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FAQs - Introduction

What is ReadaFun?

We are an online Read-A-Thon fundraising organization that encourages higher level reading and writing, promotes critical thinking and comprehension, and facilitates family interaction.

Students read whatever interests them and invite their friends and family via email to make donations based on the number of books or hours they read. Your school keeps 80% of funds raised, there is no door-to-door selling, and it needs only one to two volunteers.

Timing

How long should the Read-A-Thon last?

The length and dates of your Read-A-Thon are completely up to you. The most successful schools run our fundraiser for 4-6 weeks.

Less than 2 weeks is not recommended because you want students to read as many books as possible. Note that we have seen donor fatigue occur with fundraisers that last longer than 8 weeks. A fundraiser this long may begin to interfere with other activities and obligations such as testing, school plays, and vacations.

When is the best time of year for a Read-A-Thon?

Fall and spring are excellent times to host a Read-A-Thon.

September and October fundraisers benefit from back-to-school excitement, while March fundraisers line up well with Literacy Month and Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

Account Set Up

What do you need to get started?

To create your ReadaFun fundraising account, you will need to provide some basic information and sync your organization's bank account to Stripe.com (Please see question What is Stripe.com?).

Specifically, you will need:

  • A student roster in excel format with your students’ first name, last name (or last initial), grade, and teacher name;
  • Start and end dates for your Read-A-Thon;
  • Goals for your Read-A-Thon in minutes (How many minutes would you like your school to read?) and dollars (How much is your school hoping to raise?);
  • To sync your organization’s account with Stripe.com

What is Stripe.com?

Stripe.com, which is similar to PayPal, is a third party credit card processing company also used by Evite.com, Twitter, and the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

To accept credit card donations, you will need to sync your organization’s bank account to Stripe.com. Once completed, credit card donations deposit directly into your Stripe account. To transfer money from your Stripe account to your organization’s bank account you may choose between automatic deposit or a manual transfer. The automatic deposit is on a 2-day rolling basis and the manual transfer is best used if you prefer a lump sum transfer. At the end of the fundraiser, we reimburse you Stripe’s processing fee.

What if my school will not provide a student roster?

A student roster is required for a successful fundraiser. Please contact us for options if your school will not provide it.

To accept credit card donations, you will need to sync your organization’s bank account to Stripe.com. Once completed, credit card donations deposit directly into your Stripe account. To transfer money from your Stripe account to your organization’s bank account you may choose between automatic deposit or a manual transfer. The automatic deposit is on a 2-day rolling basis and the manual transfer is best used if you prefer a lump sum transfer. At the end of the fundraiser, we reimburse you Stripe’s processing fee.

How much does this cost?

There is an initial setup fee of $99.95 for every fundraiser, and ReadaFun receives a 20% service fee for each donation fulfilled.

To accept credit card donations, you will need to sync your organization’s bank account to Stripe.com. Once completed, credit card donations deposit directly into your Stripe account. To transfer money from your Stripe account to your organization’s bank account you may choose between automatic deposit or a manual transfer. The automatic deposit is on a 2-day rolling basis and the manual transfer is best used if you prefer a lump sum transfer. At the end of the fundraiser, we reimburse you Stripe’s processing fee.

Limited Computer and Internet Access

What if computer/internet access is limited, do you provide paper materials?

Yes!

We provide the following paper templates to support offline participation:

  • Sponsor information sheet – Students can provide information to sponsors they invite in person or through the mail.
  • Paper reading log – Students can record their reading and then transfer the information to their student account when computer/internet access is available.
  • Paper sponsor sheet – Parents and students can keep track of sponsors and their donations.
  • Paper authorization form – Sometimes parents without internet access and/or email addresses will know the email addresses of relatives and friends they want to invite via email. Print and send this authorization form home for a parent signature and return it to ReadaFun. We will email the sponsor invitations for them.

Donations and Payment

How does the payment process work?

Sponsors can make a donation by credit card, cash, or check. Cash and check are sent directly to you, and credit card payments are immediately deposited into your Stripe account (Please see question What is Stripe.com?). If your organization holds 501(c)(3) status, sponsors will receive a tax receipt. Please note that ReadaFun does not handle any money.

Answer

I can't connect to Stripe.com. Can I do this with just cash and checks?

Use of Stripe.com is highly recommended for a successful fundraiser. Please contact us for other options if you can't use Stripe.

Answer

What happens if a sponsor would like to donate more or can't fulfill a donation?

If a sponsor made a pledge on a per book or per hour read basis, he or she will have the option to modify that pledge at the end of the event.

Answer

What happens if we don't raise the amount we set to raise?

Although our hope is that each participating organization exceeds its reading and raising goals, we understand that is not always possible. If for whatever reason you do not meet your goals, nothing will change in regards to the percentage your organization receives.

Answer

Reading and Raising Goals

How many minutes would you recommend as our goal?

Most schools already require students to read a certain number of minutes per day. Multiply this number by the number of students and by the number of days in your Read-A-Thon.
For example: (20 mins/day)/student x 500 students x 30 days = 300,000 minutes

How much money can I expect to raise?

Each school will vary in the dollar amount raised. Factors such as the time of year and how well you promote your fundraiser to parents, teachers, and students will significantly impact your result.

When planning your event, please consider the following factors, all of which help indicate how much you’ll raise:

  • Previous fundraising efforts: How much have you raised in the past for jog-a-thons, product fundraisers, carnivals, etc?
  • Participation: What percentage of students have participated in past events?
  • Timing for your Read-A-Thon: When do you plan to do this? Fall? Summer? Next year? Will this be your major fundraiser or is it supplemental? If this is a last minute fundraiser, will parents have donor fatigue from previous fundraisers this year? Is this something new that everyone will be excited about?
  • Teacher involvement: This program is easy for teachers to use. We’ve found that you’ll raise 37% more if just a quarter of your teachers participate!
  • Promoting the event and getting parents involved: Parents need to authorize student accounts and help invite sponsors, so explaining and promoting the program to them is essential. We provide printable and video instructions for both parents and students. It is important to note that the fundraisers where parents were heavily involved raised as much as $28,000. Events with minimal parent involvement often raise significantly less.

Site Use

How do students log in?

ReadaFun creates the student accounts from the provided student roster. The Read-A-Thon coordinator must print and distribute the students' usernames and passwords.

Once login information is received, students then:

  • Go to https://www.readafun.com.
  • Click on the green button on the top right hand side of the screen.
  • Enter username and password.

How are sponsors invited?

Parents and students can invite sponsors via text message, email, and social media.
Prior to inviting any sponsors, a parent must first authorize their child’s account by entering in his or her email address. For a sponsor to have access to the student’s account and interact with the child, the parent must approve that sponsor. Sponsors invited via Facebook and other social media will be directed to make a credit card donation and will not have access to the child’s account.

May I turn off the social features?

Yes, you may turn off social features.
When social features are turned off, students will not be able to see each other’s profiles, books, and comments. If necessary, specific students can be blocked from commenting, allowing you to keep social features turned on for everyone’s enjoyment.

Services Readafun Provides

Do you provide incentives?

We provide virtual incentives but not physical incentives.
Our fundraiser is designed so that your organization can keep as much money as possible. Since our fee is only 20% we are not capable of providing physical prizes. However, we do provide virtual incentives. Students are represented by an Owl (we call them Owlvatars) and the more students read, write reviews, and invite sponsors, the more wisdom coins they earn. Students use these coins to purchase virtual owl accessories at the Owl Shop.

Do you have any incentive ideas that you can share with me?

Absolutely! We've compiled a list of incentives from schools who have run successful fundraisers and we are happy to share them with you.

Answer

Do you send ReadaFun reps to schools?

We are a small organization, located in San Diego, CA. At the current time, we're unable to send our Account Managers to personally meet with coordinators in their home state. However, our Account Managers are easily accessible via email, phone, or Zoom.
Answer

Do you host pep rallies to get the students excited about reading?

We highly recommend that you organize a 'kick off' event for your Read-A-Thon, whether it is a pep rally, read-in night, or book fair.
Since we are a small organization, located in San Diego, CA, we’re unable to send our Account Managers to personally visit schools in their home state.

Do you send the Starter Package to my school?

If you requested a Starter Kit and weren't prompted to download it, please email support@readafun.com and one will be emailed to you.
As an edtech (education technology) organization, we pride ourselves in being as ‘green’ as possible and do not send out physical materials to schools or coordinators.

Security

How secure is your website?

Student security is our top priority. Our site is encrypted with industry-standard SSL protection and we are compliant with the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
If the parent chooses to authorize a student’s account, the parent will have access to the student’s profile and be able to invite sponsors, who will also be able to view the student’s profile. The student can request to send invites, but all sponsor invites must be approved by the parent. The only people that have access to a student’s reading profile at school are that student’s teacher, fundraiser coordinator, and classmates. All data is stored off-site, on industry-standard secure servers. It is important to note that we do not collect any personal information about each student other than first and last name (or last initial) and do not sell any information (including email addresses) to other companies.

Teachers

Do teachers need to be involved?

The more people that are involved in your Read-A-Thon, the more successful the outcome.
Our Read-A-Thon does not require any additional time from teachers. However, we’ve found that you’ll raise 37% more if even a quarter of your teachers participate!

Can teachers authorize a student's account?

Only a parent can authorize their child's account.

Answer

A school fundraiser where everybody wins! Formerly known as Whooo’s Reading’s read-a-thon, we’ve partnered with PTAs/PTOs nationwide since 2012 to fundraise and engage readers.

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sam@readafun.com

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