students at Saint Joseph's School in Los Angeles, California, hold a wildly successful at-home jog-a-thon in the midst of a global pandemic as well as a distance learning mandate across the county. The number of students who raised more than $200 doubled from previous years and three times as many students raised over $100. This was a complete shock to Principal Kevin Donohue, who knew that over 70% of the student population qualified for free or reduced-cost lunch and were also faced with the challenges of learning at home.

Last year, Donohue thought about doing something different for the school's annual jog-a-thon. He knew he wanted to expand the event to include more community members, so he invited them to come to campus to participate in a PE day at school. But COVID-19 quickly changed his plans.

"We started looking at, ‘well what can we do instead?'" he recalled. "We knew we were moving donations online anyhow, so doing the entire jog-a-thon online was worth a try. But to be honest, our hopes weren't that high."

Donohue was nervous for several reasons. First, COVID-19 had shut down many local businesses, and several parents and caregivers in his community were out of work. He wasn't sure many people would be able to help with donations. A majority of the students at the school came from families that struggled financially, so he knew that most people weren't in the position to donate even before COVID-19's impact on local businesses. What's more, Saint Joseph's school had never used an online platform before so he feared many of the families wouldn't participate.

"When I came to Saint Joseph, we weren't very modern," Donohue said. "We had a paper newsletter, the jog-a-thon was take home packet based with pledges written down on paper. It was really limiting our reach, especially in a digital world. I did some research on partnering with an online management system. It's confusing because there are a lot of options out there." Donohue eventually reached out to the Archdiocese of LA, where two of his colleagues recommended PledgeStar. "I was nervous because going online was a big transition for us, but Emily at PledgeStar was awesome," he said. "And in a big transition like that, customer service is the most important thing to me."

In the end, Donohue encouraged his students on social media platforms with videos of his early morning runs, challenging them to keep up with him. He ran over 57 miles in the two week time period allotted for the fundraiser, and students responded by biking, skating, jumping, and running to match his mileage. They sent in videos of their fun activities for school staff to repost on Facebook and Instagram, renewing the sense of community they had before their school closed.

"In the end, it was worth it," said Donohue. He is happy to report that the school offered more financial aid this year than ever before, and PledgeStar played a big part.

Nampa Christian School volunteer Sandra Skoksberg has served as her school's fundraising director for fifteen years, but she had never seen the annual jog-a-thon bring in as much money as it did this year with PledgeStar.

In 2018, Skoksberg estimated that the fundraiser brought in about $20,000 for the school. Last year, she decided to give PledgeStar a try. Needless to say, she was very happy with the outcome. Their money doubled in 2019 and tripled to almost $60,000 in 2020. Not only was Skoksberg blown away by the huge uptick in funds, but she was amazed at how simple everything was on her end as the fundraising director.

"We used to have to have flyers and paper packets that went home, but we don't even have to do that anymore. PledgeStar keeps track of money that's coming in and money that's due. It's so simple," said Skoksberg.

Skoksberg offered a few incentives for the students to participate in the online fundraiser, but she found that a little went a long way. Every student who brought in $100 or more was awarded a T-shirt and the elementary school classroom with the most money was rewarded with a pajama movie party. Even without expensive or elaborate prizes, students and families were ready and excited to donate.

"I think the families really wanted to give to the school," Skoksberg said. With the closure of movie theaters, gyms, and sports activities across the country due to COVID-19, Skoksberg believes that the Nampa community was excited to do something special for the children. "It was a huge success because of PledgeStar and, of course, the people supporting the school," she added.

Nampa Christian School is located in western Idaho and offers private education to children ages preschool through high school. With only about 765 students in its population, a $60,000 total was a huge success for the small community.

"Just having the kids run outside...it was awesome," recalled Skoksberg. She said that because it is a private school, Nampa will use the funds to help keep tuition low, pay for supplies, and fund enrichment programs for the students.

Every year, volunteer parents at St. Rose of Lima Academy (SRLA) have a fundraising goal to help keep tuition costs down. This year due to the COVID-19 required social distancing measures in place, they grew nervous when they had to cancel their silent auction and Walk-A-Thon events. They knew raising money was still necessary for next year, so they set out to do the best they could with the difficult circumstances presented and converted their fundraisers into an online Move-A-Thon with lowered expectations. Much to their surprise and thanks to the help of PledgeStar’s online fundraising system, SRLA doubled the amount of money they raised last year with their online Move-A-Thon, bringing in over $20,000 with a small student population of only 200!

Volunteer Catherine Peironi didn’t think that moving their fundraiser to an online-only event would be very successful and said, “We were really stressed out and nervous about asking for money.” Much to the volunteers’ surprise, it turned out that everyone was excited to have a little school and community spirit in the difficult times. To get families and students excited about the event, she and other parent volunteers drove from house to house drop off spiritwear T-shirts to every student. “It was a huge response,” said Peironi, “It was amazing.

Parents, children, and teachers were all thrilled that an event that didn’t require any in person fundraising made so much money for the school. Perioni also commented that, as fundraising chair, she wasn’t required to go to the school to drop off or pick up checks, reducing a huge amount of overhead for the event administrators. The school didn’t even need to spend money on any incentives for the students to donate.

To make the event extra special, the SRLA track coach filmed a warm-up video for everyone to watch on the morning of the Move-A-Thon. Students stretched and warmed up along to the video and then uploaded photos to the school Facebook group of themselves playing basketball, walking, and rollerblading. “It felt really good to see the kids. It was so cute looking at all their pictures,” said Peironi.

The kids and parents also enjoyed a fun competition between classes to see who could raise the most money. Peironi recalled that some parents donated to outpace others. In the end, the class that pulled ahead in first place was the smallest in size and head count - kindergarten! With only twelve students, the kindergarteners managed to bring in more than any other grade!

"We were so glad we did an online fundraiser with PledgeStar! It was a surprising and absolute success!"

For years, students at Los Feliz Charter School have been asking their gym teacher, Mr. Wegner, to participate in their annual jog-a-thon, but he always declines. It’s for the kids, he tells them, and encourages them to run as many laps as they can to raise money for the school. This year, though, when schools across the nation shut down due to COVID-19, Mr. Wegner knew he had to do something different to help out. So, equipped with a rowboat, a motorcycle, a bike, and other fun props to entertain the masses, Mr. Wegner set out to run in his own jog-a-thon alone on the school field while students watched online and participated at home in their own creative ways. His enthusiasm paid off. Los Feliz raised over $55,000, meeting their annual goal and exceeding PTA expectations.

“A small crew went to the school with masks to set up and film Mr. Wegner at the field,” said PTA volunteer Anita Sheridan. “The kids are always bugging him to do the jog-a-thon, so he did it on the empty track. He rode around on a bike, pretended to row in a boat, and had a motorcycle. The kids thought it was hilarious. Everyone needed a little cheering up and it really raised community spirit.”

2020 was not only the first year Los Feliz Elementary School hosted a virtual jog-a-thon, but it was also its first year using PledgeStar. Los Feliz PTA had used an expensive third party platform for its online fundraising in the past. Sheridan noticed that it was extremely complicated and expensive, so she wanted to look for a more user friendly and cost effective way to collect money.

“We raised almost the same amount of money we thought we would raise if we had the jog-a-thon at school,” Sheridan said. “It was a shockingly good amount for not even having an event at school. Thanks to PledgeStar, we saved money AND headaches.”

Sheridan knew that asking family and friends for money during an unprecedented quarantine might be both uncomfortable and unsuccessful. She was also worried that the school closure would make students less likely to participate in the fundraising. But, she said, PledgeStar’s automatically generated emails eliminated awkward phone calls asking for money, as well as any reminder emails for students to do so.

PTA volunteers and school staff didn’t stop at the funny gym teacher video when it came to lifting student spirit. An office administrator volunteered to host a live stream from the school on the day of the event while another parent manned the sound board and directed the filming for families to watch at home. The PTA president served as emcee, narrating the event on the school’s social media page and website.

“The virtual jog-a-thon turned out better than we thought,” said Sheridan. “The school was doing Zoom classrooms already, so we had the systems set up and everything was in place with PledgeStar.”

For the third year in a row, Truman Benedict Elementary School increased its earnings at their annual jog-a-thon, bringing in over $50,000 in 2020! Parent volunteers kept their costs low, with a small overhead of around only $1000. Local sponsors and a family friendly day made their event easy, fun, and exciting for all who participated.

As an active member of the PTA, volunteer Tina Kervick wanted to fill in the gaps she knew that the state funding would not cover. “Our school doesn’t get a lot of funding when we need it,” she said, “our PTA pays for a lot.”

At the same time, Kervick wanted to keep costs low. Her experience running the jog-a-thon in the past made her an expert on keeping the budget to a minimum. Parents were asked to volunteer at the event to tally laps, as well as stand in the sidelines to cheer the kids on. They brought a balloon arch for simple, yet cheerful decor, and snapped photos to create an exciting atmosphere.

Kervick had also learned to ask local families to sponsor food for the volunteers and pizza parties for students. Several successful businesses in the community were family-owned, so PTA members asked them to help in any way they could. Kervick knew that a parent volunteer to act as a DJ and another to guide the kids through pre-run stretching would make the jog-a-thon fun and low-cost for everyone. She even found a volunteer to wear their school’s mascot costume, so a furry bobcat danced with the DJ all morning as the kids ran the track.

“It’s not really a costly event. Room parents decided the themes for each class. We had balloons to decorate the tables, and a banner for pictures. When it comes to fundraising, choosing things that don't bite into profits is key, and PledgeStar fit the bill.”

In the weeks leading up to the jog-a-thon, parents and teachers got regular updates on pledges and registration totals. Top classes got a pizza party sponsored by a local family, and those with 100% online registration earned a popsicle party. The email reminders that PledgeStar sends out for the event kept the families on their toes, adding momentum to the competition between the classes. On the day of the event, themed tables and music kept the students engaged and the parents happy to help.

“It’s a fun family event,” said Kervick. “The kids love it and it’s all for them. The ease of the PledgeStar system, being able to edit things, apply checks online and overall just an easy system to work with made us super successful this year. Why would I go anywhere else?”

In the fall, Truman Benedict Elementary PTA will be able to pay for their K-3 music program, which didn’t exist before the organization raised the money to finance it. They also offer teachers a “bank” to purchase classroom supplies, substitute teacher funding, and several other costly necessities on campus.

In Long Beach, California, a Little League with a long, rich history, tried something new. Its neglected fields and out-of-date dugouts were in need of attention, but the fundraisers the players had been holding for several years just weren’t making the cut. After sixty years in the making and two Little League World Series championships, Long Beach teams needed a change.

Parent volunteer Demetria Hayward knew that there were over 550 registered players for the season whose family and friends would be willing to support them, but couldn’t always make it to the opening day events. She thought that online fundraising might help increase their revenue, so she came up with the idea for a LBLL “Hit-a-Thon,” where the players could ask for sponsors online and have fun raising money at bat. To her pleasant surprise, Long Beach Little League brought in over $38,000, knocking parent and player expectations out of the park.

“It was amazing,” said Demetria. “This was something we have never done before. Corporate sponsorships are really helpful, but only go so far. People had been on the board for more than ten years and had never seen anything so successful!”

Over 250 players participated in the event, ranging from ages 4-12 years old. Each player had three turns at bat and were awarded prizes for furthest hits in each division. Fans cheered from the sidelines and the players were given the chance to support their team with exciting, friendly competition. Fun prizes like free snack shack drink refills, custom T-shirts and buttons incentivized the kids and made their day extra special.

Before the event, Demetria knew that getting players to register with PledgeStar would be important for the fundraiser’s success. She said that PledgeStar staff support made all the difference in knowing what to do. The PledgeStar team provided Demetria with strategies for getting more players registered online and more pledges from their family and friends, like strategically timed email reminders and easy incentives for participation. The players enjoyed watching the “leaderboard” she said, and she set pizza party prizes for the teams that brought in the most money.

“Emily, our PledgeStar team member, was amazing,” said Demetria. “I would call her while navigating the site and making additions. I can’t tell you how supportive and responsive the PledgeStar team is. It was such a pleasure.”

The decades-old Long Beach Little League has a “laundry list” of things to improve with the money they made at their Hit-A-Thon. They will use the extra money to replant grass, buy new equipment, improve scoreboards, and update batting cages. Players want to be ready to win another Little League World Series Championship, and the fields need to be up-to-par for such a hefty goal.

“The Hit-A-Thon was a tremendous success,” said Demetria. “I would highly recommend any organization to use PledgeStar! Their system takes your fundraising to the next level, times ten!”

The COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of families across America to face unprecedented challenges. In addition to health and safety concerns, parent volunteers were worried about raising money for their schools. Cancelled Spring fundraising events meant schools would lack vital funding for future events, supplies, and programs when school resumed in the Fall.

When they realized their annual Jog-a-Thon would have to be postponed, PTA volunteers at Alderwood Elementary in Irvine, California acted quickly to plan a "shelter in place" fundraiser. Using PledgeStar and some simple, yet wildly successful ideas, they managed to raise over $85,000, more than their prior year's event!

In early March, PTA President Dawn Mortazavi talked with other parents in a virtual Zoom meeting as their annual Jog-a-Thon date quickly approached. "We knew that we had to postpone our Jog-a-Thon, but we didn't know what we would do without that money," she said. "In March, it was becoming clear that we weren't going to have any sort of finality for the kids, so we decided to swap the Jog-a-Thon for something else." Because PledgeStar's online fundraising system has always been “social distance” friendly, the PTA just had to change the type of event instead of figuring out another way to raise funds.

Mortazavi and other volunteers had already chosen a Lego Movie theme for the Jog-a-Thon when schools began to implement distance learning. The students were meant to jog around their field in April wearing Lego theme attire, but they knew that was no longer possible. They would need a creative idea to replace it... something that could be done safely from the kids' homes. So, the PTA board dreamed up an at-home Lego Build-a-Thon. They had no idea how it would work or whether it could raise a substantial amount of money.

On April 7, the Lego Build-a-Thon commenced in hundreds of Irvine living rooms. "We made our Owl mascot look like a Lego, bought Lego prizes, and everyone got a free T-shirt," said Mortazavi. "We had the students build creative Lego projects at home and their parents posted them on social media for friends, family, and classmates to see." Students loved the ideas of an at-home challenge that not only kept them busy, but created a feeling of community in a difficult and isolating moment.

Next year, thanks to the quick thinking PTA and PledgeStar's online fundraising system, Alderwood Elementary will have enough money to pay for their popular educational programs. With distance education looming as a possibility for the entirety of 2020, Mortazavi and other parents are trying to stay positive. "The Jog-a-Thon has always been by far our biggest fundraiser so the change made us nervous, but the kids got super excited for the Build-a-Thon. It ended up as a huge success!"

For over eleven years, principal JR West worked very hard to organize fundraisers for St. Peter’s School in Waldorf, Maryland. He put on elaborate galas, themed fun runs, family field days, and classroom Read A Thons. Planning, executing, and analyzing the success of the events has taken hours of his time, so he recently decided to simplify things. Instead of holding several events throughout the year, he cut the number of fundraisers down to two, and instead of using antiquated paper mailing campaigns for marketing, he switched to PledgeStar for online fundraising. “I saved $4,000 in postage and I can’t even calculate the man hours saved,” said West. “I just wish we would have done this sooner.”

At first, West decided to use an expensive big box company to set up his fun run online. He paid thousands of dollars for their service, but still he felt “desperate to find a more efficient way to run the events.” Recording all of the donations manually was a record keeping nightmare. It was a huge relief when West gave Pledgestar a chance for the first time.

“The best part is the tracking system that PledgeStar provides. I was getting so many phone calls every day from parents who wanted to know how much their child had raised. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, why don’t I kick that other company to the curb?’ I used PledgeStar and now I don’t get a single parent phone call.”

The administrative improvements weren't the only success West credited to PledgeStar. His initial fundraising goal was only $12,000, but with PledgeStar, St. Peter’s School raised over $62,000! Although raising 5x more was a very pleasant surprise, West also breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to send hundreds of thank you notes and tax receipts in the mail like he'd done in the past, because PledgeStar does that automatically.

“We’ll definitely use PledgeStar next year!” said West. “I love it so much because it reduced my work and brought in more money.”

In the spring of 2019, Portland area parents and students received dismal news from the local school district: more budget cuts and a big hit for public school funding. Thousands of community members later staged a protest in the streets of downtown Portland and many wore “Red For Ed” T-shirts to demonstrate their concern.

Fortunately for Patterson Elementary School, an ambitious mother introduced the PTO to PledgeStar’s online fundraising system. After some hesitation, Patterson PTO decided to use the system and, with PledgeStar’s help, increased their annual "Panther Dash" jog-a-thon earnings by 40% in one year!

Jessica Thorpe knew that her kids had several years left in the district and wanted to do something to improve the quality of education for them in the years to come. So, she rearranged things at work, prioritized volunteering at school, and attended her first PTO meeting at Patterson Elementary School with the hope of making even the smallest difference.

“I spent the summer researching online fundraising platforms,” said Thorpe. “I just thought to myself, ‘oh my gosh there has to be a better way.’”

Thorpe had heard of online platforms for fundraising and knew that Patterson has used traditional methods in the past. She thought that switching to an online platform might help the school earn more money to pay for the programs that the district would no longer cover.

Although Thorpe was fairly confident that online fundraising would be the best option for her school, others weren’t so sure. She proposed the idea to the PTO and was initially met with some skepticism. Parents were unsure about whether the online route was practical, and some thought it was simply a bad idea. Fortunately, the naysayers were eventually proven wrong.

Using PledgeStar, Patterson Elementary was able to raise over $35,000 at their annual "Panther Dash" jog-a-thon - a 40% increase from 2018!

When Thorpe found PledgeStar, she compared it to the dozens of other companies that she came across on the internet. She liked the ease of use that PledgeStar offered and was very impressed with the personal support she received from the staff.

“I was so impressed,” she said. “I was really happy that PledgeStar had the data and wealth of testimonials to back up their claims.”

The jog-a-thon that Thorpe and the other PTO members organized was adapted according to PledgeStar staff suggestions. PledgeStar’s research had shown that offering flat donations in addition to per-lap pledges had the potential to bring in more money. Other small tweaks to the event proved successful and the parents were grateful for the easy-to-use system that allowed them to reach a wider audience for potential donors.

“A lot of people thanked me,” Thorpe recalled. “They told me stories of having to reach out to family members and sometimes they only got IOUs that were never paid. Online fundraising was a million times better.”

In the fall of 2019, parent volunteer and PTO Vice President Jamie Rosen wanted to simplify things. She worked hard on fundraising for her kids' school the year before and wanted a way to earn even more money for Maple Dale Elementary, all while spending less time volunteering. Surprisingly, she figured out a way to do both.

Rosen knew that there were more efficient ways to collect money from donors than the traditional cash and check system they used in the past. "We're living in a digital age," she said. Plus, the local middle school had used PledgeStar for their walk-a-thon and volunteers told Rosen that it was a very easy system to use and how much of a success their fundraiser was thanks to the online fundraising system.

Using PledgeStar's online fundraising system for the first time, Rosen and other parent volunteers helped their school raise almost double what they had earned the year before at their annual fun run event. Their total amount raised, a whopping $54,000, exceeded their goal by almost $30,000!

"We thought that using PledgeStar might help," said Rosen. "In the past, we had people turning in cash and checks and going to our PTO website if they wanted to make a credit card donation. It wasn't the easiest thing. Plus, my niece and nephew in Texas had sent me a request for PledgeStar in the past, so I knew how simple it was. The risk was so low with a small investment compared to our goal, so we thought, 'why not try it?'"

In the end, more than half of the school's donations were collected on the PledgeStar site. Rosen credits the ease of use and ability to post on social media with their huge success. She saw posts with links to the site on her Facebook and Instagram feeds and watched the money add up every week.

The Warrior Run, as they called it, was an exciting day for all five grade levels at Maple Dale. Rosen set school wide fundraising goals, each with a prize of an inflatable obstacle course the students could earn for the event. Thanks to far exceeding each goal, the students were able to earn all three courses. They took turns running over bouncy hills and weaving through inflatable race courses. The District Superintendent even made an appearance and students enjoyed seeing him slide down a giant bounce house before the day was over.

"They loved it," said Rosen. "The kindergarteners even got a little wet because of the rain, but they didn't care. It was a fun, really successful event."

Maple Dale will use the money to pay for fun programs throughout the year, including a Cultural Heritage Night, author visits, and a Family Social. The extra income was a surprise, so the PTO volunteers, along with school staff, are thrilled to have the chance to decide what to do with it.

"It was a win-win situation," said Rosen. "There was really no downside and everything went really smoothly. We will absolutely use PledgeStar next year."