We are looking at them but not sure how it will go... 2 schools in our district did it together and they loved it.
We are looking to try it but since our school is title 1, I don't know if we will make a profit. I think we will try it on the side but use our tried and true fundraisers for our big $$ needs.
I also have had experience with asking parents to turn in money after the fundraiser and it did not go well AT ALL. We ended up shorted $2700 (it was a candy bar fundraiser)
So, I'm kind of nervous about doing Boosterthon. I heard the kids loved it though. that is the important part to consider.... I am willing to try it but not in place of our regular fundraiser.

I've never worked with this company but I have (along with several other committee members) planned and executed a 5k run for our school for the past three years. The upside is that the school keeps about 70-75% of all the revenue raised (there are costs associated with things like signage and t-shirts). I'd say save more of the net proceeds by organizing a commitee to plan the race. It's not as intimidating as it may sound. We've raised $36,000 for our Atlanta school over the past two years. We set ourselves up as a non-profit 501c3. We're all volunteers, parents, residents, etc... FYI - www.brookhavenbolt.com

Our teachers, parents and school administration was NOT HAPPY at all with Boosterthon. Yes, the first year we raised a lot of money and they did most of the work, but the PRESSURE our kids had on them everyday was unbearable and the disruption to the classes did not have the teachers on our side. I was in the class one day when they handed out the prizes, my heart sank when I saw how they pressured the kids to get pledges and called each kid who did get pledges up for their prizes. The kids who didn't get any prizes that day had a very sad look on their face. It did break my heart. Also once the parents heard about how much the boosterthon people got as their cut they stopped giving. The second year we didn't even make half of what we did the first year. It was much better for us to keep our parents happy and run our own fundraiser than to give them half of our profits.

Our elementary school PTA used Boosterthon several years ago. We lived in Mississippii and after Hurricaine Katrinia really wanted something "fun" for the kids that spring and hopefully profitable for us as we had so many unexpected needs that year.
They were absolutely professional, fun, and the most appreciated description by our Fundraiser chair - "organized". They NEVER took more than 2 minutes in a classroom (fundraiser chair followed them around and timed them that first day) and the students absolutely loved them. These were young men with smiles and positive attitudes and messages. The fun run day was a blast, not only for the kids, but us old parents loved the 80s/90s music they played. We earned $60,000 total that first year. We couldn't believe it. There was no negatives to our first experience w/ them and quickly booked a date for the next year. As a matter of fact one of the teachers and her classroom did a little breakfast thing w/ cards from the kids to their Boosterthon rep. that came to their classroom that last day he was scheduled to go to their classroom.
Do know unless the organization has changed their makeup in the last couple of years that they are run independantly in every region or state. So that may account for the various experiences. In our region of Mississippi they were wonderful. They told us up front our second year wouldn't be as profitable and they were correct. We earned around $40,000 total.
What did happen is after several years (I think around 3 or 4) they didn't book us dates to come back. Their reasons were that they were so big now that they just didn't have enough people for all the expansion. And it was becoming increasingly hard to get in touch w/ the reps. That year our then fundraiser chair learned from a parent at another school that used them that we didn't earn enough money for them to bother w/ us anymore. Again, to be fair that is hear say. Looking back it could be too that lagging sales meant that the novelity wore off. So, I guess even wonderfully successful fundraisers can get old. My advise is to contact schools in your area that those particular reps. have seviced to get their true conduct and ask how many years those schools have used them. Since those are the reps. that you will work w/ those are the schools you need to contact. If your school has never done anything like that the students really will enjoy it. And the many years ago that we used them the teachers received a percentage of their class's sales so the teachers were definately on board w/ it. How we worked that was at the end of the fundraiser we advised the teachers of their earnings and they would turn in receipts to get reimbursed until their money ran out. Some teachers that first year earned several hundred dollars.
It's an excellant concept and idea....if nothing else if you don't feel comfortable using them.....do one yourself, name it something unique to your school and keep all the funds.

My son's elementary school had a Boosterthon Fun Run last fall and it was a wonderful fundraiser. Our family loved how it incorporated the principles of fitness, education and character. I was fortunate enough to be volunteering in a classroom when one of the Fun Run team members came in (for 5 minutes -and the teacher was well aware that he was coming), and his enthusiasm was contagious. The kids were excited about their own fitness and he stressed the importance of having good character. There was NO religious message whatsoever. There was no pressure to raise a certain amount of money. The Fun Run team had a positive influence on my son and provided a good role model for him.

As parents, my husband and I were thrilled to see our son actually participating in the fundraising. In the past, with the gift wrap fundraisers, we ended up just writing a check for items that we didn't necessarily want or need, as we are not comfortable with letting our children sell door-to-door. With the Fun Run our son was able to practice his phone skills and get family members all over the country to sponsor him. They thought it was a great idea.

This is the best fundraiser that we have had at our school by far and we are excited that we will be doing it again this fall. The Fun Run team brings enthusiasm and a sense of community to our school.

Our school broke records with this fundraiser last year and our PTA was able to do many things to benefit the children, families, teachers and administrators at our school.

Boosterthon was incredibly motivating to our faculty, parents, students, and administration. Not only did we not need to deal with cookie dough, Christmas cards, and candles to sell we raised much needed funds through motivating our students through physicial fitness and goal setting. The Boosterthon team was an group of stellar, incredibly young men. They were attentive to our teachers needs during classroom time and our students are still talking about the friendships they made with the them. Boosterthon Rocks!