PTO member Kristen Van Hull had one goal in mind when volunteering to run Primrose Hill Elementary School's Jog-A-Thon for her fourth year, raise more than ever in order to fund a new playground. In the past, Van Hull worked exceptionally hard to organize an event that was both fun and raised money for the school, however the school's proceeds never exceeded $3,500. In order to reach her goal, she knew she had to do something different, so Van Hull took to the internet to research the best online fundraising platforms out there.

"I searched for hours," she said, "and I kept coming back to PledgeStar as the best system, cost and feature wise. It was user friendly and cheaper than any other option, so I went with it. We were able to reach so many people, and it did the work for you! We raised over $3,000 in just one day from our family and friends in a streamlined way. Our families found the website so simple to use, and extremely effective in raising money! The old door to door paper system was just so archaic compared to PledgeStar."

The Jog-A-Thon's results thrilled Van Hull. After using PledgeStar for the first time, students at Primrose raised over $13,500 -- four times the amount they had raised in previous years! For a small preschool through 3rd grade campus, the number was very impressive. Over 90% of all donors used PledgeStar to make their donations, increasing their revenue by almost 400%.

In order to focus on her goal, Van Hull kept the event simple and let PledgeStar do the heavy lifting. She was able to keep her expenses low because she didn't need a theme or expensive prizes to get the kids interested in such a fun event. She offered simple incentives to get the kids excited to raise money, such as an extra recess to the top earning classes in each grade and a movie day for the top earning class overall. "Free incentives were all we needed to please the kids and get them excited to raise money."

To celebrate, the town held a Playground Launch Party one month after the Jog-A-Thon. Parents lined the Main street of town celebrating their success. "Thanks to PledgeStar we reached Phase I of our playground project quicker than we ever expected," Van Hull said. In early November, an Oodle Swing and a shade structure were installed at Primrose Hill Elementary School.

"We will definitely be using PledgeStar next year for our Jog-A-Thon and for our upcoming Bowl-A-Thon too!" Congratulations, Primrose Hill students and families!