How To Run A Swim-A-Thon Fundraiser

A swim-a-thon is a great way to raise money for your team, cause, or school. A swim-a-thon is a challenging athletic event, so make sure that your participants are strong swimmers. Usually swim-a-thons challenge participants to swim a max of 200 lengths in two to four hours. Participants have to raise a minimum amount in order to compete, and those who swim the most win a prize. It’s a great event for your community, and can be really fun for parents and kids alike! 

 

How to organize your fundraiser:

Depending on how many swimmers you’re going to have for your event, you’ll need to make sure that there’s enough space for all of your swimmers to compete. If you have a surplus of participants (awesome), you’ll need to stagger the competitions throughout the day in order to fit everyone in. If this is the case, you can host a competition of the winners in order to win a top prize. 

 

How to publicize your fundraiser:

Create a Facebook event for your fundraiser, and send out an email communication to prepare your participants for your fundraising event. Make sure that all of your participants come appropriately dressed (Swimsuit, googles, bathing cap, towel) in order to participate.

 

Things you’ll need for your fundraiser:

Have volunteers available to sign your participants in, and a grand prize for the person who wins your swim-a-thon. The prize for your fundraising event should reflect how much your participants need to raise in order to compete in the swim-a-thon. If you choose to make the entry fee low, you don’t need to have a big prize. But if you’re minimum raise is quite high, the grand prize should be significant. Approach local businesses in your area and see if they would be willing to donate the prize for your fundraising event. 

 

Bonus cash back for your fundraiser:

If you plan on having food and drinks for your participants, you could earn up to 10% cash back for your fundraising event.