Get Movin' Blog

Ever heard of PTO Today? Well they’re a nationally recognized company that provides resources, programs, tools, and articles for PTO and PTA groups!

In their latest publication PTO Today wrote all about how to organize a successful Fun Run event. In their article they featured yours truly!...Well, sort of. While PTO Today was unable to list any specific company names, including The Get Movin’ Crew, they did refer to our services and highlighted one of our clients: Bramlett Elementary!

Here’s what they had to say about TGMC: “…a company that provides all the marketing materials, hosts individual websites for students, and takes pledges online.”

While they didn't mention our awesome Personal Event Coaches and customizable Report System, we think PTO Today did a pretty good job of summing up our services in a single sentence!

We’d love for you to check out the article. We’d also love for you to read this blog post to check out what we consider highlights of the PTO Today article and the ways in which TGMC helps turn their “tips for success” into a reality for hundreds of schools across the nation!  

What You Can Learn From the PTO Today Article

PTO Today does a great job of covering the ups and the downs of putting on a successful Fun Run. They highlight the potential big success with bringing in money and they note the potential struggle of getting enough volunteers and organizing the event. While we know our services help alleviate the challenges of putting on a Fun Run, we appreciate the unbiased stance taken by PTO Today and we think there’s a lot that can be learned from their article (especially for those who are new to the exciting world of Fun Runs!).

Article Highlights:

• The simple structure of Fun Runs: We often say that putting on a Fun Run isn’t rocket science and PTO Today seems to agree!
• Getting help with organizing your Fun Run: The article mentions that there are now companies that will help PTO groups organize their Fun Run, and we’re one of them! We offer the online components for your fundraising needs and take the stress out of planning your fundraiser.
• Add flair to your Fun Run: PTO Today notes that Fun Runs can be taken up a notch by making them themed by color, glow-in-the-dark and more. One of our favorite versions of a Fun Run by our clients has been a superhero themed Fun Run by the Daniel Butler PTA!
• Student incentives: From big to small, rewards are a great way to keep students motivated! PTO Today mentions raffle tickets, weekly prizes and donated goods that can be used for student incentives. Plus, don’t forget that any of our clients are welcome to shop in our Fun Run Store for student rewards!
• Big profit: PTO Today uses Bramlett Elementary (one of our clients) as an example of just how much you can bring in with a Fun Run. Bramlett ended their fundraiser with $20,000 and had 58% of students participating in bringing in pledges! That’s what we call success.

We think PTO Today did a great job of condensing all there is to know about organizing a Fun Run and provided some valuable tips for readers. While they couldn’t use our name, they did get to highlight one of our clients and we consider that an honor!

If you’re new to the Fun Run world and would like to know more about this method of fundraising, we encourage you to check out these resources from TGMC:

1. Your Guide to Athon Fundraising 
2. Why a Healthy Fundraiser? 

With spring just around the corner, you might be looking for a company, like those described in the PTO Today article, that can help you organize your Fun Run. If so, we’d love to share with you why we are the preferred choice for schools when it comes to Fun Runs and what we offer that helps schools like Bramlett Elementary raise large profits in a single fundraising event. 

Already familiar with our services? How about checking out some school success stories from Fall 2014 and reading what our happy clients have to say about teaming up with us? 

Putting Good Tips to Great Use

For the second half of this blog post we want to take the tips from the PTO Today article and show our readers how TGMC puts each one to great use through our fundraising services!

1. “The most important component is a group of excited, motivated kids who can’t wait to get to the starting line.”

At TGMC we have an amazing resource called the Event Toolbox. Basically, this is a stuffed full of step-by-step guides for putting on your own event/Fun Run. It includes assembly script, promotional flyers & tons of student incentive ideas! We've done thousands of Fun Runs & everything we've learned is in this toolbox, including how to keep students motivated and excited through great experience-based rewards.

2. “Students are encouraged to collect donations or pledges, either as a lump sum or for each lap that’s run.”

Our Student Fundraising Pages are, by far, the most important online component of The Get Movin' Crew program. Schools typically raise 70% of total donations online and earn at least 50% more when they add in this crucial online component! Each student has the potential to raise, on average, $95 with their fundraising page, compared to an average $35 in cash/check. Plus, it’s a quick and easy set-up process for parents, they simply register their child (taking less than 2 minutes) and begin sharing his/her page with family & friends using our online sharing tools!

3. “Like any big project, a fun run needs several key ingredients, including an organized committee and lots of volunteers.”

Our services actually reduce the need for tons of volunteers. You will certainly need them for the day of the event, but the planning process is broken down into manageable chunks for teams of any size to handle. In our Event Toolbox we provide step-by-step guides for each role in a fundraising team, including the Event Coordinator, Event Planner, Event Promoter, & the Event Financial Planner. Plus, we provide you with your very own Personal Event Coach! Every school has an expert Personal Event Coach (PEC) available to you via phone or email. It's like having your own personal help desk at your beck and call to help you as much or as little as you need!

4. “PTOs can have success if they choose to work with a company or plan the event on their own.”

Sometimes smaller schools think they can’t afford the services of a company to help plan and facilitate their Fun Run. But, with TGMC that’s just not true: we work with schools from around the nation, both big & small! Our pricing structure is very simple! We have a startup fee for unlimited events for a full year (i.e., Fun Run in the Fall, Read-Athon in the Spring, etc.). Schools keep 100% of cash/check donations and we just charge a percentage of online pledges only. 

In the end, schools only end up paying 6-8% of their online pledges! When you look at the big picture of what we charge for online pledges and how much schools typically raise, it doesn't take much math to know that we are a wise choice for your fundraising needs.

5. “[Fun Runs] create a lot of excitement and spirit at school and, in the right circumstances, they can raise thousands of dollars.”

That’s more of a fact than a tip, but we wanted to highlight it anyway! At the end of the day, our services don’t much matter if we’re not helping schools raise large profits for their needs, such as playground equipment, field trips, new computers, and classroom resources. We’re proud to say that our clients raise more AND keep more with our services!

In 2014, our Fun Runs & Athon events broke all our previous records. We helped hundreds of schools raise millions of dollars. 80% of all schools met or exceeded their pledge goals. Best of all, they kept 95% of all funds raised. It’s no wonder that we're the proud leader in giving the most $$ back to schools!

Enjoy this article? We recommend you check out:

• What We Can All Learn From the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge 
• 6 Fundraising Hacks 

If you see anymore headlines that have to do with Fun Run events, send ‘em our way! We’d love to see what people are writing about this great way to raise money for PTO groups.