Booster Partners with Dude Perfect

Getting students and families excited about a school fundraiser can have a tremendous impact on its success. If your community is motivated to take part in your event, you will raise more funds. Sounds simple, right? But tapping into that excitement isn’t always easy. Which is why we’re so pumped about Booster’s new partnership with Dude Perfect!  

Kids (and parents!) love these YouTube stars — with over 58 million subscribers! Dude Perfect brings big energy to everything they do, and it’s this energy that will have students more motivated than ever!  

Beginning in the fall of 2023, Booster will have exclusive Dude Perfect content to share with participating schools throughout each fundraiser. Plus, lots of fun official Dude Perfect swag prizes to keep participation strong all the way through the event.  

If you have a child who is a super fan of this ultimate Dude Perfect crew, ask them if they want to be in a personalized video with the Dudes. You’re going to get a very ecstatic “yes!” With Booster and Dude Perfect teaming up, now we can make that dream come true! Parents will upload their child’s picture to be featured in a Dude Perfect video, trick shots and all. 

To celebrate this new partnership, Booster is also hosting a giveaway! Enter to win VIP tickets to Dude Perfect’s Panda-Monium tour and give your child an experience they will never forget! The winner of these VIP tickets will get early access to the event, amazing seats and an exclusive photo opportunity with the Dudes themselves! To learn more and enter to win visit http://bit.ly/3Zl7e46

5 Summer Tips to Start Your PTA School Year Strong

Ahhhh, summer. Those long days, outdoor adventures and beautiful nights are here. You survived the end-of-year rat race, and now you’re ready for some well-deserved relaxation. 

Start your summer with a complete break from your PTA leadership duties to allow yourself time to rest and rejuvenate. When you’re ready, take advantage of the important opportunities summer provides for a jumpstart on the upcoming school year with these five helpful tips!

Tip #1: Meet with the Executive Board

Summer is a great time to gather the executive board for an informal meeting to reflect on the past school year and discuss your association’s goals. This gives you a chance to identify specific needs, necessary changes, and volunteer gaps for the upcoming school year. 

It’s also an excellent time to get together for some fun, team-building activities that help you get to know each other a little better! Have a barbecue, talk about your summer plans, or just relax on the patio together. It’s a nice way to foster an enjoyable, cohesive team atmosphere. Just remember to follow the CDC’s COVID-19 safety precautions!

Tip #2: Check in with School Administrators

Your school administrators can be hard to catch during the school year. However, during the summer, their schedule slows down considerably, making it an ideal time for a casual touch-base. 

They’ll likely be planning for the upcoming school year, which gives you the perfect opportunity to ask about their financial needs and goals. Are they hoping to give the playground a facelift or expand technology? This insight will be valuable as you plan your fundraising goals and programs for the year ahead. 

The informal feel of summer also creates a unique space for some relationship-building conversation with your administration. Building a strong connection with your school’s leadership team is key to a successful partnership.

Tip #3: Organize Your “Back to School” Welcome Packet

A little preparation goes a long way! Use this time to pull together the information you will need for your PTA’s “Back to School” welcome packet. Include a calendar of events, important dates, and membership information. Don’t forget to save the date for the official PTA Back-to-School Week, Sept. 13-17, 2021—National PTA will be sharing yearlong solutions, resources and program opportunities to help plan your school year, engage your school community and get support for students and families.

Assembling welcome packets is an easy task for children, so don’t be afraid to enlist the kids to make it go faster. It’s the perfect activity for a rainy afternoon!

Tip #4: Begin Recruiting Volunteers for Next School Year

During the summer, people are less stressed and more likely to say yes to upcoming school-year commitments. Get a jump on recruiting additional volunteers now to start your year off with a full volunteer team. Check out the National PTA Membership page for ideas.

The best way to recruit volunteers over the summer is with a volunteer form you share online. Find out the benefits of a volunteer form, what to include on your form, and grab our free volunteer form template here.

#5: Continue to Communicate with Parents

Don’t shut down your communication channels just because school is out. Staying connected with parents and families is essential, even during summer vacation. 

You can use social media and email to check in, publicize volunteer needs, share exciting school news, and give teasers to get people excited about the fun events you have planned for the upcoming school year. Just remember to keep it light and infrequent.

The back-to-school season can be hectic, especially for active volunteers like you. These five summer tips will ease the transition and lighten the load so your PTA will be all set for another successful school year! 


Booster is the parent brand for the Boosterthon Fun Run which exists to strengthen schools by increasing funds and inspiring students through a remarkable fitness and character-building experience. Dedicated to growing intentional leaders and creating remarkable experiences, Booster is located in Atlanta, GA.  Founded by Chris Carneal, Booster serves schools in more than 37 states.

Tips for How to Fundraise in These Times

For most people, it’s hard to even begin to process how different the school experience is for children today, let alone administrators, teachers and staff. It’s simply complicated beyond compare.

And then, as a parent leader, try figuring out how you can still raise those critically needed funds with all of the changes at your school. Can it even be done?

The answer is an encouraging “yes!”

Schools and parent associations still have big financial needs even with remote learning, A/B schedules, and masks making things a bit more challenging. “We’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars from our budget this year,” Catey Nossi, Principal of Wanda Hirsch Elementary in California said. “We needed these funds to support remote learning. Booster is probably the easiest way to raise funds in a short amount of time. This will be our only fundraiser this year.”

The team at Booster has taken their 18 years of school fundraising expertise and coupled that with the learnings from hosting their first 100 fundraisers this Fall (read about how one fall school raised over $40,000 while complete virtual here). Below are their best tips to help you ensure a successful fundraiser is hosted at your school this year, no matter if your students are learning in-person or virtually:

Top Tips for Successful Fundraising in These Times

  1. Clearly State Your Goals
    Even before COVID, people tend to give less when they can’t picture in their mind exactly what they’re giving toward. So, name your goal clearly. Be very specific. If people can easily see what it is they are giving to they are far more likely to show their support.
  2. Fundraise Beyond School Parents
    Part of the reason schools leaders may be unsure about raising funds this Fall is the economic uncertainty they feel for their school community. That’s because most fundraises require parents to give 100% of the funds, but they don’t have to with some fundraising partners.For example, during a Boosterthon fundraiser parents are asked to SHARE about their school’s fundraiser before giving themselves. And, this Fall our Boosterthon fundraisers have seen that on average 70% of donations are from NON-PARENT donors, like friends and extended families! That means less financial burden on school families and more profit overall for schools.
  3. Significantly Pump Up Your Communication
    Effectively communicating your fundraising has always been important, but this school year calls for leveling up your promotion big time. Schools that are the most successful use all their channels early, often, and consistently. From teacher and room parent emails, social media posts, text messaging, video messages from the administration, and more – when parents hear from schools frequently, the message sticks and people act. We recommend you develop a communications timeline for your fundraiser that would begin 2 weeks in advance. This will allow you to ramp-up your communications in advance of the kick-off. Then, keep the momentum going throughout your fundraiser with regular updates on where you are to the goal.  At the end, be sure to say a big thank you and showcase to the school community what it was your purchased when the funds or how you used them at a later date so they can feel that they helped make an impact, too!
  4. Find Opportunities for Corporate Matching
    With schools needing to raise more, but not wanting to put the pressure on their parents, finding ways to profit more through corporate matching is a big win. Ask your fundraising company if they offer a corporate matching program. Schools who partner with fundraisers that have corporate matching capabilities profit more because large organizations across the country are matching donations. Learn more about corporate matching here!
  5. Make Fun and School Pride Center Stage
    If you’re not having fun and building school pride during your fundraiser, you’re missing out on an opportunity to strengthen your school community. With many schools navigating A/B and virtual learning, families can feel less connected with their school. Ramp up the fun and the pride by hosting the right type of fundraiser that can raise funds, spirits, and school pride. Use these three questions to determine if the fundraising you’re selecting is the right one to raise money while having fun and generating increased school pride:
  • Does my fundraiser engage the faculty and staff in the fun?
  • Can all students and school families participate?
  • Will the students think it’s fun?

 

So, despite an unconventional start to the school year, not only is successful fundraising possible, but it can lift school spirit by providing energy, fun, and positivity. Choose the right fundraiser and implement these proven tips to make this year a great one!

Need help choosing the right fundraiser for your school? Download this Fundraiser Selection Checklist to help you make the best decision.

 

 

Top 10 Ways to Grow School Spirit From Afar

When my children’s school closed in March, the president and vice president of our parent association were adamant about maintaining a sense of community among students and families while social distancing.

They came up with a virtual Spirit Week that they hosted on the parent association’s Facebook page, encouraging families to post pictures of their children participating in the different activities comprising Spirit Week. The idea was fantastic, and it got me thinking about other ways to nurture school spirit virtually.

 Here are 10 ideas to consider for your school:

 1. Participate in the Boost Educators Challenge

Encourage each student’s family to challenge the rest of your school’s families to give their teacher(s) a shout out or thank you over the school’s social channels. We started this challenge at Booster. Check out BoostEducatorsChallenge.com for details.

 2. Host a School Spirit Week on Facebook and Instagram 

Host a daily fun activity for students or families to do from home and post their work on the school’s Facebook or Instagram page. An easy way to incentivize kids to play along is by selecting one participant at random to receive a special prize.

 3. Start a “Five Days of Gratitude” Project

It feels good to do things for others, so why not launch a card or letter writing project where students write letters or make cards to send to frontline and essential workers like doctors and nurses. You can select the group that’s done the most for your community during the pandemic.

 4. Open a Commemorative Online Pop-up Shop

You might consider an online pop-up shop for Kindergarten to fifth graders to purchase items to remember this milestone year. If you want to make it a fundraiser, funds raised might be used for school needs like e-learning initiatives, food for students in need or perhaps a local food bank or other charity. Check out Booster Spirit Wear for some milestone celebration ideas.

 5. Host a Virtual Graduation Ceremony

This could be an invitation-only event hosted on Zoom or through another online conferencing provider so school families can watch the graduation remarks live. You might also consider creating yard signs for newly-graduated students, if it feels right for your school community.

6. Feature a Teacher & Student Talent Showcase

You probably have some super talented teachers and students at your school. Why not host a talent show night using Zoom or another online conferencing provider that will allow many people to watch and cheer participants on? If you want to make it interesting, allow the audience members to vote for their favorite acts!

 7. Start an “Art Smiles” Project

Consider hosting a school-wide art project. Assign each class a special theme to celebrate in art. Your school could donate the student artwork to a local nursing home or senior living facility near the school. This will “wow” the residents and allow your students to have their artwork on display. Check out this article about seniors receiving similar special gifts.

8. Do a Give Back Spirit Event

If your school wants to join together on an initiative that drives school spirit and raises funds that can be used for essential school community needs (i.e., Chromebooks, internet access, food for families, e-learning platforms, etc.) or even a local charity, the new, fully virtual (but still super fun!) Boosterthon At Home program might be an option for your school.

 9. Host a Virtual Career Day

This could be hosted for a single class or the entire school or both. What a great opportunity to have students learn about different job functions! This is another opportunity to showcase folks who’re making a difference in the community. You likely have many parents at your school you can honor.

 10. Start a Virtual Family Trivia Competition

An online trivia competition between grade-level families or play teachers vs. students. There are many services out there (take a look at Crowdpurr) if you want to get a membership and even customize the questions.

Any member of a school community can help boost school spirit and keep your school culture thriving. If you’re a PTA leader, perhaps you can get one or two of these ideas going to end the school year on a high note. If you’re a parent, perhaps you can share the ideas in this blog with your school administrators and/or PTA leaders so they can consider a spirit activity or two.

What I do know is that the social component of school is harder to “do” remotely, but every bit as important (and memorable) to students as distance learning. So why not rally school communities around something uplifting and fun to end the year on a high note?

 


Kim Miller works full-time for Booster and is a mom with two children, ages four and seven. 

National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service and no endorsement is implied by this content.

8 Easy Steps for an Awesome Field Day!

Winter is winding down, which can only mean one thing—Spring is right around the corner! You may be looking ahead to a 5th grade graduation, or even thinking of that upcoming summer vacation, but wait! Don’t let Field Day catch you by surprise this year.

At Booster Spirit Wear, we work with thousands of schools across the country every day and hear all of the best insider tips and tricks to pulling off the biggest events of the school year. Below we have complied everything we know about Field Day and built out 8 easy steps to help you be the hero for your school and students this year.

Build Your Committee and Choose a Date

Let the planning begin! First and foremost, you should pick a Field Day date that works best for your school. Consider things like your location, where you’re located, and public holidays. Once you have this set, everyone has something to look forward to!

Now it’s time to build your team. There are countless positions you may decide are important to nominate, but to name a few we suggest having a Day of Games Chair, someone over Teacher Communications, and a Sponsorship Chair. Want to keep all this info in one place? Check out this customizable Field Day Experience Toolkit to help your organize your committee and more!

Establish Sponsorship levels and begin reaching out

Sponsorship is one of the very best ways to make your Field Day a success not only your school, but for the community as a whole. Committing to the Field Day sponsorship process isn’t as daunting as some may think. In fact, we’ve provided you some simple steps below and resources to help make this an easy and rewarding process for your school here. First step? Create your sponsorship levels. These are the tiers in which businesses can commit to give. It will allow community sponsors of any level get involved with a local school they’d love to support. We’ve included suggested Sponsorship Tiers in our guide.

Order Your Field Day Merch

We believe one of the best ways to take your Field Day to the next level is to create custom merchandise for your school or even by grade. Field Day t-shirts provide an excellent place to sport sponsor logos, and your students will love having team tees, custom water bottles or shades as a memento from the day. Click here for a custom quote in seconds for all your Field Day needs!

Make Your Supplies Budget

So, planning is underway. Sponsors are beginning to deliver their support. The students and teachers getting excited. But what do you actually need? It’s time to make your supplies budget. Your committee should come together to determine everything you will need, from coolers to cones and everything in between! Find a customizable supplies budget table for your to use in our Field Day Experience Toolkit.

Recruit Parent and Teacher Volunteers

It’s likely that your committee has already been in touch with your schools PTO, but it’s a great time to begin recruiting day of volunteers for set-up, tear-down, hydration stations, and of course game masters!

Plan out the Big Day!

You’ve likely already determined your day of activities, but it’s important to make sure you have a solidified schedule to share with volunteers and teachers. Things to remember include: what will lunch look like? Is dismissal changing any? And don’t forget a rainy-day backup plan!

Set Up Field Day and Orient Your Volunteers

Weather permitting, we suggest setting up as much as possible for your Field Day activities before the day of. This is when your committed volunteers really get to show their colors! Water stations, cone stacked obstacle courses, and signage can be set up so the morning of.

You may choose to meet with your volunteers before set-up. A few things you’ll want to make sure to do when meeting with your team include: thanking them in advance! Establishing a way to communicate throughout the day. Establish clarity of roles and emergency procedures. And make sure everyone knows where to get water. We are definitely team: No one passes out!!!

Once set-up and orientation are complete, you get to take a deep breath. You’re almost there!

Have the Best Field Day Ever!!

We can’t tell you this is the easiest step, but it is by far the most exciting step! All your hard work is paying off in the form of giggles and squeals as your students seriously have the best day of the year.

We hope this post has given you an outline of how to approach and plan the best Field Day ever with less stress and more fun! If you would like an even more detailed how-to checklist with a Three Month to day-of countdown, we’ve got you cover here.

How Boosterthon Turned This Skeptical Dad into a Fan

I hate school fundraisers with a passion. You see, I have three kids in school, from seventh grade all the way down to third grade. We’ve reluctantly participated in our share of school fundraisers over the years and will likely face many more in the next decade or so to come. Each time we’ve done so, I’ve cringed. While I understand that fundraisers are a necessary evil for many public schools, I’d much rather cut a check at the beginning of the school year and never have someone tell my kids that if they’ll only sell X amount of stuff that no one wants, then they can have this cheap trinket and the school will make a percentage of those sales dollars… much less have to try to sell 3X as a family so each kid can have a cheap trinket that will get lost, broken, or trashed before the week is out.

This is coming from a guy who serves in key positions with a number of local fundraising organizations. Included in that mix is my role on my youngest daughter’s elementary school PTA board as the school Watch D.O.G.S. chairman. It has been my experience that I am not alone in my disdain for student fundraising, as reflected last fall when it came time to talk about fundraising options for the current school year. Oh, joy! Do we decide to sell this or to sell that?

This school year, a newer member of the PTA board suggested taking a different approach. Prior to moving to the district, her children had participated in a Boosterthon Fun Run at their previous school district. She mentioned that it had both gone over really well with everyone involved–students, families, and school staff–and saw better participation and results than a lot of more traditional (read: “sales”) fundraisers they had done in the past.

Boosterthon Malachi Story

I was skeptical. “They do all the work and we get paid” has never played out that way for me in my fundraising experience. But, I kept my mouth shut. Anything that didn’t involve asking grandparents, neighbors, and co-workers to buy something (especially with Girl Scout cookie sales going on at that same time of year) was the lesser evil, in my opinion. Additionally, I wasn’t confident that the school’s administration and teachers would be cool with someone not connected to the school district coming in and telling them how this fundraiser was going to go and taking a portion of their instructional time. Principals and teachers tend to be Type-A personalities. Even if we moved forward as a PTA board, there was still a chance this would be murdered somewhere down the line.

In the end, I was pleasantly surprised with how well our first Boosterthon program went.

How Boosterthon Worked

Our PTA board leaders and building principal sat down with a Boosterthon representative and selected a date for the Fun Run, which in our case was Thursday, January 18, 2018. A pair of Boosterthon team members arrived on Monday, January 8 to begin setup. Over the next eight school days (which was interrupted by a holiday and multiple-day school closing due to winter weather), the pair got students pumped up for the run by sharing Boosterthon’s “Castle Quest” character-focused curriculum. Their presentations were high-energy (as a parent of a child with sensory processing issues, I was, yes, skeptical of the approach) and effective. From day one of the lead up to the Fun Run, my daughter was excited.

Just as importantly–if not more important–the teachers were excited as well.

Boosterthon school

Instructions were sent home that walked parents through using Boosterthon’s online tools to create a donation page for each child and share instantly on a number of major social media networks. Donors could choose to make a flat donation or a per-lap donation. Boosterthon caps the number of laps a child can receive credit for at 35, so per-lap donors can do a little math and keep their donation within their budget.

One of the great things about the Boosterthon Fun Run is that every student gets to run, regardless of donations received. With other fundraisers, students who don’t sell whatever have to watch while much-coveted trash and trinkets are distributed to the top sellers among their classmates. Nothing like drilling the ol’, “Put that half-pint of milk down. Milk’s for closers.” mentality into them while they’re young, right? Everyone runs during the Boosterthon fun run, and all the laps are counted, even if they’re run for free.

On the day of the event, additional Boosterthon staff arrived and transformed our school gym into a track/rave/party room. String lights marked the inside and outside lanes of the track. Tents were erected and audio equipment set up in the infield. Parents were invited to come and cheer on their students, who arrived at the gym bearing their class-designed flag and entered through an inflatable tunnel. Once the rules were laid out, the students walked a half of a lap to get warmed up, the gym lights were turned off, and the kids were turned loose.

Boosterthon Glow Run 2

As volunteers, this is the only part of the process where we had to do any real work. Adult volunteers were lined up at the lap marker with Sharpies. Each runner had a sticker on his or her back, and as they completed a lap, they slowed down and their stickers were marked for the corresponding lap number. With so many kids running and with the number of volunteers we had, that meant that the runners got a chance to catch their collective breaths for a few seconds as they worked their way through the line. Periodically during the run, the Boosterthon DJ would slow it down and have the kids walk a couple of laps, which still counted toward their goal of 35 laps, in order to keep anyone from going all out and getting overheated.

Our school chose to have students run during their related arts hours, to minimize the impact on classroom instruction. Even with a two-hour late start on the day of the event (remember that winter weather I told you about?), all students who were present were able to participate over the course of that single-day event.

What Were the Financial Results?

That’s all great, you say. The PTA and volunteers didn’t have to do too much. You didn’t have to go out and sell a bunch of stuff that nobody wants or needs. Everyone got to participate and no one brought home a cheap squeeze toy or one of those sticky things you throw at the wall that “walks” down and ends up covered in pet hair. Good for you. How much money did the Fun Run raise for your school?

The goal for our school was to raise enough money to cover Boosterthon’s take (around $2,000 or so, for setting up, promoting, handling the donations, and hosting the event… your school’s cost may differ) and net the school $10,000 to cover the final costs for the greenhouse project. Was that a realistic goal? We didn’t know, but the Boosterthon folks suggested that for a school with our enrollment numbers, it wasn’t unrealistic. It all came down to donor participation.

4 Reasons Why We Choose Boosterthon Every Year

Because we had a holiday and two days of school closing due to weather, Boosterthon extended our donation deadline by a few additional days. As I type this article, we have raised nearly $15,000 from the event, exceeding our goal by around 30%. With enrollment around 640 students, that’s a per-student average between $20 and $25 (which doesn’t tell the whole story, when about 40% of the student population qualifies for free or reduced lunches). To say that this event was successful beyond anything even the least skeptical among us could have hoped for is an understatement.

Conclusion

That evening, our PTA held our annual Winterfest, which was scheduled to serve as a wrap up for the fun run activities. Parents shared with me and others that they were thrilled with this fundraiser, even without knowing the final numbers. The overwhelming sentiment was that parents and students very much enjoyed the idea of the kids getting character instruction and running laps during the school day over the thought of having to sell a whole lot of something in order to reach some unattainable goal to get an upgraded piece-of-junk prize, then being upset when they didn’t sell that crazy amount in order to get what cost pennies if ordered in bulk from Oriental Trading or some such source.

Barring some unforeseen change, we expect to bring Boosterthon back again next school year.

If you are tired of your child being used to move product for a company not connected with your school or community in order for your school to get a relatively small piece of the pie, you might consider attending a PTA meeting–or, gasp!, joining the PTA and volunteering–and suggesting that your child’s school take a look at Boosterthon.


Note: This post was written by Joey Mills and originally appeared on GeekDad.com. National PTA or Boosterthon did not ask for nor influence his review in any way.