Four years of growth
The San Francisco school reported "$285,000 for the 35th Annual Walkathon" in 2024. Its director of advancement said, "Our goal was to raise $250,000 this year."1 The year before, the walk set what was then a record, "$284,000 in gifts," up from $265,000 the year before that.2 The school's events page adds the next step: "After raising more than $300,000 through last year's Walkathon," for the 36th walk in 2025. Since it began in 1990, the walkathon has raised "more than $5 million."3
From $265,000 to more than $300,000 in four years is steady growth for a student fundraiser that was already large, the kind that suggests a walk running on habit and structure rather than on one exceptional class.
Student-led, with the whole community behind it
The school describes the walk as "a student-led fundraiser aided by families, alumni and investors," with speeches and class competitions on the day.1 Students do the asking and compete by class, and it was the school's director of advancement who announced the goal. For the 37th walk, the events page says the Classes of 2027 through 2030 are "committed to raising" $275,000.3 Putting every current class's name on the target gives students a stake in it, even though the adults set it.
That $275,000 is below the more than $300,000 raised the year before, just as 2024's $250,000 goal sat well under the result. Setting the public target below the last total keeps "we beat it" within reach for the students doing the asking. A Chicago elementary school, Skinner North, does the same with a $70,000 goal. Split evenly across four classes, $275,000 is about $68,750 per class, by our arithmetic, a number each class can track as the campaign runs. A smaller high school can copy the structure, with one school total, a target for each class and the classes racing one another, at whatever size its families can support. Our high school walk-a-thon guide explains how student-led campaigns split the work with adults.
Western one year, the beach the next
The 2023 walkathon was "Western-themed," a 3.1-mile trek through the park; the 2024 edition was "beach-themed," a 3.2-mile route.1,2 The events page calls it a "5K walk"; whichever figure you use, it's about three miles. The setting stays; the costume changes. For a 35-year-old event, a new theme each fall is an inexpensive way to give every incoming class something to plan and dress for. Our theme ideas are a place to start.
An atrium, scholarships and travel grants
The 2024 proceeds went to "the Carl Gellert & Celia Berta Gellert Atrium renovation in the Student Life Center," plus student scholarships and student travel grants.1 Pairing a building project with scholarships gives two kinds of donor a reason to give: those who want something they can stand in, and those who want to help a particular kind of student. A private school balancing a walk like this against its annual fund will find more in the private school walk-a-thon guide.
Feeding 1,700 people
The events page describes the day as "a student-led fundraiser that culminates in a 5K walk and picnic celebration in Golden Gate Park."3 In 2023 the school planned to feed more than 1,400 people; in 2024 the barbecue fed "more than 1,700 people, including students, faculty, staff, parents and volunteers."1,2 That's a catering operation in its own right. It also turns the fundraiser into a community meal, where students, staff and parents who gave and asked all end the day at the same tables. As the director of advancement put it: "The continued success of this annual event is a testament to the SHC community." On the other coast, a Catholic high school in Queens has built its own 27-year tradition: Holy Cross High School.
Sources
- Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Students exceed Walkathon goal (September 20, 2024; accessed October 19, 2026).
- Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Students break Walkathon fundraising record (accessed October 19, 2026).
- Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Walkathon (accessed October 19, 2026).