2018 School Walk Captain GUIDE

Transcription

1 2018 School Walk Captain GUIDE

2 Meet us at the starting line! What: The 6th annual Soles for Catholic Education Walk Why: - To raise money for your school. Donations raised by your school stay with your school! - To build community among our larger Catholic school family - To celebrate Catholic education - To increase visibility of Catholic schools and showcase their impact Where: Mount Mary University 2900 N. Menomonee River Parkway, Milwaukee, WI When: Saturday, Oct. 20, :30 a.m. Registration for day-of participants 9:40 a.m. Exercise warm-up 9:50 a.m. Opening ceremony including prayer with Archbishop Jerome Listecki. Gene Mueller, 620 WTMJ, emcee. 10 a.m. 2-mile Walk start 10 a.m. noon Soles Celebration Registration is now open! catholicschoolswalk.org One Step. One Soul at a time

3 Purpose To ensure that Catholic education remains affordable and accessible while we celebrate our Catholic schools and build community. Donations raised by your school s Walk team will stay with your school. Your role as School Walk Captain You are responsible for: Setting financial and participation goals with your school s principal Generating excitement and promoting the Walk at your school/parish Recruiting volunteers and walkers Soliciting community sponsors Collecting donations raised by your team Updating Walk website with cash and check donations Walk Website: catholicschoolswalk.org The website should be used to: Advertise your team - Include a website link with your s and social media posts. - Link to the Walk s homepage or your team s homepage. - Update your homepage with current Walk information and a picture of your team from last year s Walk. Register for the Walk Make credit card donations Enter cash and check donations Send s to past and current Walk participants and donors - 3 -

4 The website also includes a Walk Team Captain Info page for your use. A link to this page is found under the Event Info tab on the homepage. This website page includes up-to-date Walk information, and the following items for you to download: Walk logos Sample social media posts Customizable promotional/marketing flyers Customizable bulletin announcements Customizable letter to send with Support Us brochure to potential sponsors Customizable FAQ to send to parents & parishioners Family registration forms (remember these forms need to be entered online before Sept. 25) School principal Walk FAQ Fundraising and website user guide How to allocate Walk funds Too many families today say they can t afford Catholic education. The Soles for Catholic Education Walk is designed to help eliminate that barrier. Remember: Donations raised by your school, stay at your school! Donations stay with your school! One hundred percent of donations made by cash or check stay with the school. These cash and check donations should be entered online by school walk captains. How can I increase my school s Walk donations? It s helpful to plan ahead. One idea is to meet with your fundraising committee to see what fundraisers can be eliminated if you reach your Walk goal. For example: if you reach 10,000, don t ask your parents to also participate in a wrapping paper sale, candy bar sale, pizza sale, etc. Advertise to your school families that these fundraisers will be eliminated if your Walk goal is met and keep them updated on how close you are to your goal. If you have questions or would like additional ideas on how you can increase your school s Walk donations, please contact Marcy Stone, stonem@archmil.org, or Jenny Mendenhall, mendenhallj@archmil.org, Can donations be used to purchase items such as Smart Boards or other technology? Yes. If the purchase of these items would typically be added to your per pupil tuition cost, these items can be purchased with Walk funds as it lowers the cost of tuition for every student at your school

5 How to allocate funds for Choice families Schools serving Choice families can apply revenues raised from the Walk to offset educational costs for families including co-curricular activities, school supplies, musical instruments, transportation and before- and after-school child care. How online donations will be sent to you All online credit card donations are being held in a separate account specifically for the Soles for Catholic Education Walk. Your funds will be distributed to your school by check in early 2019, minus the processing fees charged by the credit card company and website host Walk logistics Getting to the Walk Although free car parking is available at both Mount Mary and in the east parking lot of St. Joseph Parish, W. Center Street in Wauwatosa, we encourage you to coordinate bus transportation for your students and their parents so that you can arrive as a group and walk as a school

6 Managing your registrations and donations All fundraising on the school level is independent of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. You are responsible for managing all registrations and donations for your school. Offline Donations Your cash and check donations stay with your school. Checks should be written directly to your school. The archdiocese will not be involved in handling these donations. However, it is imperative that we show event sponsors that donations to schools increase every year. Our event sponsors watch the website thermometer rise to evaluate their return on investment. Your results are the reason they support this event. Please post these funds to your team page as soon as possible after receipt. You may continue adding late arriving donations online until Jan. 8. Contact Marcy Stone at with questions. Online Donations Online donations should be reviewed by you and your principal regularly through your password protected Participant Center at catholicschoolswalk.org. A check for the total confirmed credit card donations made to your school will be sent to you in early 2019 less the processing fees (website and credit card). Local Business Outreach The sponsorship money you raise for your school through solicitation of local businesses or organizations will be kept by your school. Please record this in your total dollars raised on the website. Your school/ parish is responsible for sending out tax thank you letters recognizing donors and sponsors giving 250 or more. Be creative and recognize your sponsors on your team page or in print material (school newsletter, parish bulletin, etc.). Paper registration forms - You are responsible for entering all paper registration forms you receive on the website by September Free registration ends on September 25. Information from paper registrations must be entered on the website by September 25. T-shirts will be ordered utilizing website information. In order to guarantee all of your participants receive a t-shirt, you must enter their paper registration information online. Registrations received after September 25 - A 10 registration fee per registrant is charged beginning Wednesday, September Registrations and t-shirt orders received online from Sept. 26 Oct. 8 will be guaranteed a t-shirt. These registrants will pick up their t-shirt at the Pre-Registration tent the day of the Walk. - Any registrations completed online after Oct. 8 will not be guaranteed a t-shirt. T-shirts for these registrants will be available first come, first serve at the Registration tent the day of the Walk

7 Promote, promote, promote have fun & be creative! Encourage competition - Challenge your alumni to see what year has the best turnout at a walking reunion - Challenge your classrooms to see who can raise the most money or bring in the most registered walkers. Incentives can include: out of uniform day, extra recess time, pizza party, etc. - Have a school-wide challenge with the principal or pastor providing an incentive if you reach your goal. Shave their head, pie in the face, ice cream party for the school, etc. - Challenge another school to see who can get the most walkers or raise the most money. The losing school principal may have to wear the other school s spirit wear for a day or a week. - Wear your Walk t-shirt to school on the Monday AFTER the Walk to continue the celebration. Use social media - In your social media posts, position the Walk as a chance for Walking Reunions for alumni of all ages. Invite alums to post pictures of themselves with their walking shoes. - Create posts from your school mascot, principal, or pastor. - Announce that you ll live-tweet or Facebook Live from the Walk, inviting responses so supporters can participate from a distance. TIP: Be visual, especially on Facebook The more photos, the better! Have a video from last year? Post that, too! Work with your pastor for Mass and bulletin announcements Encourage your pastor or a current student to do a pulpit announcement. Utilize the bulletin announcements and ads provided to you on the Walk Team Captain page on the website. Promote the Walk at your parish festival Set up a Walk table (consider leading up to it with a trail of footprints) or sell footprints to bring in Walk donations at your parish festival. Have current students create invitations for their older siblings or other alumni Include a special Walk invitation to alumni in communications Does your school send out a newsletter or magazine to alumni? Be sure to include a Walk invitation

8 Step up and Stuff the Bus! Last year, we collected more than 5,000 pairs of shoes. WAY TO GO! Once again, we will collect all types and sizes of gently-used shoes for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Clients need shoes for interviews, work, school and for everyday use. Join us as we challenge Catholic school students to Stuff the Bus! - Collect shoes at your school prior to the event so people who are unable to walk have the chance to donate shoes, too. - Please make sure each pair of shoes donated is rubber-banded to keep the shoes together. - Encourage your school s walkers to bring their gently-used shoes and drop them off at the bus or St. Vincent de Paul truck on the day of the event. Please use the collection boxes provided. High school Treat and Tweet stops #SolesWalk Meet and greet potential high school students at Treat and Tweet tents positioned along the scenic Walk route. Pre-Walk promotions will encourage walkers to stop at high school tents, grab a treat, post about it on social media and pick up high school recruitment materials. Details A 10 x 10 tent will be provided for each high school. More details will follow by . Each high school is responsible for providing: - A candy giveaway (we estimate 20,000 wrapped pieces of candy) - Your own marketing materials brochures, flyers, talking points cards, etc. - Your school s banner or signage - Volunteers to set up, staff and take down the tent Thank You! Thank YOU for stepping up to lead your school s Walk efforts. Your leadership is instrumental to the Walk s success. Questions? Don t hesitate to contact the Walk Coordinator, Marcy Stone, at stonem@archmil.org or (414) We want you to be successful every step of the way