School Turns Beloved Walk-A-Thon Into A Raise Craze Kindness Walk & More Than Doubles Their Results
Fast Facts
Location: Illinois
Age Group: Elementary
Donations Received: Over $35,000
% Donations Kept: 92%
Acts of Kindness Completed: Over 1,200
THE COMBO
Franklin Elementary, located in Park Ridge, IL (a suburb of Chicago), just completed their second Raise Craze fundraiser and raised $35,200 while completing over 1200 Acts of Kindness!!! This is an incredible accomplishment considering they had done equally as well the year before and only have 575 students. In previous years, they held their own in-house walk-a-thon. This was a yearly tradition their school community looked forward to year after year. Needless to say, they didn’t want to let it go completely so they decided to innovate! To give their internal efforts a boost, they partnered with Raise Craze to broaden their reach and turned their beloved walk-a-thon into a Kindness Walk! Even better, they went from raising $15,000 on their own to over $35,000 with Raise Craze. The best of both worlds!
THE FULLY INVESTED FACULTY & ADMINISTRATION
With a highly supportive principal and an energetic PTA, Franklin kicked off their fundraiser with a fun, exciting school-wide assembly. They promoted monster keychains as their individual incentives and allowed the students to vote on a grand prize for reaching their goal. The choice was whether to slime, silly string, or pie the principal. Giving the students fun options really boosted the excitement and kept them motivated!
Franklin’s success was also measured by their highly engaged faculty. In addition to individual incentives, Franklin’s teachers put together a list of “Teacher Experiences” for students to win. This allowed top earners to choose from an array of fun activities to do with their favorite teacher.
THE PARTICIPATION BOOST
Throughout their fundraiser, Franklin provided students with easy school-wide acts of kindness. By partnering with local organizations including Uncle Pete’s Sack Lunches, Bennie’s Book Bank, and Lutheran General Hospital, these acts of kindness engaged the community and boosted participation! Regardless of the ability to raise money, students were able to participate by spreading kindness.
Finally, to end their Raise Craze fundraiser, Franklin celebrated with their Kindness Walk! This fun celebration helped students focus on the finish line in terms of their fundraising efforts while keeping the treasured event alive.
THE TAKEAWAYS
Since switching to Raise Craze from their do-it-yourself walk-a-thon, Franklin has more than doubled the amount raised. In addition, they’ve completed over 1200 acts of kindness this year alone.
Here are a few takeaways that contributed to their success:
Highly Supportive Administration & Faculty Try to meet with your principal at least 2 months prior to launch to discuss dates and approvals. Plan to drop in a faculty meeting to engage the teachers as well!
Opening & Closing Celebrations Launch your fundraiser with a school-wide assembly and close it with a celebration. This gives parents a sense of urgency in terms of the timeline and motivates the students!
Constant Communications Keep parents and students engaged by communicating daily through social media, email, PTA website, and school announcements.
Creative Visuals Use the Raise Craze posters, banners, and Kindness Wall to make your walls talk. Come up with creative ways to show your school’s progress - think thermometers, race tracks, and physical leaderboards. This generates excitement and gets students talking!