How Pacelli Boosters Raised More by Keeping It Simple

When More Choices Created More Work

Cardinal Pacelli Catholic School is a small school in Cincinnati serving about 420 students from preschool through eighth grade. Like many school communities, much of what happens outside the classroom depends on volunteers. That includes athletics.

The school’s athletics program is volunteer-run, and booster memberships help fund improvements while giving families useful perks throughout the sports season. But the booster program had become more complicated than it needed to be.

One year, the group offered three membership levels: $100, $150 and $500. The lower-cost option was meant to make the program more accessible by removing some of the extras, like booster swag and recognition. Instead, it created confusion.

Some families chose the lower tier and later wondered why they had not received the same benefits as other boosters. Others likely would have purchased the $150 option if the $100 choice had not been there at all.

For a volunteer team already juggling plenty, the extra questions and follow-up were not worth it. Cheddar Up gave the team the flexibility to adjust the collection and make the experience simpler the next time around.

That simple approach helped Pacelli Booster Club grow its athletics booster collection to more than $31,000. Emily estimated the previous year brought in around $20,000;  itself a sizable jump over earlier efforts.

Making It Easier to Participate

The membership structure was only part of the equation. Cheddar Up also made the membership dues process easier for school families.

Before Cheddar Up, payments could end up scattered across different places. Some families used the parish payment portal. Others wanted to hand over cash or checks. Some asked about paying another way altogether.

With Cheddar Up, families could pay online from their phones using convenient payment methods, while Emily could still accept offline payments when needed and record them in the same system. Cheddar Up supports online payments along with cash and check tracking, helping organizers keep payment information together.

That mattered a lot for a volunteer-led organization.

When someone handed Emily a check, she could record the payment in Cheddar Up so the family appeared alongside everyone who had paid online. Then, when it was time to pull a report, the booster list was already together.

Cheddar Up’s reporting tools also made it easier to turn collection data into usable spreadsheets without hours of cleanup. That meant less time piecing together payment records and more confidence that no booster had been missed.

Pacelli Booster Club also found a smart way to make participation visible. The booster collection included a participant list, and reminder emails thanked families who had already joined.  It was not just about showing how much money had been raised. It showed the community behind the campaign.

“It solves so many headaches.”

The combination of clear benefits, fewer choices, easy mobile payments and visible participation helped turn the booster drive into a simple, repeatable campaign. For Emily, that is one of Cheddar Up’s biggest strengths.  And when the people running the fundraiser are volunteers, saving those headaches matters just as much as raising the money.