If you’re in the field of education, then you’re most likely no stranger to a read-a-thon. This type of fundraiser has been a staple for schools all over the country for a long time! Especially in elementary schools where kids are just learning to read.
With the constant challenge of lacking funds, schools are no stranger to fundraisers. They have to be as student achievement is directly linked to the amount of money schools have to help them learn.
Until there is more movement in the education sector that spurs policy change, your school can at least put on fundraisers, like read-a-thons, to raise money for the things your students need!
What is a Read-a-Thon Fundraiser?
A read-a-thon challenges students to read as many books as they can during an allotted period of time. It can be made into a fundraising event by allowing friends and family to pledge a dollar amount for the amount of pages or books read. For example:
- Carey is a 4th grade student at Desert Willow Elementary School who’s participating in their annual read-a-thon fundraiser.
- Carey’s mom, dad, sister and aunt all pledge that they’ll donate $10 for every 100 pages Carey reads.
- At the end of the read-a-thon, Carey has read 500 pages.
- Since Carey’s mom, dad, sister and aunt all pledged $10 for every 100 pages read, they must each donate $50 to the school.
- With Carey’s family alone, she raised $200 for her school in one month.
If you take this example and multiply that by how many kids attend your school, you can raise a good amount of money!
What Are the Benefits of Read-A-Thons?
The incredible thing about read-a-thons is that there are a ton of benefits that come along with them!
Read-a-thons are a simple concept that can raise a lot of money
If you read through our quick read-a-thon example above and thought it sounded pretty straightforward, it’s because it is! There really isn’t that much to them, which makes them really easy to pull off. Especially, if you use an online fundraising platform like ours that helps to keep track of all the donations digitally, spread the word, and make it easy for anyone anywhere to contribute. All it takes is a little planning and organization.
Because of the simplicity of read-a-thons in nature, they have great potential for raising a lot of money because there is little overhead. Students can simply choose books from your library and track how much they read! If you have a big school and get 100% participation, you’ll have the ability to raise thousands.
Read-a-thons encourage reading
Another amazing benefit that comes with having your own read-a-thon is that it encourages students to read. Did you know that 65% of America’s fourth graders can’t read at a proficient level? A read-a-thon can help to ensure that your students do!
Not only that, but read-a-thons offer a ton of flexibility. Students can read all kinds of books however and wherever they want. They could be on vacation with their family on a beach reading on their mom’s Kindle! Or at their sister’s softball game diving into a fun mystery.
Read-A-Thons bring the school and community together
Perhaps the best thing about a read-a-thon is that it’s a great way to bring the entire school and the surrounding community together. Everyone can participate!
All of the students can read and compete with each other while parents, friends, family, staff, and local community cheer them on (and donate of course). Nothing is more light-hearted and fun than bringing everyone together for a great cause. And who can say no to those adorable faces?
How Does a Read-A-Thon Work?
The beauty of a read-a-thon is that the concept is simple. Not only does this make them super easy to organize but also helps increase participation! Here’s how read-a-thons work:
- Your students get their reading on: The foundation of a read-a-thon fundraiser is the reading itself! First, decide how long the read-a-thon will last for your students. This could be a month, a quarter, or even a semester.
- They track how much reading they’re doing: You’ll have to decide if you want students’ progress to be measured by pages, chapters, or books. To help participants keep track, you can create simple worksheets for them!
- Their supporters make pledges on how much they can read: This is when the fundraising begins! Friends and family can make a pledge to donate a certain amount of money for how much reading the student accomplishes. Usually, they’ll pledge to donate X amount of dollars for X pages, chapters, etc. read.
- Their supporters donate money based on their pledge: After the read-a-thon fundraiser is over, each student will tally up how many total pages (or whichever unit you choose) they read in the given period of time. It is then determined how much each person owes. If the pledge is $1 a page, and the student read 100 pages, they’d donate $100 total.
A big benefit of a read-a-thon should be it’s simplicity. That’s why it’s important to make the pledging easy.
How to Organize a Read-A-Thon
We won’t lie, there’s a lot that goes into organizing a successful read-a-thon. You’ll need all hands on deck! Follow the steps below to begin planning yours:
Step 1: Lay out and nail down all the details
In the beginning, it’s important that you get all the details squared away. Make sure you put all the rules together so students and staff understand exactly what they need to be doing. Some things you’ll want to consider are:
- How long will the read-a-thon last?
- Will you be measuring reading progress by pages, chapters, entire books, etc.?
- What kind of books can students read?
- How will reading progress be documented?
- Will there be rewards given for milestones reached? What milestones will there be?
- How much money are you trying to raise?
- What are we raising money for?
- How will donors make pledges?
- What kind of collateral will you need created for the read-a-thon?
Step 2: Get the students, staff, and supporters excited
After you put together all the nitty gritty details of your read-a-thon, it’s time to get everyone prepped and ready for it! This is a good time to bring it up in assemblies, make announcements over the school intercom, and start putting up posters in the hallways and classrooms.
Start sending home informational flyers and including the information in newsletters too! You’ll want to ensure all the students, teachers, and parents know how the read-a-thon works.
If you take the easy route and use an online read-a-thon platform, spend time educating everyone on how the platform works. Easy how-to videos with tools, like Loom, are always a good idea!
Step 3: Let the reading begin
As soon as your read-a-thon start date hits, it’s time to raise some funds! Your students will be off to the races and you’ll want to be encouraging them every step of the way. Some tips to think about during the read-a-thon:
- Give your students time to read during their classes to encourage more participation
- Spur competition between classes or grades by rewarding pizza parties or no homework days to the groups that read the most
- Create milestone rewards for students who hit certain levels of progress
- Display progress charts throughout the school or in classrooms so students can see who’s stacking up
- Get more donors involved by sharing your read-a-thon on social media, via email, and in mail-home materials
Step 4: Announce the results and celebrate
Once you reach the end of your read-a-thon fundraiser, there are just a few more tasks before the celebrations begin. Teachers will need to collect all their student’s reading data and do a final tally.
Then comes the fun part, the celebration. Hold a school-wide ceremony to officially mark the end of the read-a-thon and announce how much money was raised! You could consider doing things like:
- Having the assembly on a half day to reward the students for their hard work
- Giving prizes to the student, class, and grade who read the most
- Creating a big, cardboard check for the amount raised that people can take picture with
- Making the principal or staff do silly things at the conclusion of the read-a-thon based on the success
Quick Tip: Don’t forget to take some pictures and videos all throughout your read-a-thon and the final celebration to share after the fact!
Read-A-Thon Ideas to Give You Inspiration
There’s really no one size fits all approach for a read-a-thon fundraiser. You can make them exactly what you want them to be! To give you an idea, here are a few examples to get your wheels turning:
- Have a month-long read-a-thon where students collect pledges for total minutes read and are rewarded with a homework pass every time they surpass the 6 hour mark.
- Host a quarter-long read-a-thon where students collect pledges for total pages read. Students who read over 400 pages get out of class early to attend a pizza party just for them.
- Run your read-a-thon 6 months and have students collect pledges for total books read. Students who read 5 or more books get to choose anything they want from the next school book fair and also get a prize from a local sponsor.
The Children’s School of Brooklyn called their read-a-thon “Ready, Set, Read!” and had their students record their minutes read in reading logs for a month. They counted everything from books and magazines to comics and even homework. Students were awarded at different milestones with certificates, backpack badges, bookstore gift certificates, and t-shirts!
Host an Unforgettable Read-A-Thon
Read-a-thons provide a great way for your school to raise money for the things you need while also promoting a fun, reading-filled environment for your students! It’s something that when done right, they’ll never forget.
We know how important fundraising is for schools, which is why our online fundraising platform has all the bells and whistles schools need to pull off an unforgettable read-a-thon. It’s super simple to get all your students set up to receive pledges for however many pages, chapters, books, etc. that they’ll read.
Sharing your read-a-thon is a breeze too. So anyone, anywhere can jump in and make their pledge! Rely less on the manual, pencil and paper method and let RallyUp do the work for you.
