We're doing a walk-a-thon at work to create fitness awareness, it's going for two months and a few ideas we've come up with are:
1) the passing of the turtle ceremony on Monday mornings - the turtle was purchased at Toys are Us for $35 CDN, (didn't enquire about donation) and it's a construction slow down sign in the shape of a turtle with a red flag, about 36" high. It's proving to be a real motivator as the one with the lowest steps gets the turtle for the week. What a shame if you can't pass it along.
2) At the same time we have a Bunny hand off. For this we went to the energizer bunny store on line. Purchased a 18" bunny for around $20. There is a real fight for this one.
We also purchased energizer bunny ears, tatoos and key chains that we are just having fun with. We didn't ask for a donation but they do have corporate programs and considering the company they are I'm sure they would be up for a bit of charity.
This contest is for a bunch of adults on a construction site and we're having great fun. Everyone is staying motivated and getting healthy. What a plus for oru employer, healthy makes for good brain power and efficient work.
Sponsors: We started by asking our parents to check with the companies they work for to see if they would be willing to jump on board. We created a sponsor letter and just spelled out what we were doing, asking for, raising the funds for, and the benefit to their company (advertising). We also sent request letters to local businesses near the school especially those that our parents frequent. Often times, if you add that your group is a non-profit and include your information the business can then claim the donation on their taxes. We asked for $250.00 from sponsors and then put their company name and logo on the back of our t-shirt. (make sure you order a t-shirt for the owner:) As for the prize donations, we asked in the same letter if the company would rather make a prize/cash donation and we would be happy to pick up that donation. We had a few parents that would do follow up calls. Often, if a parent makes an effort to stop by the place of business to inquire about the letter that was sent, the owner/manager will hand over a donation. You need some go-getter parents. Make a list of all the companies and the contact at each one so that way you can reference that each year as well as the future parent planners. Also, if you can advertise the businesses that donate on a "Thank You" board out in front of the school, or add to your parent group website, or your school directory or newsletter that is always beneficial and another selling point in your initial letter. Be sure to send Thank You notes to all that donated and let them know how your school did, that will go along way and help for future donation requests. Hope this info helps.
Pedomitors ~ one of the parents works at a local hospital and was able to obtain them. Check with insurance companies as well as fitness companies.
Water Bottles ~ have the sponsor money pay for them so you can have your school logo on them. We've also received donated bottles of water from our local grocery stores since we didn't want to do water bottles two years in a row. If you do decide to spend the money on water bottles, watch for price breaks on quantities and if you have left overs you can sell them at your holiday shop, at PTO events, give as gifts for student of the month, etc. We had leftover bottles and used them as an end of the year gifts for our staff/teachers filled with goodies.
Thank you-- I like the pedomitors idea. Can you tell me -- did you buy these with a donation of money or did you find a fitness company to donate them -- Also the water bottles -- I found them for .75 cents each-- but I haven't found anyone willing to donate-- Can you point me in the right direction as far as getting these type things donated for 600+ students-- seems a bit much-- But you have given me some other ideas for company sponsorship and I love the idea of giving each child a t-shirt with sponsor logos on it...
Thanks for the ideas-- We have a DJ planned as well and a Bubble spot-- where the kids run through bubbles blowing across a part of the course-- plus we'll have a few spots where they will have to do something funny-- like limbo at one point-- dance silly as they go by and so on-- anything to make it more fun for the kids.
