School fundraisers in Ohio, home of the halftime show.

The Ohio calendar and the two-week window

Most Ohio districts open in the third or fourth week of August, and a handful still wait until after Labor Day. Either way, the fall runs the same. Football starts the last weekend of August, homecoming lands in late September or early October, and the marching band is busy every Friday in between. Brian plans the sale to be closed before homecoming week so the band parents are not selling and building a float at the same time. Send him the district calendar and the football schedule and he will send back two weeks that miss both.

• ✓Fall, late August districts. The week after Labor Day through the last week of September. Delivered before Halloween.
• ✓Fall, mid August districts. The last week of August through the middle of September, with the checks in hand before homecoming.
• ✓Spring. The first week of February through the middle of March. Ohio State Tests start in April, so the spring sale closes before them.

Where Brian works in Ohio

Columbus City Schools, the largest district in the state, and the suburbs around it, Olentangy, Dublin, Hilliard, Westerville, Worthington and South-Western. Cleveland and the east and west side districts, Parma, Strongsville, Lakewood and Mentor. Cincinnati Public Schools with Lakota, Mason, Princeton and Sycamore nearby. Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Canton, Youngstown and Springfield. Massillon, Findlay, Mansfield, Zanesville and the small county districts in between. City districts, exempted village districts, local districts, Catholic schools and charters all run the same program.

Band, chorus and cheer in Ohio

Nobody does the halftime show like Ohio. Friday night marching bands are a town event here, and the fall calendar fills with Saturday band shows and the state marching band finals in late October and early November. The fees, buses, uniforms and camp balances come due in September. Choirs audition for district and All-State honors in the fall and perform at adjudicated events in the spring. Cheer squads point at the state championships in March and pay camp and competition bills through the winter.

A fall sale that closes by late September pays for the marching season before the first Saturday show. Spring sales fund the spring trip, the adjudicated event and next fall’s uniforms.

What an Ohio sale looks like

• ✓Kickoff packet and share links shipped before launch day, with a five-minute script for the announcements or the first band parents meeting
• ✓Online store that ships direct to supporters in any state, so nobody hauls product to the plant or the office
• ✓Day-seven midpoint push, where Brian reads the numbers and calls the coordinator with exactly who to nudge
• ✓VIP Duck collectibles and a prize program tracked in the admin site, so the kids chase the next level on their own
• ✓Zero upfront cost, no minimum order, and different fall and spring catalogs so a school can run both

Elementary and middle schools, PTAs, PTOs, band parents associations, choruses, cheer squads and booster clubs all run the same program. The day-by-day version is on how it works, and bands and cheer programs can read more on teams and groups.

Shipping to Ohio schools

Giving Market ships pre-sorted orders to the school about two weeks after close, sorted by student so distribution takes one afternoon in the band room. Online store orders ship direct to supporters anywhere in the country, so the aunt in Florida and the grandparents in Arizona get their boxes at home. Brian tracks every shipment from Greensboro and handles any shortage himself.

Ohio is part of the Midwest region. Fall 2026 was forty sales and more than $700,000, every one run from one desk.

Book a call for your Ohio school