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How it works

Give what you can, share it with your community, and help PTA bridge our school's funding gap.

Here's everything you need to know about donating, staying informed, helping your student's class unlock fun, and playing along.

The game

Two core actions + numerous opportunities for teamwork throughout the game.

Classes earn

Two different things, earned two different ways.

Fun is unlocked by dollars. Trophies and badges are earned by doing things — and no class has to out-raise anyone to get one.

1. Fun to unlock

Every class has its own goal, sized to how many students are in it. Every time a class raises another 50% of that goal, a new menu of celebrations opens and the class chooses one — the teacher's pick, or a class vote.

    Don't stop at 100%. The ladder keeps going to 200%, and the higher a class gets, the bigger the menu it is choosing from.
    • Ms Apple 160% of goal

      $4,160 raised · 3 of 4 menus open, next at 200%

    • Mr Bear 100% of goal

      $1,600 raised · 2 of 4 menus open, next at 150%

    • Ms Comet 55% of goal

      $880 raised · 1 of 4 menus open, next at 100%

    • Ms Domino 18% of goal

      $400 raised · first menu opens at 50%

    An example, not real classes. Four made-up classrooms in one made-up grade, each on its own ladder. They are the same four classes as the grade example below — $7,040 raised between them, against $8,000 of goals added together. See how the real classes are doing →

    50% pick one of…

    • Extra Recess
    • Hat Day
    • Special Guest Reader

    200% pick one of…

    • Pizza Party
    • Build a Box Castle
    • Tie-Dye Party
    Three of the choices on two of the four menus. See everything a class can unlock →

    2. Trophies and badges

    Not money — things a class did. They are kept separately from the menus above and no class has to choose between them.

    Badges are for everyone. Any class that does the thing earns the badge — there is no limit and no race.

    Trophies are real objects, and there is only one of each. They go to firsts, tops and stand-out moments, and they are handed out physically as well as showing up in the class's case online.

    See the trophy case → · Short answers →

    And every dollar counts three times. The money a class raises moves its own ladder, its grade's celebration and the whole school's total at once — it is never split between them. A class that has already cleared its own goal is still pulling its grade along, and still funding the school.

    Grades achieve

    A grade's goal is just its classrooms' goals added together. When a grade is fully funded, every class in it takes part in a grade-wide celebration — the big, loud ones.

    Which is why a class that has already hit its own goal keeps going: it is pulling its whole grade along, and sharing the fun with its friends.

    1. Example Grade 4 classes

      $7,040 of $8,000 · nearly there — fill the bar and the whole grade celebrates.

    1. Ms Apple $4,160
    2. Mr Bear $1,600
    3. Ms Comet $880
    4. Ms Domino $400
    An example, not a real grade. One block per classroom, left to right. Nobody has to give the same amount — a grade gets there on whatever its classes can do between them, and when the bar reaches the goal every class in the grade celebrates.
    Go see how each grade is doing →

    School celebrates

    Every $25,000 the whole school raises reveals one more upgrade to the end-of-fundraiser celebration. Nobody knows what they are yet — that is the point.

    A comic-book poster of a snow-capped mountain with a yellow trail winding up it. Price tags reading $25,000 and $50,000 mark gift boxes along the way, each box stamped with a question mark. A red flag at the summit reads Fall Fund Goal beside a $75,000 tag and one more gift box. Above the peak, a full moon is labelled $100,000 followed by three question marks.

    Our goal for this fundraiser is $75,000 — and there is no reason to stop there.

    The PTA's goal for the whole year is $200,000. Every dollar raised in these two weeks is a dollar we don't have to go back and ask for later, so the surprises keep coming: another one every $25,000. Get to $200,000 and we are done fundraising for the year.

    Curious about the why? →