A Kick-a-Thon is a skills-based kicking event — penalty shots, target kicks, a dribbling circuit, or counted technique repetitions for a martial arts program. Sponsors pledge per successful kick or per repetition. Because it is skills-based rather than distance-based, it scales by ability, which makes it one of the few formats a club can run across every age group at once.
Why it works
- Skills stations scale by ability, so a seven-year-old and a sixteen-year-old participate in the same event.
- It suits a soccer club or a martial arts school directly, so the fundraiser matches the program.
- It needs a field or a floor and almost nothing else.
- Counted repetitions are easy for sponsors to understand and easy to verify.
When to run it
Spring or fall, or indoors year-round.
Planning it, start to finish
- Station design for a wide age range
- Penalty shots, target kicks and dribbling circuits
- Counted technique repetitions for martial arts programs
- Setting targets by age group or by rank
- Running it across every age group in one session
- Volunteer positions and how many you actually need
Working from a printable plan is easier than a thread — see the planning checklist and the pledge sheet template.
Kick-a-Thon fundraisers for every kind of group
What works changes with who is running it. See guidance for PTOs, booster clubs, elementary schools and more on fundraising by group.
You are not doing this alone
Every Get Movin' group is paired with a Personal Event Coach — a former PTO/PTA volunteer who has run this before. Get Movin's company president and all of its fundraising coaches are former PTO/PTA members, teachers and volunteers. For a Kick-a-Thon, that is someone who has run this format before and knows where it goes wrong.
Your coach:
- strategizes your budget goal with you
- brainstorms incentives that actually motivate your participants
- advises on promotion and timing
- steers you away from the pitfalls they have already watched other groups hit
You also get the FundHub Event Toolbox — 100+ guides, templates, playlists and printables. Meet the coaches.
The platform behind your Kick-a-Thon
FundHub is Get Movin's online donation platform, built specifically for schools, teams and community groups by former PTO/PTA leaders. It carries 35+ tools. These are the ones that matter most here:
- Personalized student webpages. A parent sets one up in about five minutes, and each page raises an average of $140.
- One-click sharing to social, email and text, plus a sharing report showing how many parents are actually using it.
- Volunteer Organizer. Post positions with dates, times and headcount; parents self-select their shift instead of a chain of emails.
- Incentive Tracker. Enter your incentives and FundHub produces the distribution list by class or student automatically.
- Instant, customizable donation reports for students, classes and the whole group.
- Automatic ACH payout after the event, straight to the group's account.
See the full platform on the FundHub page, or book a walkthrough with a coach.
How Get Movin’ runs your Kick-a-Thon
- Book a call or a FundHub demo and get matched with your Personal Event Coach.
- Your coach helps you set the goal, pick the date and choose incentives.
- Your group page and student pages go live; parents set theirs up in about five minutes.
- Families share by text, email and social; the coach checks in through the campaign.
- Event day, with volunteers organized through FundHub.
- Funds arrive by automatic ACH transfer after the event.
What it costs and what you keep
Get Movin’ groups keep 95-97% of every dollar raised. Donors pay however they want — cash, check, credit or debit, PayPal, Venmo, or Apple and Google Wallet. Automatic ACH payout after the event, straight to the group's account.
Full detail on the pricing page.
Common questions
How do you run one event across every age group?
Use skills stations with targets set per age group rather than one standard for everyone. The station is the same; what counts as a good result is not.
Does this work for a martial arts school?
Yes, and it is one of the better fits. Count technique repetitions with targets by rank, and a white belt and a black belt can both participate fully in the same session.
How many volunteers does it need?
One adult per station plus a floater. Six stations is a comfortable size, so seven or eight people runs it.
Start your Kick-a-Thon fundraiser
Get Movin’ has powered 10,000+ events and raised more than $200 million for groups like yours since 2007, with 1,300+ five-star Google reviews.
Take a FundHub tour with a coach, or book your event. Questions first? Contact us or call 248-895-0206. Also useful: the free school grant guide, the parent and donor FAQ, and our fundraising webinars.