Students & Parents
Help us meet our Goal!
Our annual Race for Education fundraiser helps sustain every student’s access to impactful enrichment programs and resources such as assemblies, field trips, STEAM and writing workshops, community service engagement, art and environmental education, classroom supplies, assistance for low-income families, and MUCH MORE.
Nearly half of everything we raise each year comes from individual donations from Osborne families, friends, and our community! We couldn't do this without you.
In mid-September, we'll launch our 2023 Race for Education fundraising drive. Parents/guardians will receive an email with a special link to our 99Pledges.com fundraising site so you can invite friends and family to donate. If you have any questions or if you didn't receive the email, please contact us at osbornehsa@gmail.com.
Prizes for Participation
We're aiming for 100% participation which means every student either gets at least one donation or invites at least one friend or family member to participate. Students who participate will be eligible to win prizes in many categories including the following:
Inviting friends and family - for each email address and/or phone number entered in 99Pledges, your student will be entered into our participation prize drawing!
Donations - for each donation received, your student will be entered into our donations prize drawing!
Class Participation - Classes will compete against one another for the most invitations sent!
Class Donations - Classes will compete against one another for the most donations received!
Other fun categories on Race Day!
How to Participate
Parents and caregivers, we need your help! Please share your child's fundraising page with your friends and family to help us collect as many donations as possible. Follow the steps below to get started:
1) Do you have your fundraising link?
In mid-Septemeber, we'll launch our 2023 Race for Education fundraising drive. Parents/guardians will receive an email with a special link to our 99Pledges.com fundraising site so you can invite friends and family to donate.
If you have your special fundraising link, go to the next step.
If you do not have your special fundraising link and it's after September 20th, please search your email for 99pledges. If you still can't find it, please email us at osbornehsa@gmail.com and include your child's name, grade, and teacher.
2) Click the link and visit the 99Pledges Site
In the email from 99Pledges will be a line that says "Here’s a link to your private fundraising management page. This link is private, please do NOT share this with anyone!" followed by a link. Click that link! This link shouldn't be shared, because it's just for you.
Once you click the link, you should be on a page that looks similar to this image.
Recommended: If you'd like, you can add a profile photo of your student. This is not required but friends and family will see the photo if they visit your student's fundraising page!
3) Invite Friends and Family
From the 99Pledges page, next click on the Invite tab. Here, you can see anyone you've already invited and you can invite your friends and family. To get started, click the blue Add Invitation button and fill out the following fields:
Your Name: Enter either your student's name or your name. This name will be used as the email From information.
Your Email: Enter your email address. If a recipient replies to an email they received, the reply will go to this email address.
Their Name: This will be used in the body of the email. In the example image, the email body would stay with "Dear Aunt Jenny,"
Their Email: This is the address where the email invitation will be sent.
Their Phone (optional): If you enter a mobile phone number, 99Pledges will send them a text with a link to the donation page.
When every field is filled out, click the green Send Invitation button! You can repeat the process to invoice more friends & family and each time you send an invitation, your student will be entered into the Participation Prize drawing!
Please note that emails will send to your friends and family immediately but you will not be copied on the emails.
4) Spread the word!
Once you've invited your friends and family, we encourage you to help further spread the word by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel.
To do that, go back to the email you received from 99Pledges and look for the line that says "Please SHARE this link with others by email, text message, Facebook, Twitter, and any other way you like to share! ".
Click that link and you'll be taken to your student's individual fundraising page. From there, you can click the Facebook and Twitter buttons to share links to your student's page.
5) Please consider donating yourself
Not everyone likes to be first, so while you're on your student's individual fundraising page, please consider donating yourself! Anyone else who visits the page will be able to see the donation and your note and will be more likely to join in with their own donation!
If every student receives just $50 in donations, we would meet our goal of $20,000 from donations! We can meet or beat our goal with everyone's help and make the 2022-23 Osborne school year the best one yet for our students and teachers!
6) Give yourself a pat on the back!
You did it, you're amazing, and we couldn't have done it without you! Thank you so much for supporting the kids!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the money we raise used for?
The HSA provides funding and support for many of the offerings that make Osborne a great place to be a student, such as: field trips to the zoo and local museums, assemblies featuring the CLO and Carnegie Science Center, the school garden and gARTen club, the annual Science Olympiad, International Family Night and many more.
To learn more, visit our How We Help page.
How can I find my student's individual donation page?
You can get to your student's individual donation page either by clicking the link in the email you received from 99Pledges or by going to the 99Pledges site and searching for your student's name in the Search for Participant box.
How much does 99Pledges charge the HSA?
99Pledges does not charge the HSA anything to use their fundraising platform. Instead, they make money by asking everyone who is making a donation to add a "tip" to help fund the service.
When donating, the donor will see the following text "We rely on the generosity of donors to help us run our platform. We charge no platform fees to the fundraiser organizers. Thank you for including a tip:". Next to that box is a dropdown where they can select from some set amounts, generally, it's 5%, 10%, 15%, or Other. If the donor chooses Other, they can enter a different amount including $0 to not include any tip. If the donor does not include a tip, it does not negatively impact how much the HSA receives.
The only other cost for using 99Pledges is that we pay an approximately 3% credit card transaction fee for all online transactions through 99Pledges.
What donation payment methods are accepted?
Our donation website at 99Pledges accepts both Credit Card and PayPal payments through the website.
If anyone would like to mail a check, please make checks payable to Osborne HSA and mail it to:
RACE FOR EDUCATION
Osborne Elementary School
1414 Beaver Road
Sewickley, PA 15143
Please include the student's name along with the check so we can credit the donation to the correct student.
How will I know if someone has donated?
There are a few ways:
When someone donates using your student's page, you'll receive an email.
If you go to your student's individual page, you'll be able to see a list of donations your child has received.
You can get to your student's individual donation page either by clicking the link in the email you received or by going to the 99Pledges site and searching for your student's name in the Search for Participant box.
What if I have questions?
Please email us at osbornehsa@gmail.com.