The “Dragon Dash,” as the jog-a-thon has been named, consisted of over 800 grade K-5 runners taking turns running around the school’s track throughout the day in an effort to raise money for their school’s yearly expenses.

In years past, Hmura said, the school had used several fundraisers to pay for “extra” costs, like technology improvements and the International Baccalaureate program. But after she conducted a parent survey, she found that most families (around 70-80%) preferred to hold once-per-year fun-based fundraiser that could generate large amounts of money.

To meet her large goal of $131 per student and with only one shot to do it, Hmura wanted to streamline the process for families and expand their donor networks. To do this, she turned to PledgeStar and found that students who used the program earned significantly more than students who did not.

“What I love about it is it’s really designed for schools,” Hmura said, “It was just an awesome system.”

Throughout her intense marketing campaign, Hmura urged families to sign onto PledgeStar using small signs with her campaign logos placed on the street, banners and balloons, daily email communications with families, information packets sent home at the summer registration and even a creative promotional video seen on the Findley PTO website. The students were offered incentives, too, ranging from commemorative water bottles to limo rides and Wii games with the principal.

School mascot Sparky the Dragon and his pal, Sparkles, were not only used in the video campaigns, but made regular surprise appearances on campus and at weekly assemblies to add to the Dragon Dash excitement.

Teachers, who were incentivized with restaurant gift cards, played a big role in the campaign to get students signed onto PledgeStar and bring in their donations. They were sent a daily class total every morning and encouraged to recognize students who met goals or brought in donations. The result: a whopping 92% student participation rate among Findley students.

“Our PTO had given us an ambitious goal and we couldn't have reached and actually beaten our goal without PledgeStar,” Hmura said. “The online features, the instant receipts, the tracking features and especially the customer service, well exceeded our expectations. There is no question that we’ll continue using PledgeStar in the future at Findley Elementary.”