PTA
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A-Thon Fundraisers
A-Thon Fundraisers
Make any activity a powerful fundraiser and keep every dollar for your school. A-thons are easy to manage, strong performers, and a great way to engage your community.
Contests and games can help your whole school win big
Collect pledges from any activity students want to participate in—it's simple, versatile, and effective.
- Fun runs
- Athletic games and practices
- Performances and concerts
- Spelling bees, math-a-thons, and more
Involve everyone in exciting school fundraisers
Sign participants up for fun and meaningful activities their friends and family will be eager to support—instead of sending them door-to-door to sell trinkets.
Automatically register participants
- Students sign up in seconds—then get their own sharable links to collect pledges.
Add student incentives
- Use leaderboards to promote healthy competition and award prizes to students, classes, or grades.
Track and share progress
- Inspire more participants by sending updates and highlighting achievements with FutureFund’s built-in messaging system.
More ways for parents to support their children
Every parent wants to help their kids achieve great things. Remove road blocks that get in the way of pledging or volunteering with FutureFund.
Support for multiple languages
- Use AI translations to reach parents in their preferred languages so everyone can understand the impact of their contributions.
Accept multiple payment methods
- Including credit cards, Apple/Google Pay, and cash or checks.
No more missing paperwork
- Parents can sign and submit forms and waivers online instead of having to return them in person.
Trusted by thousands of schools and organizations
Everything you need in one place
Raise more than any other type of fundraiser
Fun runs and “A-Thon” style pledge campaigns raise more money per participant—with no awkward door-to-door sales. We often see north of $250 raised per participant!
When you run your fundraiser, you keep everything you raise
Our free platform ensures that you keep everything that you raise. With FutureFund, you'll never have to pay a fundraiser fee again.
Start now—and cash out in 30 days or less
FutureFund streamlines the process of setting up, running, and collecting proceeds from your fundraiser. Most A-Thons can go from idea to direct deposit in under a month!
No awkward selling or door to door canvassing
Supporters donate based on how well a student performs, such as how many chapters read during a Read-a-Thon or laps completed during a Fun Run.
Leverage our top-performing, ready-to-go A-Thon templates
Our tried and tested A-Thon templates provide everything you need, and our step by step guides ensure you're always prepared!
Power any kind of A-Thon you want
Whether it's the classic Fun Run, or a Serve-a-Thon for your volleyball team, FutureFund can handle it!
And so much more...
Step by step support
Collect pledges online
Encourage sign-ups
Community leaderboards
Social sharing tools
Volunteer management
Mobile optimized
ADA compliant
Multi-language support
Built-in messaging system
Secure parent directory
Participant dashboards
Easy corporate matching
Instalment payments available
Automatic tax receipts
Clean and accurate financial reports
Join over the 2,000 schools using FutureFund
Schools that sign up get full access to all of FutureFund's features—it's always free and it always will be.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run an A-Thon?
Most A-Thon fundraisers cost next to nothing, since they’re run by volunteers and use existing school facilities and equipment. When you manage them yourself instead of working with a private company to organize them and paying high fees, they’ll cost even less—and your school will raise much more.
How many participants will my A-Thon need to succeed?
A-Thons run with FutureFund often bring in at least $250 per student, although this can vary between individuals and schools. Imagine raising that much for a high school football team of 30 students—you’d make $7,500 from a single fundraiser!
How many volunteers will my A-Thon need?
That depends on the kind of event you turn into your A-Thon—but as long as you have an event coordinator, enough people to supervise the activity safely, and some help for setup and takedown, you should be covered.
How can I incentivize participants to sign up?
Organize your a-thons around popular activities people will want to participate in, and offer prizes to encourage healthy competition!
For best results, try group rewards like pizza parties or ice cream socials for the grades and classes that raise the most money—instead of using individual trinkets as prizes. This helps preserve the spirit of teamwork during the event, and lets them create lasting memories with their peers.
How do participants collect pledges?
Interested participants will sign up through a link on your FutureFund campaign. You can also copy and paste this link into social posts or emails sent with our built-in messaging system.
Once a participant signs up for your a-thon fundraiser, they’ll get a special link of their own. This is the link they’ll send to family and friends, who can use it to make their pledge and have it automatically associated with the person they’re supporting.
Once a participant signs up for your a-thon fundraiser, they’ll get a special link of their own. This is the link they’ll send to family and friends, who can use it to make their pledge and have it automatically associated with the person they’re supporting.
Should I run a-thons in-house or hire a fundraising company?
Hiring a fundraising company to organize your fun run or other a-thon can seem tempting—but are you prepared to pay the cost of doing business?
Fun run companies routinely take 50% or more of the proceeds from your fundraiser to cover their fees and expenses. That means you have to work twice as hard and raise twice as much as you would by running the fundraiser yourself.
Fun run companies routinely take 50% or more of the proceeds from your fundraiser to cover their fees and expenses. That means you have to work twice as hard and raise twice as much as you would by running the fundraiser yourself.
How can I run my a-thon without fees?
With FutureFund, you get to use our platform for free and keep 100% of what you raise. Donors only pay a small percentage on top of each donation when they support your fundraiser. This spreads out our platform costs across the community and ensures that every dollar donated ends up where it belongs: in the hands of your school group.
How long does setting up an a-thon take with FutureFund?
Creating your first A-Thon campaign is easy—once you’ve created your FutureFund account, you can have it up and running within minutes. It’s also easy to edit your campaign details, add custom forms and waivers, or send updates to participants and volunteers. And with FutureFund, you can do it all from the same place.
Do I have to do everything on my own?
Not when you use FutureFund. Our platform includes step-by-step guides that give you clear instructions, customizable templates for your campaign, and simple online forms to make signing up a snap for participants and volunteers.
Once you’ve engaged the support of your whole school, you’ll feel anything but alone—and your a-thon fundraiser will be unstoppable.
Once you’ve engaged the support of your whole school, you’ll feel anything but alone—and your a-thon fundraiser will be unstoppable.
What makes FutureFund different from other fundraising platforms?
FutureFund is the only fundraising platform designed specifically for K-12 school groups. As parents and educators ourselves, we understand the unique challenges of school fundraising—so we created tools that make it easier to solve them.
How does FutureFund keep sensitive data secure?
At FutureFund, we respect your privacy and never share your data with anyone. We offer the same level of privacy and security as your financial institution. Our platform is also built to comply with education-focused legislation across the country, including child protection laws.
How does FutureFund stay ADA compliant?
FutureFund is designed for compliance with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our platform is built with user-friendliness and accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities, as core priorities.
We also adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, which covers a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible, including:
- Visual elements such as color contrast for those with vision impairments.
- Support for assistive technology like screen readers for the blind or visually impaired.
- Navigability by keyboard for those who may be unable to use a mouse.
FutureFund's commitment to ADA compliance helps us not only serve a wider community but also offer a seamless experience for all users—enabling PTAs, schools, and other groups to engage more effectively with all parents and volunteers.