Fun Run Fundraising: The Complete Guide for Schools

How a Fun Run fundraiser works

Every school Fun Run follows the same six steps. The run itself takes an afternoon; the fundraising happens in the two weeks before it.

1. Set the goal. Name what the money will pay for, set a dollar total, and divide it by enrollment to get a per-student target. How to set a Fun Run goal.
2. Register participants. Every student gets a personal fundraising page. Have pages ready for parents to set up on kickoff day, and push for every student to have one in the first 48 hours. A parent can set one up from a phone in about five minutes.
3. Share the pages. Families send the page link to relatives, neighbors and coworkers by text, email and social media. A kickoff assembly starts the push.
4. Collect donations and pledges. Most supporters give online right away. Some pledge an amount per lap or promise a gift after the run. Cash and checks still come in and get tracked alongside online gifts.
5. Hold the event. Students run or walk laps of a short course, usually in waves by grade, with music, water and cheering teachers.
6. Receive the funds. Pledges are collected, totals reconciled, prizes handed out and thank-yous sent. With FundHub, money moves to the school by automatic ACH transfer after the event, once approved.

The difference between an average Fun Run and a great one is how well each step is run: how many families actually share their page, whether local businesses cover your costs, and whether students have a reason to care about the total.

Why schools choose a Fun Run

• No product. Nothing to order, sort, deliver or chase. Supporters give to the school directly, so product costs never come off the top.
• Every student can take part. Running laps doesn't depend on a family's budget, and the event day belongs to the whole school.
• It reaches beyond your zip code. A student page reaches grandparents and relatives in other states in a single text.
• Teachers can live with it. Classroom pages and class goals give teachers a reason to cheer, not a pile of order forms.
• It is healthy. The fundraiser is exercise instead of candy or cookie dough.

How much schools raise with a Fun Run

Across Get Movin' schools, the average school raises $23,765 online, and the average student fundraising page raises $140. Cash, checks and sponsor money come on top of the online figure.

Your own total comes down to three numbers: how many students you have, what share of them set up and share a page, and how hard the school promotes during the two-week window. A 400-student school where 60% of students set up a page would raise about $33,600 online at the $140 average. That is a calculation, not a promise, and the Fun Run calculator lets you run your own numbers.

More detail on each of these, plus Turkey Trot, Glow Run and obstacle-course results, is on our Fun Run results page.

What schools keep

Get Movin' schools keep 95–97% of what they raise, on average. A usage fee applies only to online donations, and optional donor credits collected at checkout are applied to it, so the average group's cost ends up around 4% of online donations. Schools keep 100% of cash and checks, and money arrives by ACH after the event, once approved.

The number that pays for the playground is what's left after fees and costs, not the gross. A Fun Run is profitable because there is no product cost, but the way you run it changes what you keep. Schools generally choose one of three models.

Whichever model you look at, ask every provider the same four questions in writing:

1. What percentage of the total raised will the school receive, after every fee?
2. Are fees charged on cash and checks, or only online donations?
3. What does the school pay for prizes, shirts and staff, and who chooses them?
4. When does the money arrive, and how?

Full detail on how Get Movin's fee works is on our pricing page.

How to organize a school Fun Run

Start with the goal and the date. Everything else follows from those two decisions. Here is the condensed version; the step-by-step guide to organizing a Fun Run covers each step in full.

1. Set a goal and a budget. Decide what the money funds. Work out your costs early so sponsors can cover them.
2. Pick the date and the course. Avoid testing weeks and holidays, and book a rain date at the same time.
3. Build a lead team of four. One person for each role below. That is enough to run most elementary Fun Runs.
4. Choose a theme and prizes. The theme drives the shirt, the music and the milestone rewards.
5. Set up online pages. Have pages ready for parents to set up on kickoff day, and push for every student to have one in the first 48 hours.
6. Kick off and push for two weeks. An assembly, then texts and emails to parents with the page link and a deadline.
7. Run the event, then close out. Collect pledges, hand out prizes, thank everyone, reconcile and debrief.

A first-time chair can run this. "This was my first time as a fundraiser chair at our school," Jenn Bowles, Fundraising Chair at Antelope Canyon Elementary, wrote after their Color Run raised $20,482.

A six-week Fun Run timeline

Six weeks is enough for most schools. For a first Fun Run, or a school with more than a few hundred students, start eight weeks out.

Printable versions: the week-by-week Fun Run timeline and the Fun Run checklist.

Fun Run ideas and themes

A theme turns laps into an event students talk about for weeks. It shapes the shirt, the music, the course decorations and the rewards. For seven complete themed Fun Runs, several with the schools that ran them, read 7 Fresh Fun Run Ideas.

The best themes carry the fundraising story, not just the costumes. South Lake Elementary's third annual Space Shark Fun Run raised a record $45,000. Students who raised an extra $25 over a weekend earned lunch with the principal in a "Space Lounge," and students who reached $100 earned an express carpool pass.

• Browse the full Fun Run theme library, organized by season.
• Add energy on the course with Fun Run ideas for stations, challenges and unlocks.
• Raise more with Fun Run fundraising ideas such as matching gifts and add-ons.

Pledges vs. donations

A donation is money given now, usually online before the run. A pledge is a promise to pay later, either a set amount per lap or a fixed amount once the event is over.

Most schools now lead with online donations and offer per-lap pledges to the family members who enjoy them. Read more on how Fun Run pledges work and collecting Fun Run donations online, or download a free Fun Run pledge sheet.

Sponsors

Sponsors help twice: their gift adds to the total, and when they cover shirts or prizes, more of what families give goes to the goal. Get Movin' schools collect $1,557,521 a year in business sponsor donations.

• Ask businesses connected to your families first: the dentist, the orthodontist, the pizza place parents already order from, the realtor whose kids go to your school.
• Offer clear tiers: a title sponsor on the shirt and banner, station or lap sponsors with a sign on the course, supporters named on the banner, and in-kind gifts like water or prizes.
• Lead with reach, not charity: every family in the school sees the shirt and the thank-you post.
• Set a deadline tied to your shirt order, usually three weeks out.

Our guide to finding Fun Run sponsors covers pricing tiers and the ask, and the Fun Run letter templates include a sponsor letter.

Prizes and incentives

Prizes should push participation, not reward three top earners. Build three tiers:

• Individual milestones at set dollar levels: wristbands, glow gear, temporary tattoos, medals.
• Class rewards for participation or class totals: extra recess, a pizza party, "out-lap the principal".
• Whole-school unlocks tied to the total: the principal gets pied, kisses a pig or gets taped to a wall.

The cheapest prizes often work best. Experiences cost little, and a principal stunt costs almost nothing. Keep prizes inclusive so every student who shares a page earns something. See Fun Run prizes and incentives for tier ideas and budgets.

Volunteers

Plan on the four-person lead team plus roughly 10–20 event-day volunteers for a typical elementary school, more for a larger one. Event-day jobs are check-in, lap counting, water, course marshals, photos and prize handout, plus one person clearly in charge of first aid.

Ask for specific one-hour shifts rather than general help, recruit at the kickoff assembly, and ask sponsors whether employees can volunteer. Older students make good course helpers. More in Fun Run volunteer roles.

Event day

• Run by time, not distance. A short loop of about 1/16 to 1/8 mile, with each wave running for a set time. Younger grades typically run for 20–35 minutes.
• Run in waves by grade. It keeps the course clear and gives each class its own moment.
• Count laps simply. Punch cards, wristband tallies or volunteers with clipboards at the start line all work. Decide before the day, and test it once.
• Make it loud. Music, a cheering tunnel of teachers and a finish-line photo spot do more than anything expensive.
• Plan the handoffs. Water at the start and finish, shade for waiting classes, and a clear point where each class returns to its teacher.

Safety

• Walk the course the week before. Look for uneven ground, sprinkler heads, and any spot a volunteer can't see.
• Decide your heat and weather rules in advance, including when you'd move to early morning, the gym or the rain date.
• Have water, shade and a first aid lead on site. Check with the school nurse about students with asthma, allergies or other medical needs.
• Keep one clear exit and pick-up point, and follow school rules for who can take a student home.
• Respect families who have opted out of photos.

Color Runs and Glow Runs need extra care with powder and low light. See Fun Run safety tips for the full checklist.

Fun Run formats

"Fun Run" is the umbrella term. The formats below use the same fundraising engine and change the experience on event day.

In October, a spooky or Halloween-themed run works well too; see fall Fun Run ideas.

Fun Runs for every kind of school group

Real school results

These are schools that ran their events on FundHub, in their fundraising chairs' own words.

"They only retain a small percentage of the funds we raise and it is SO worth it for the organization, ease of tracking incentives, and amazing support by our Get Movin' coach."

"We beat all of our goals this Fun Run!"

"I appreciate that we are partnered with a coach who understands the history of our annual fundraising efforts."

See every published result, including Turkey Trots and obstacle runs, on our Fun Run results page.

Coach's corner: three tips from Lindsey V.

Lindsey V. has been with Get Movin' for more than 10 years. She loves education and helping schools, and her bubbly energy keeps chairs moving as she guides each school toward its best fundraiser yet.

1. Get pages set up in the first 48 hours. The two-week window only works if families have something to share. On kickoff day, make page setup the one thing you ask parents to do, then follow up with every family that hasn't done it yet.
2. Every message needs the link and a deadline. A reminder without the student's page link gets read and forgotten. Put the link and the end date in every text and email, including the final 48-hour push.
3. Reward participation, not just the top earners. Class goals and a whole-school unlock, like pieing the principal, keep every student in it. Prizes that only three kids can win leave the rest of the school on the sidelines.

Running your Fun Run with Get Movin'

Get Movin' has worked with schools since 2007, on more than 10,000 events. Every school gets FundHub, the online platform built for school event fundraisers: student pages that take a parent about five minutes to set up, class and school progress meters, a volunteer organizer, an incentive tracker, and payment by card, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Every school also gets a free Personal Event Coach, a former PTO/PTA volunteer who helps set the goal, plan incentives and keep the push on track. Money arrives by ACH after the event, once approved, and schools keep 95–97% on average.