FUNDRAISING – Quick and easy
Leedon Lower School’s matchbox display – over 70 children took part, raising £1,049
Three PTAs reveal how they raised between £546 and £1,550!
‘Our PTA decided to run a matchbox challenge last April, after seeing the idea on the PTA+ Facebook page (
facebook.com/ptaplus). We set the children the challenge to decorate their box, fit as many items as possible inside it and get sponsored for doing so. We bought matchboxes from
Baker Ross and gave every child one with a letter and sponsorship form on the back. We awarded prizes for each year group from
pre-school to Year 4, for: Unique decoration (three prizes). Most money raised. Most items in the box. Spot prize for the most unusual
item (which was a fake maggot!). We had just over 70 responses and raised a phenomenal £1,049 including Gift Aid. Our expenses were about £90. It was quite time- consuming but was definitely worth it for the amount we raised. The children loved it, we had some great designs and presented prizes in assembly – it was a real hit!’ Chloe Peters, PTA Chair, Leedon Lower School, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire (351 pupils)
‘We have a small school of 240 pupils so only 57 children took part, but we still managed to make £1,550! We bought 270 matchboxes
38 AUTUMN 2017
pta.co.uk
from Baker Ross for less than £30 including delivery. We provided each pupil with a matchbox challenge kit, which included a sponsorship form, a blank list sheet to be completed, and a leaflet about the challenge – all in a clear plastic bag. A lot of bags were returned with the money in them! We made certificates for each winner and chose a winner for the best decorated matchbox as an additional incentive. When it comes to the judging, remember you don’t have to go through all of the matchboxes. We sorted ours into year groups, looked at the numbered lists, then when there was a clear winner we simply went through all of the items in the box to verify the contents. We decided that if there were two that were close then we just chose two winners. The record number of items collected in each class were as follows: nursery: 50, Reception: 95, Year 1: 71, Year 2: 80, Year 3: 50, Year 4: 53, Year 5: 97 and Year 6: 63. This was such an easy event
PTA+ online
A covering letter and set of rules are available to download from the PTA+ website. Go to
pta.co.uk/sponsored.
to run. All we had to do was send out the kit and then wait for the money and boxes to come back in. The initial outlay for us was just the matchboxes. The children loved this fundraiser, but they had to follow our rules to make sure nothing disgusting was put into a matchbox! Thankfully, we didn’t have to sort through any toenail clippings or earwax…’ Beverly Brackenridge, PTA Chair, Foxhill Primary School, Bradford, West Yorkshire (240 pupils)
‘We gave prizes for the best decorated matchbox, and the child with the most items, in KS1 and KS2. We handed out a set of rules, which stipulated that they needed to fill their box, but NOT with any “body bits”! In retrospect, we regret saying no foodstuffs – we had flour, salt, pepper, mustard seed... In the end we had to give the winner the benefit of the doubt as we faced a pile of dusty debris on the table! We asked participants to attach a numbered list of everything in their box. They also had to seek sponsors, with pledges of £x amount per number of items. We raised a fairly easy £546!’ Julia Williamson, PTA Treasurer, St Mary’s RC Primary School, Whitstable Kent (420 pupils)
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