2016 School Walk Captain Guide

2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE

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Thank you for stepping up to be your school’s Soles for Catholic Education Walk Captain! Your leadership will help make this 4th annual Walk a success.

One Step. One Soul at a time.

Meet us at the starting line!

What: The 4th annual Soles for Catholic Education Walk Why:

- To raise money for tuition assistance. Donations raised by your school stay with your school!

- To build community among our larger Catholic school family

- To celebrate Catholic education

- To increase visibility of Catholic schools and showcase their impact

Where: Mount Mary University 2900 N. Menomonee River Parkway, Milwaukee, WI 53222 When: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 8:30 a.m.

Registration for day-of participants 9:40 a.m.

Exercise warm-up 9:50 a.m.

Opening ceremony including prayer with Archbishop

Jerome Listecki. Gene Mueller, 620 WTMJ, emcee.

10 a.m.

2-mile Walk start 10 a.m. – noon Soles Celebration

n o i t a r t Regis open! is now oolswalk.org licsch

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE

Purpose

• To ensure that Catholic education remains affordable and accessible while we celebrate our Catholic schools and build community.

- Walkers will collect donations to be used for tuition assistance.

- Donations earned by your school’s Walk team will stay with your school.

Your role as School Walk Captain Think of yourself as your school’s head cheerleader. You’ll be responsible for:

• Setting financial and participation goals with your school’s principal

• Generating excitement and interest

in the Walk

• Promoting the Walk at your school/parish

• Recruiting volunteers and walkers

• Inspiring and motivating your team

• Soliciting community sponsors

• Collecting donations raised by your team

• Updating Walk website with cash and

check donations

Recruit support • You don’t have to do it alone – organize volunteers who can help recruit walkers and team sponsors • Volunteers can be parishioners, teachers, parents or alumni – anyone who shares your dedication to Catholic schools • Reach out to them personally and invite participation in this fun event

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE Everything you need is right here!

In this guide, you’ll find all the information you need to hit the ground running and make your team’s participation in the Soles for Catholic Education Walk a great success.

Your support team: • The guide. With this guide, you’ll find a CD with email messages, flyers and announcements to use to recruit volunteers and walkers.

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Promotional print materials: - All Walk print material you order is free of charge!

- Place your online order for your spring/summer Walk materials by: Tuesday, March 22 - Place your online order for your fall Walk materials by: Thursday, July 8 - All material you order (posters, Save-the-Date postcards, sponsorship brochures, etc.) will be shipped directly to your school.

• Walk website.

At www.catholicschoolswalk.org, individuals can register for the Walk and donate beginning on April 1. Participants can also register by filling out the paper registration form. All paper registrations you receive must be entered online by Sept. 19!

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE 2016 Walk logistics Getting to the Walk Although free car parking is available at both Mount Mary and the parking structure at Mayfair, we encourage you to coordinate bus transportation for your students and their parents so that you can arrive as a group and walk as a school. If you go this route, be sure to get permission slips from all bus riders.

Engage your alumni Alumni are an important part of your school’s family. They know the value of a Catholic education firsthand. Here are some ways you can involve alumni in your school’s Walk efforts:

• Encourage competition!

Start a competition between your alumni classes and see what year has the best turnout!

• Use social media - Identify successful alumni and post stories about them on your school’s website. Share links to the photos and stories on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. #SolesWalk

- In your social media posts, position the Walk as a chance for “Walking Reunions” for alumni of all ages. Invite alums to post pictures of themselves with their walking shoes.

- Create posts from your school mascot, principal, pastor or a famous alum!

- Announce that you’ll live-tweet from the Walk, inviting responses so supporters can participate from a distance.

Tip: Be visual, especially on Facebook. The more photos, the better!

Have a video from last year? Post that, too!

• Work with your pastor for Mass and bulletin announcements Encourage your pastor to include an alumni invitation when mentioning the Walk during Mass.

Consider a large bulletin ad or insert with a special alumni call-out.

•

Promote alumni engagement at your parish festival Trying to build an email database of school alumni? Take advantage of your parish festival. Set up a Walk table (consider leading up to it with a trail of footprints) and include a banner welcoming alumni. Use the emails you collect to promote alumni involvement in the Walk and to build your alumni database.

• Connect with parents - While you may not have email information for students who recently graduated, you may have email information for their parents, who can pass the word along (and who might even be alumni themselves)! Be sure to include this in your school and parish email newsletters, too. Encourage the whole family to walk together.

- Consider recognizing the families whose members travel the farthest to attend the Walk.

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE

• Make special school announcements You may not have email information for students who recently graduated, but they may still have siblings at your school. Have current students create invitations for their older alumni siblings.

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Include a special callout to alumni in communications Does your school send out a newsletter or magazine to alumni? Be sure to include a Walk invitation.

How to allocate Walk funds Too many families today say they can’t afford Catholic education. The Soles for Catholic Education Walk is designed to take the first step toward eliminating that barrier. Remember: Donations raised by your school, stay at your school!

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Funds support tuition assistance Every walker is encouraged to solicit donations from supporters. Donations earned by your school stay with your school to support tuition assistance.

Donations stay with your school!

One hundred percent of donations made by cash or check stay with the school. These cash and check donations should be entered online by school walk captains. Please note that website donations incur processing fees due to website and credit card vendor costs.

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How to allocate funds for Choice families Schools serving Choice families can apply revenues raised from the Walk to offset educational costs for families including co-curricular activities, school supplies, musical instruments, transportation and before- and after-school child care. Any other questions can be directed to Brenda White, Associate Superintendent, whiteb@archmil.org or (414) 758-2252.

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The results are in your hands (or, in this case, feet) While this is not a race that involves high jumps, we hope you will set your bar high. Many schools are setting significant goals. Don’t underestimate what your school can raise. This event can support student retention, encourage new families to register and provide much needed tuition assistance for current families. Set your bar high.

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How online donations will be sent to you All online credit card donations are being held in a separate account specifically for the Soles for Catholic Education Walk. Your funds will be distributed to your school by check in early 2017, minus the processing fees charged by the credit card company and website host.

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE Managing your registrations and donations All fundraising on the school level is independent of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. You are responsible for managing all registrations and donations for your school.

Offline Donations Your cash and check donations stay with your school.

The archdiocese will not be involved in handling these donations and will not have any record of this information. However, it is imperative that we show event sponsors that donations to schools increase every year. Our event sponsors watch the website thermometer rise to evaluate their return on investment. Your results are the reason they support this event. Please post these funds to your team page as soon as possible after receipt. Enter all cash and check donations online by Nov. 1. You may continue adding late arriving donations online until Dec. 31. Contact Marcy Stone at stonem@archmil.org with questions.

Online Donations Online donations should be reviewed by you and your principal regularly through your password protected Participant Center at www.catholicschoolswalk.org. A check for the total confirmed credit card donations made to your school will be sent to you in early 2017 less the processing fees (website and credit card).

Local Business Outreach The sponsorship money you raise for your school through solicitation of local businesses or organizations will be kept by your school. Again, the archdiocese will not handle or have record of this information.

Please record this in your total dollars raised on the website. Your school/parish is responsible for sending out tax thank you letters recognizing donors and sponsors giving $250 or more. Be creative and recognize your sponsors on your team page or in print material (school newsletter, parish bulletin, etc.).

Paper registration forms - You are responsible for entering all paper registration forms you receive on the website by September 19.

- Free registration ends on September 19.

Information from paper registrations must be entered on the website by September 19. T-shirts will be ordered utilizing website information. In order to guarantee all of your participants receive a t-shirt, you must enter their paper registration information online.

Registrations received after September 19 - -

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A $10 registration fee is charged beginning Tuesday, September 20.

Registrations and t-shirt orders received online from Sept. 20 – Oct. 1 will be guaranteed a t-shirt.

These registrants will pick up their t-shirt at the Pre-Registation tent the day of the Walk.

Any registrations completed online after Oct. 1 will not be guaranteed a t-shirt. T-shirts for these registrants will be available first come, first serve at the Registration tent the day of the Walk.

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2016 SCHOOL WALK CAPTAIN GUIDE Step up and ‘Stuff the Bus!’ Last year, we collected more than 5,000 pairs of shoes. WAY TO GO! Once again, we will collect all types and sizes of gently-used shoes for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Clients need shoes for interviews, work, school and for everyday use. Join us as we challenge Catholic school students to “Stuff the Bus!” - Collect shoes at your school prior to the event so people who are unable to walk have the chance to donate shoes, too. Please bring shoes to the Walk in plastic bags to expedite collection.

- Please make sure each pair of shoes donated is rubber-banded to keep the shoes together.

- Encourage your school’s walkers to bring their gently-used shoes and drop them off at the bus on the day of the event! Please use the collection boxes provided.

High school ‘Treat and Tweet’ stops #SolesWalk Meet and greet potential high school students at ‘Treat and Tweet’ tents positioned along the scenic Walk route. Every high school who signs on for this marketing opportunity will be present.

Pre-Walk promotions will encourage walkers to stop at high school tents, grab a treat, post about it on social media and pick up high school recruitment materials.

Details A 10’ x 10’ tent will be provided for each high school. More details will follow by email. Each high school is responsible for providing:

- A candy giveaway (we estimate 20,000 wrapped pieces of candy)

- Your own marketing materials – brochures, flyers, talking points cards, etc.

- Your school’s banner or signage

- Volunteers to set up, staff and take down the tent.

Thank You! Thank YOU for stepping up to lead your school’s walk efforts. Your leadership is instrumental to the Walk’s success.

Questions?

Don’t hesitate to contact the Walk Coordinator, Marcy Stone, at stonem@archmil.org or (414)769-3507.

We want you to be successful every “step” of the way.

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