Classic Children's Books: Fundraising: Reach For the Stars

Reach for the Stars Read-a-thon

For schools, organizations, homeschool groups, churches, daycares, preschools, Mother's Day Out programs, caring parent & support groups, charity benefits, corporation community service projects, etc...

Here's a fundraiser with a purpose and up to 125% return!

Reach for the Stars! A new type of fundraiser promotes literacy and builds dreams, placing books in the hands of children, building their own libraries & raising cash &/or books for the school or organization.

Reach for the Stars is a pledge based reading incentive program. The students read (non readers/young children will be read to) and collect pledges from friends, neighbors, and relatives. This program works much like sponsoring a to participant in jump rope for heart or breast cancer walk type program, except with Reach for the Stars you are sponsoring a child to read.

Each student reads 30 minutes a day for 10 days in a 14 day period. Most reading experts recommend 30 minutes of reading a day, and one of the goals of the Reach for the Stars program is to establish good routine reading habits.

When the pledges are collected and turned in, up to125% return is given to the school or organization in the form of books or cash. See more specifics below.

Raise Money and Kids' Reading Levels
The Usborne "Reading Is A Gift" book fair program was developed by Usborne Books to encourage reading and at the same time, raise money and/or free books for your school or organization. We understand the needs and challenges faced by organizations trying to raise funds so we've designed the program to make it both easy on sponsors and successful in reaching your fundraising goals! With the FREE book and/or cash incentives that are in place for each book fair sponsor, your fundraising options are as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Cash - fund special projects, teacher resources or extras for your students
2. Money and books - provides the sponsor with cash and FREE books for the library
3. FREE books - Up to 50% of retail sales in additional free books

Our Consultants Will Do Most Of The Work
Your "Reading Is A Gift" bookfair/fundraiser partner is probably right around the corner and ready to work hard for your fundraiser. Your Usborne educational consultant will walk you through a fund-raising and mind-enriching event where there are many winners - your students and your school! Usborne "Reading Is A Gift" book fair promotional materials are available from the consultant to help make your event a huge success.
Free books may include librarybindings, flashcards and/or Kid Kits, if desired.

Usborne Books Offers A Fundraiser That Can Last a Lifetime! The Usborne family of books is internationally acclaimed as the finest educational children's book line-up in the marketplace today. Usborne offers over 1,300 fiction and non-fiction titles that inspire, enthrall and teach your students through reading. As a sponsor, you can choose from a wide range of subjects covering hobbies, science, nature, history, activities and more. Is there a better gift to give than the gift of reading? There's no better gift for your school or organization than an Usborne "Reading Is A Gift" book fair event that promotes reading and pays you back in FREE books and/or cash.

Book Fairs
. 50% of the sales in free books for book fairs over $500 in sales.
. 25% of the sales in free books for book fairs between $250 and $500 in sales.
. Minimum sales for a book fair is $250.

Cash Only Option from Book Fairs
. 25% of the sales in CASH for book fairs over $3,000 in sales.
. 20% of the sales in CASH for book fairs over $2,000 in sales.
. 15% of the sales in CASH for book fairs over $750 in sales.
. Minimum sales for the cash only program is $750.

Reach for the Stars!
. BOOK BONANZA - 100-125% return! 100% books to the kids and up to 25% books to the school
. FUNDRAISER - 100% return! 50% books to the kids, 20% books to school, and 30% cash to school
. BOOKRAISER - 100-110% return! 70% books to the kids, 30% books to school and 10% cash to school
. Minimum sales for at least 100% return is $250.
Let us know your needs & interests. Together we can design a program that will fit your needs.

RAVE REVIEWS ~ SAMPLE RESULTS
1.rural school in Minnesota:
Our first Reach for the Stars event raised $10,000 in pledges — with only 200 out of 800 students participating. $6,000 in free books went to the school and $5,000 in free books were given to all the children who participated! It didn't cost the school anything and yet it promoted literacy and encouraged kids to want to read! In this case the school received 110% of funds collected in books for the school!!!! There's NOTHING to LOSE and EVERYTHING to gain!! ~ Nadette Waligora

2."The RFTS program is great even for small groups. There is a missionary in Mexico that was starting a library for the local people. I saw this as a great way for our homeschool group to supply books for them, while encouraging a love for reading in the kids.

I introduced the idea to several homeschool families. With approximately 15 children participating, we had approximately $375 pledged. The children who read got to pick out 50% of their pledges in books, the other 50% went to supplying Spanish titles to the missionary. We ended the reading marathon with a simple pizza party and a small lesson on the Mexican region where the missionary serves. In addition to the books, each child also got a pencil, a certificate of completion, and a copy of the thank you note from the missionary.
The parents commented on appreciating that the program makes everybody involved benefit. The children are encouraged to read, they aren’t trying to "sell" something, and they also were able to provide for somebody in need.

This is just one of the many ways to use this wonderful program. " ~ Marge Schmidt

If your group, school or organization could use a reading incentive program and benefit with wonderful books & cash, please contact your Usborne Books Consultant or email us with your questions today.