If you've been thinking about using an online fundraising system for your Jog-A-Thon, Walk-A-Thon, Read A Thon or other pledge drive, take a look at our 2018 fundraising statistics to see why you should consider using PledgeStar:

• Participating children raised an average of $170 each.
• On average, PledgeStar customers kept 94% of what they raised.
• PledgeStar's automatic pledge request reminders increased funds raised by 40%.
• PledgeStar's new text pledge request feature increased fundraising by 15%.
• Schools that used PledgeStar in 2017 experienced a 40% increase when using it again in 2018.
• In 2018, PledgeStar helped more than 1,000 events raise over $30 million.

In 2018, we found ways to help you raise more and work less.

2018 Improvements to raise more:

• PledgeStar added the ability to send pledge requests via text messages to family and friends with mobile numbers, in addition to those with email addresses.
• PledgeStar's new integrated online address books (Google, Yahoo, AOL, Outlook) make it easier to send pledge requests to more people.
• Our new donor fee coverage option enables donors to increase their donation to cover credit card fees your organization incurs for processing the payment. Events that use this feature typically recoup 40% of their fees.
• Our new leaderboard encourages group competition.
• PledgeStar now emails reminders to families who haven't yet added donors.
• New custom pledge requests allow participants to personalize their messages to specific donors, increasing the likelihood of getting donations.

2018 Improvements to make fundraising easier:

• New prize report data allows you to set prize levels, and keep track of who received prizes.
• New leaderboards allow parents to see who is in the lead, so they don't have to ask you.
• New tutorial videos help administrators understand every detail of event setup and maintenance.
• New - collect participant shirt sizes during registration to simplify ordering.
• Simplified social media sharing.

And we're not finished, yet!

In 2019 we have big plans to make it even easier to raise more. Here are some of our goals for the new year:

• Multilingual support to help reach non english speaking donors.
• Sponsorship portal to simplify getting new event sponsors.
• Corporate donation matching integration to double donations from eligible donors.
• Accept payments from PayPal in addition to credit card and check donations.
• New and improved event themes to keep your fundraising site looking fresh.
• Interactive reporting allowing more sorting, filtering and exporting control.

Call (949) 258-9706, email info@pledgestar.com, or visit our website to get started or try a demo. We wish you the best in 2019 and look forward to helping you make this year your most successful fundraising year yet!