Smells Like School Spirit

Garett Chatham waits outside a classroom at Sonoran Sky Elementary School dressed from headband to sneakers in the orange and blue running gear of school fundraising company Apex Fun Run. On a cue from the teacher, the 32-year-old morphs into Garett the Great, a combination motivational speaker, gym coach, and sales-team leader. For the next eight minutes he guides the sixth-graders through an exercise on the importance of saying thanks. And, because he’s also there to raise money, Garett the Great offers them incentives to hit classwide targets on pledges for the school’s upcoming minimarathon. One prize up for grabs: a chance to pie Garett. “You are doing an awesome job supporting your school,” he says.

Strained school budgets and overworked parents have opened the door for professional fundraising outfits like Phoenix-based Apex and Booster Enterprises, of Alpharetta, Ga. To the relief of families, there’s no cookie dough or holiday wrapping paper to peddle to friends and relatives. The companies’ core product is a so-called fun run, in which kids run laps around a course. Teams of three descend on an elementary school for two-week assignments, handling every aspect of the event—from hanging banners advertising the fun run to instructing parents on how to use social media to solicit pledges and handing out prizes.