Scaling a School Fundraiser into a 2,000-Person Community Event
As chairperson and the school-side lead of the Pumpkin Patch committee, I managed the event budget and coordinated partnerships, vendors, volunteers, fundraising, promotion, purchasing, attractions, game improvements, and live operations as the fundraiser expanded to approximately 2,000 attendees. Introduced multiple first-time event features, secured approximately $1,000 in raffle-item donations, and helped grow proceeds to about $700 for each of 30 teachers—exactly $625 more per teacher than the prior year.
Verified Professional Experience
Al Seeliger Elementary | Carson City School District | Pumpkin Patch
2017–2020 | Committee Member → Chairperson
Skills Demonstrated
Project Leadership, Budget Management, Event Operations, Partnership Development, Vendor Management, Fundraising, Procurement & Resource Allocation, Volunteer Coordination, Marketing & Promotion, Experience Design, Stakeholder Communication, Audience Growth, Visual Communication, Live Issue Resolution, Project Management
Challenge
Pumpkin Patch was an established school fundraiser, but expanding its reach and fundraising potential required more than simply making the existing event larger. The event needed refreshed activities, stronger visual presentation, broader community appeal, additional vendors and attractions, new fundraising opportunities, and disciplined budget management—while still coordinating volunteers, communications, financial documentation, schedules, and live-event logistics. The challenge was to create a significantly stronger participant experience without allowing growth to create uncontrolled costs or operational chaos.
Role & Scope
I joined the Pumpkin Patch committee in 2017 and then served as chairperson and the school-side lead of the committee during the following two school years. I managed and oversaw the event budget and coordinated vendors, community partners, volunteers, donations, attractions, promotion, schedules, purchasing, payments, receipts, tax forms, financial documentation, and event-day issue resolution. I also led significant improvements to the participant experience: I retired outdated games, purchased new supplies and prizes, helped teachers develop new games, and hand-created more than 20 redesigned posters for teacher-run game booths.
Approach & Execution
I managed the event across three connected workstreams: operations and budget, community partnerships, and participant experience. On the operational side, I tracked spending, purchasing, documentation, schedules, volunteers, vendors, and event-day needs. To expand the event’s appeal while controlling costs, I developed new community partnerships and recruited first-time attractions and vendors. At the same time, I refreshed the core fundraiser experience by retiring outdated games, sourcing new materials and prizes, helping teachers develop new activities, and creating more than 20 cohesive hand-made booth posters to improve presentation and navigation throughout the event.
Key Decisions & Rationale
I did not assume that making the event more compelling required dramatically increasing spending. I looked for ways to exchange audience exposure, community participation, existing resources, and partnership value for experiences that would otherwise have cost the committee money. I secured food trucks without a participation fee; brought in Kona Ice at no cost while also obtaining a donation of 25% of its event profits; introduced local craft vendors; secured the hot-air-balloon attraction by positioning the event as a promotional opportunity for the operator; and arranged free mule rides using a staff member’s mules and cart. I also obtained approximately $1,000 worth of donated raffle items. At the same time, I deliberately invested budget dollars where they would improve the core experience—new game supplies, new prizes, refreshed activities, and stronger visual presentation.
Outcome & Impact
Pumpkin Patch grew into a community event serving approximately 2,000 attendees, with proceeds reaching about $700 for each of 30 teachers—exactly $625 more per teacher than the prior year. The event added first-time food trucks, Kona Ice, local craft vendors, a hot-air-balloon attraction, and mule rides while securing many of those experiences at no cost to the committee. I also generated approximately $1,000 in donated raffle items and helped transform the game area through updated activities, new supplies and prizes, and more than 20 redesigned booth posters. The result was not simply a larger fundraiser, but a broader and more intentionally designed community experience.
What This Demonstrates
This project demonstrates my ability to lead a complex initiative from strategy through live execution while balancing budget, stakeholders, partnerships, logistics, fundraising, promotion, procurement, and participant experience. It shows that I can identify growth opportunities, build mutually beneficial partnerships, allocate limited resources strategically, improve an existing program rather than simply maintain it, coordinate many interdependent workstreams, create polished supporting materials, and solve problems in real time. It reflects strengths in project leadership, budget management, partnership development, vendor management, fundraising, cost-conscious resource allocation, marketing and promotion, experience design, visual communication, stakeholder coordination, and event operations.