Georgia-based fun run operator FundRunners has abruptly closed its doors after notifying some customers that it could not pay the funds it owed for completed fundraising runs.
According to a letter FundRunners sent to customers, the company’s line of credit was revoked, leaving it unable to pay to schools some of the money the schools had raised through fun runs. Companies typically coordinate fundraising runs and retain a percentage of the money raised as payment.
One FundRunners customer, Springdale Park Elementary PTO in Atlanta, told parents that it had received payment for donations made in cash or by check for its October event, but had not received payment for almost $24,000 in credit card donations collected by FundRunners. The PTO filed a complaint with the Atlanta Police Department in December, and the matter is under investigation.
Company president Greg Bardin told an Atlanta TV news station that he is working with a bankruptcy attorney and hopes to pay the funds in the spring. “This is definitely an unforeseen, unfortunate event,” Bardin said. “We have raised $15-plus million for schools for the last seven years and we had no intention or desire for this to happen in any way.”
PTO Today attempted to reach Bardin for comment, but the phone number for his Georgia office was disconnected and his email address did not work.
Before it closed, FundRunners shared a website for pledge collections with three other companies: Texas FundRunners by AIM Fundraising in Houston; Arizona FundRunners by Fiesta Fund Raising in Phoenix; and NW FundRunners by Northwest Fundraising in Enumclaw, Wash. The website is now operated by Northwest Fundraising, and all three remaining companies plan to continue offering fun runs, according to Juan Franco, president of AIM Fundraising.
Speaking to PTO Today on behalf of all three companies, Franco explained that “We have no connection with the way Atlanta operations worked. We are independent companies that share the same website for pledge collections.”
Franco noted that no Texas fun run customers had been affected by the closure of FundRunners, and any affected schools in Arizona or Washington had received payments from Arizona FundRunners or NW FundRunners.
