The sample event pack: Maple Hollow.

Subject: fall festival words - HELP - Maple Hollow PTO Hi, I'm the new events chair (Dana) for the Maple Hollow Elementary PTO and I have the Fall Festival in 3 weeks and nothing written down except my notes, which are this email. Sorry it's a mess. The event: Maple Hollow Fall Festival, Saturday November 8, 3 to 6 pm, on the back field, gym if it rains (principal said yes to the gym). Free to get in, we sell game tickets, I think 50 cents each or 12 for $5, we did that last year. Food: Rotary club is doing hot dogs again (they donate it all, bless them), the 5th grade is doing a bake sale table for their DC trip, there's a cider stand. Games: cake walk, ring toss, pumpkin bowling, face painting (Mrs. Ortiz's daughter's art club), the hay maze from the Hendersons' farm, a photo spot with hay bales, costume parade at 4:30 for the little kids. Last year we cleared about $3,800 and this year the goal is $4,500 because we are trying to replace the kindergarten playground mulch and get new library beanbags. Sponsors. Last year the previous chair just emailed a few parents who own businesses. I want an actual letter I can hand out / email to businesses on Main Street. Tiers, I was thinking: $500 "Gold" - banner on the field fence for the day and name on the flyer and the PTO facebook, $250 "Silver" - name on a sign at a game booth and facebook, $100 "Bronze" - name on the thank you board at the entrance. Also happy to take donated stuff (cake walk cakes, prizes) instead of money. Deadline for sponsor money is Oct 31 so we can get the banners printed. Checks to "Maple Hollow PTO". We are a nonprofit, I'm pretty sure we have the 501c3 letter, the treasurer (Priya) has it. Volunteers. I need like 40 slots. Setup 1-3 pm (tables, tents, signs), booth shifts 3-4:30 and 4:30-6 (need 2 per game, 6 games), ticket table 2 people per shift, cleanup 6-7:30. Teens can do booths for service hours, adults for the ticket table and setup. Sign up is on the signupgenius link I'll put in. People always sign up for the fun shifts and nobody does cleanup so I want to make cleanup sound good somehow. Day of: I want a one-page schedule I can print for the volunteers and the principal. Rough: 1 pm setup, 2:30 volunteers check in at the ticket table, 3 gates open, 3:15 welcome announcement by the principal (Dr. Alvarez), 4:30 costume parade on the field, 5:00 cake walk final round, 5:45 last call for tickets, 6 close, cleanup till 7:30. Rain plan is the gym, same times, no hay maze. After: I want a thank you post for facebook and the newsletter with the total, sponsors by name, how many volunteers. I won't know the numbers till after obviously. Please don't make it sound corporate, we're a small school (310 kids). Also our principal does NOT want the word "carnival" because of some district thing with ride permits, it's a "festival". And I don't want any gambling-sounding stuff, no raffle, the district won't allow raffles. Thanks!!

THE FLYER MAPLE HOLLOW FALL FESTIVAL Saturday, November 8 · 3 to 6 PM · the back field at Maple Hollow Elementary Free to come in. Game tickets 50¢ each or 12 for $5. Cake walk, ring toss, pumpkin bowling, face painting by the art club, the Hendersons' hay maze, a hay-bale photo spot, and the little kids' costume parade at 4:30. Rotary hot dogs, the fifth grade's bake sale, and hot cider. Everything we raise goes to new mulch for the kindergarten playground and new beanbags for the library. Last year the festival brought in $3,800; this year we are aiming for $4,500. Rain? We move into the gym, same times (the hay maze stays on the farm). Bring: cash or a card for tickets, a costume for the parade, and a cake for the cake walk if you bake. Questions, or want to help? Dana, PTO events chair · [email] · Maple Hollow PTO THE SPONSOR LETTER Dear [business name], On Saturday, November 8, Maple Hollow Elementary's PTO is holding our Fall Festival on the school's back field: games, a hay maze, a costume parade and a cake walk for a school of 310 kids and their families. Last year's festival raised $3,800. This year our goal is $4,500, and every dollar goes to two things the kids will use every day: fresh mulch for the kindergarten playground and new beanbags for the library. We would love to have [business name] with us as a sponsor. There are three ways to do it: Gold, $500. Your banner on the field fence for the whole festival, your name on the festival flyer that goes home with every student, and a thank-you on the PTO Facebook page. Silver, $250. Your name on the sign at one of the game booths, and a thank-you on the PTO Facebook page. Bronze, $100. Your name on the thank-you board at the festival entrance. If a donation of goods suits you better than money, we gladly take cakes for the cake walk and prizes for the game booths, and we will thank you the same way. To have your banner and name printed in time, we need to hear from you by Friday, October 31. Checks go to Maple Hollow PTO; I can collect in person or you can reply to this letter and I will come by. Thank you for considering it. Businesses on Main Street are a big part of why this school feels like a town, and the kids notice whose names are on the fence. Warmly, Dana · Events chair, Maple Hollow Elementary PTO · [phone] · [email] THE VOLUNTEER ASK The sign-up post (Facebook, newsletter, class emails): The Fall Festival is Saturday, November 8, and it runs on volunteers: about 40 shifts, most of them 90 minutes. Pick one here: [sign-up link]. Setup, 1 to 3 PM. Tables, tents and signs. Adults; bring gloves if you have them. Ticket table, 2 to 4:30 PM or 4:30 to 6 PM. Two people per shift, adults. You will see every family in the school walk past. Game booths, 3 to 4:30 PM or 4:30 to 6 PM. Two people per game, six games. Teens welcome: this counts for service hours, and we sign the form on the day. Cleanup crew, 6 to 7:30 PM. The shift with the best view: the field empty, the money counted, the leftover hot dogs. Adults and teens, service hours signed. If you can only do an hour, take a booth shift. If you can do one thing that matters most, take cleanup; it is the shift nobody picks and the one we remember. The shift list for the sign-up page: Setup 1:00–3:00 PM: 6 adults. Ticket table 2:00–4:30 PM: 2 adults. Ticket table 4:30–6:00 PM: 2 adults. Cake walk, ring toss, pumpkin bowling, face painting, hay maze, photo spot, each 3:00–4:30 PM and 4:30–6:00 PM: 2 people per shift, teens welcome (24 slots). Cleanup 6:00–7:30 PM: 6 adults or teens. Total: 40. THE DAY-OF RUN SHEET 1:00 PM. Setup crew arrives. Tables, tents and booth signs out; ticket table at the gate; thank-you board at the entrance; Gold banners on the fence. 2:00 PM. Ticket table opens for volunteer check-in. Every volunteer checks in here, gets their booth, and teens get their service-hours form started. 2:30 PM. All booth volunteers at their games. Rotary, bake sale and cider stand set up. 3:00 PM. Gates open. Tickets on sale: 50¢ each, 12 for $5. 3:15 PM. Welcome from Dr. Alvarez at the photo spot. Thank the sponsors by name (list below). 4:30 PM. Costume parade on the field for the little kids; booths pause for ten minutes so the shift change happens here. Second-shift volunteers check in at the ticket table from 4:15. 5:00 PM. Final round of the cake walk. 5:45 PM. Last call for tickets. Ticket table closes at 5:50 and counts up with the treasurer. 6:00 PM. Close. Cleanup crew starts: booths down, tables stacked, field walked for litter, gym key back to Dr. Alvarez. 7:30 PM. Done. Chair and treasurer confirm the count. Rain plan. Same times in the gym. No hay maze; the hay-bale photo spot moves to the gym lobby. Check-in and tickets at the gym door. Sponsors to thank at 3:15: [Gold names] · [Silver names] · [Bronze names] · the Rotary Club · the Hendersons. THE THANK-YOU POST Thank you, Maple Hollow. Saturday's Fall Festival raised $[total] for the kindergarten playground mulch and the library beanbags, from 310 kids' worth of families, [number] volunteers and the businesses below. Gold sponsors: [names]. Silver sponsors: [names]. Bronze sponsors: [names]. The Rotary Club, who fed us all again. The Hendersons, for the hay maze. The art club, for every painted face. The fifth grade, for the bake sale and for their trip to DC. To the [number] people who set up, sold tickets, ran the booths and stayed to clean the field in the dark: it does not happen without you. Thank you. What happens next: the mulch goes in over winter break, and the beanbags arrive in the library in January. We will post photos. Dana, for the Maple Hollow PTO

1. Nothing was added beyond your notes Every fact (dates, times, prices, tiers, last year's $3,800, the $4,500 goal, 310 kids, the gym plan) is yours. Names, totals and the sign-up link are left as [brackets] for you to fill. 2. “Festival”, never “carnival” Your principal's word, used throughout, including the sponsor letter and the run sheet. 3. No raffle, no gambling words The cake walk is described as a game with tickets, which is what your notes say it is. There is no raffle, drawing, lottery or “win” language anywhere in the pack. 4. The tax line was left out Your notes say you are “pretty sure” about the 501(c)(3) letter. The sponsor letter makes no deductibility claim; once Priya confirms, add one sentence (question 2). 5. Cleanup was given the best line You asked for cleanup to “sound good”: it is the shift with the best view, and the ask names it as the one that matters most. 6. The run sheet moved the shift change to the parade Your notes had the booth shifts changing at 4:30 and the parade at 4:30; the run sheet pauses the booths for the parade and makes that the handover, so no game is unstaffed. 7. Volunteer check-in opened at 2:00, not 2:30 Your setup crew needs the ticket table in place by 2:30; the run sheet has volunteers checking in from 2:00 so booth people are in place at 2:30 and gates open at 3:00 without a scramble. 8. The flyer leads with the games, not the goal Families come for the hay maze and the cake walk; the goal is one line under it, with last year's number as proof.

1. The sponsor deadline is Friday, October 31; the festival is eight days later. Is that enough time for the banner printer you use? If not, the letter should say October 24. 2. Does the PTO have its 501(c)(3) letter in hand? If Priya confirms, add to the sponsor letter: “Maple Hollow PTO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; your sponsorship may be tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.” Until then, leave it out. 3. Ticket prices: 50¢ each or 12 for $5 is taken from “I think … we did that last year.” Confirm before the flyer prints. 4. Face painting: is it free with entry or does it take tickets? The flyer lists it among the games; say if it should move to the free list. 5. Who speaks at 3:15 if Dr. Alvarez is late? The run sheet names you as the fallback. 6. The volunteer count is 40 on your estimate; the shift list above comes to 40 exactly. Add a float of two or three adults if you can; they cover breaks and the teen who does not show.