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.”