Hermosa Vista Elementary in Mesa Arizona is in for a bright new school year following its annual Color Run, which took place at the end of September. This year's fundraiser brought in approximately $22,000. "We're really really proud of our students," says administrator Trisha Marcum, beaming. "When you look at how about 180 students raised $22,000, it's amazing."

Hermosa Vista used PledgeStar in 2019 and excitedly returned in 2022 for its fundraiser. Trisha says the committee tried a different site in 2021, but that it was "a total disaster." She continues, "We decided we will never use them again. We came back to PledgeStar for the Color Run because it's so much easier."

Trisha says the school loves PledgeStar and that the PTO has added a note to all of its materials: "PledgeStar is the only site you need to do the Color Run."

Hermosa Vista found that PledgeStar is easy to use "both on the administrator side and the parent side." PledgeStar makes it painless for event coordinators to pull "the top classes, the top students, and to pull reports for which students get which rewards." Trisha notes how simple it is for parents and guardians to sign their kids up and send out donation requests.

Trisha points out that PledgeStar's new company match donation tool was "great" for Hermosa Vista's fundraiser: "We were able to understand the matching businesses' needs and sign up how they needed. It was easy peasy."

To motivate students, the staff put thermometer goal posts around campus. "We used construction paper to fill the thermometers when the students reached goals. We updated and listed the rewards for the kids every day or so, so that they had a visual and could say, 'We're so close to the principal prank' or 'to the dunk tank.'"

The hard work paid off: "It was a great day. Every student gets to participate in the Color Run. We had huge bins filled with water and water guns and we alternated between water stations and powder stations." To make the Run as fun and colorful as possible, each of the powder stations had a different color.

In order to go the extra mile for students, Hermosa Vista offered an alternative to their Color Run: a Color Glow Party. "We have balloons and tape and things that glow in the dark. There are blacklights and everything is off. We have music and the students get to dance and enjoy all that while the Color Run is going on. The kids party, then all of the students meet and take a picture for their grade. The kids all get popsicles to cool down, then change clothes and go on with their day."