Their is a company we hired called Professor Jamz. They ran the whole event, and we raised over $9000. We were going to have the parent council run it, but this was a great choice.
We've done a similar event (walkathon), but it's been based on laps completed. We've also talked about doing a dance-a-thon at the middle shcool but get hung up because there isn't a similar unit of measure for dancing. For the walkathon, our kids could ask for a certain $ per lap from grandma or the neighbor. But for a danceathon, it's not so measurable. How are you structuring your pledge sheet? Are you just asking for $ up front, or are you tying it to some kind of unit (ex: minutes dancing??). In reality, I think most of our walkathon $ was simply flat donations, but having a per lap pledge format made it easier to ask grandma or hte neighbor for support.
Is there a minimum donation for admittance to the dance, or are all the kids included? Are you going to offer prizes for the kids based on donation amount? We found we got the best support when there was a certain donation threshold over which the kids had a chance to win a desireable prize. How about an incentive to return your $$ quickly? We gave out a token prize every day to kids who returned their donations within the 2 week collection period. Alot of your planning and promotion is dependent on when you expect the $$ - before or after the dance.
Don't forget your #1 goal for this event is to raise money. Having fun is secondary for this event. Good luck!
I am new to our PTO this year but am heavily involved with the Girl Scouts and have experience organizing events but I am looking for info/tips regarding dance-a-thons. I think that our school is burnt out on catalog fundraising as our fall sale was pale in comparison to previous years.
I have read a little about Dance-a-thons and I think that this is a great idea but I am wondering if anyone has done this on the elementary level? Here are my ideas for the event, if you have any suggestions, I sure would appreciate it.
1. Secure a Middle School or High School gym. (Elem. gym is way to small)
2. Music teacher, with help from the PTO will teach the kids 3-4 dances during music class. Keep the dances simple-Chicken Dance, Macarana, line dance etc. My thinking is that if they learn as a class we will have better participation.
3. Have a meeting with teachers to encourage them to motivate the kids into participating and to participate themselves. Send home flyers to promote the event. Call local newspaper for coverage of the event. Send out invitations to School Board, Administration, Seniors, City Council, Mayor and local dignitaries.
4. Hire a DJ and possibly work with the HS pom-pom/cheerleading squads to help "lead" the dances and chaperone during "one hour open dance" following the DOT. They could also collect their own pledges and we could give them something for chaperoning.
5. Sign up dance participants and pass out pledge sheets
6. Sell refreshments.
7. Sell 50/50 tickets for chance to win various prizes. During our fall fest. last year we had gift baskets and various gift certificates that we raffled off. The kids purchased tickets and placed them in individual containers set by each item that they wanted to try to win. We sold them by the arms length. This would also be a nice way to conclude the evening.
8. Spectators would be admitted for free and siblings could join in for the "open dance" session.
9. The night of the event, we will ahve a registration process and supply the kids with a participant number (just to make it feel official) and have marks on the floor where they must sit until everyone is registered. Have the principle do an "open ceremony" type of speech before the music starts.
Well, you get the idea. I even thought of inviting another PTO to go along with us but I think that we need to keep it simple our first time around. I really like this idea because I think that kids will have a ball. I thought that maybe we could order special T-shirts for the kids to wear also??? If anyone has done this could you please tell me if what I am saying here is feasible with Elementary kids or if you have anymore ideas/thoughts to add I sure would appreciate it.
