Raising money for your team, organization, or cause is a necessity. Whether it’s for necessary items and operations or for extra stuff (e.g. trips, extra set of uniforms, etc…), you’ll want to find the fundraising activity that makes sense for your situation.
Here are 13 things that you can do to raise money…
- Auction
- Pancake Breakfast
- Team Merchandise
- Mini-Golf Tournament
- Concessions
- Restaurant Percentage Night
- Text-to-Give
- 50/50 Raffle
- Parents Day Out
- Sports Specific Contests
- Night at the Races
- Trivia Night
- Cow Chip Bingo
You may have done some of these before or maybe some of these are new to you. Regardless, make sure that you always check the regulations, guidelines, or laws where you’re at. Raising money is important, but you don’t want to get into trouble.
Finally, find something that doesn’t cost too much money up front. You don’t want to put yourself at financial risk while trying to raise money.
Auction
This can be an in-person event or online. It can be a silent auction, closed-bid auction, or you can use an auctioneer. You could also combine various methods at the same event (e.g. Use an auctioneer for the big-ticket items). Collect various items such as autographed jerseys, balls, and helmets through donations or by purchasing them at value prices from others. You can also put together gift baskets and have raffles for those. The auction can turn into a major event with entertainment and food. Not only can it be used to make money but it can also promote your program. It could be a kickoff to your season or final wrap up to another great year.
Pancake Breakfast
This can also serve as a pre-game meal for your team if you’re doing it on game day. Spaghetti dinners, steak dinners, BBQs, and pig roasts are also popular but the pancake breakfast generally appeals to the most people and has very little moving parts. It’s not very complicated. The event can be a stand-alone or you can combine it with another event (e.g. game, parade, festival, bazaar, or other school event).
Team Merchandise
Find out what your supporters and fans want and then provide it for them. They’ll definitely want t-shirts, but you’ll need to decide what other kinds or apparel and products are they interested in. Make sure you have things people want but also that they have good profit margins. You can set up a virtual merchandise store, sell physical inventory yourself, or do a combination of the two. This can be a year-round endeavor, or you can create some urgency and demand by making merchandise available for a limited time only. Your athletes can even “model” the gear for social media marketing.
Mini-Golf Tournament
You’ve probably done a traditional golf outing and though they can be profitable, they also can be complicated. Additionally, not everyone can play golf, which potentially limits your target audience. Anyone can play putt-putt golf. You can still keep many of the fun aspects of a regular golf outing but just convert it to a mini-golf outing. It takes less time, has less upfront costs, and more people can participate, You can still do fun contests, have door prizes, and provide a meal.
Concessions
This seems like an obvious one but it’s often forgotten. If you’re not doing it already, ask your administrator if you can take over the concessions responsibilities or do them for certain games. Maybe you have some ideas (e.g. new items, better efficiency, improved effectiveness, higher quality, etc…) that can increase profits. Just because another team or department is running the concessions doesn’t mean they don’t need help or might even want to give it up entirely.
Restaurant Percentage Night
There is almost always a local restaurant willing to help your team or cause. On a percentage night, your supporters visit the restaurant during a certain time frame and a certain percentage of the proceeds during that period will go to you. Flyers and social media marketing can be used to increase traffic to the restaurant. These events are win-win in that you get money for doing very little and the restaurant gets extra business.
Text-to-Give Campaign
This can be a stand-alone campaign or work in conjunction with another event or other fundraising ideas. More people are using their phones to pay for items and not carrying around cash (or even using their credit cards as much). With this idea, you set up a number for donors to text using a keyword chosen by you. There are plenty of companies that do this so Google “text-to-give” and you can see the options available. When donors text the number and keyword, they will also choose the amount they want to donate. It’s convenient for those that love using their phones and is easy for those that are technological challenged.
50/50 Raffle
This is one of the most popular fundraising methods and comes in various shapes and sizes. You can be as simple or extravagant as you want but the basic principle is you sell tickets and at the end of the event, randomly draw a ticket number and announce the winner. That lucky winner and your organization will split the total dollar amount raised. Make sure you adhere to any federal, state, or local regulations regarding 50/50s, gambling, or lotteries. Adding a credit card (or online) option can also increase your revenue.
Parents Day Out
All parents need babysitters from time to time and this is a way to meet their need, save them money, and raise funds for your team all at the same time. Block out a section of time on a certain day and allow parents to drop off their children at a pre-determined site (e.g. YMCA, gymnasium, movie theater, church, etc…) that is a safe and secure environment. Make sure you have all your legal bases covered and have parents fill out the needed liability waivers. You might want to limit this event to only specific people (e.g. boosters, faculty/staff, parents of your team members, pre-registered, etc…). This event can be particularly helpful to parents around the holiday season when they are trying to get out and buy gifts.
Sports Specific Contest
Figure out what spectators or supporters might like to do related to your sport and setup a contest to raise money. Examples may include home run derby, long drive contest for golf, a sudden death shootout in hockey, a field goal kicking contest in football, or a three-point shooting contest in basketball to name just a few. You can find sponsors to off set some of the costs, do it in conjunction with another event, provide food, or even hold multiple contests at the same event like the Olympics.
Night at the Races
If you’re in a location that allows virtual horse racing, this is a very profitable and fun event. It is normally made up of 10 races and attendees can bet on which horse will win. There are plenty of companies that host these events, so you’ll need to find the one that best meets your particular needs. The event takes a few hours and can be very festive with food, other games, music, and promotions for your school or team. Attendees win money if the horse they picked ends up winning. You make money on every race. Additionally, you can sell sponsorships for each horse. When a horse wins, the owner receives a small portion, as well.
Trivia Night
These are a great way to show off your knowledge of useless facts and information while socializing with friends all while raising money for a good cause. This event can be held at a church, YMCA, school, or restaurant. Regardless, you can find sponsors for door prizes and food. Other than sponsorships and entry fees, you can make some additional money by selling “extra guesses”, “lifelines”, “mulligans”, or minutes to use a phone. You could conduct 50/50 raffles, squares, or other drawings during the event. You could even raise money by getting pledges ahead of time based upon the number of correct answers a team has. You could even decide to host a virtual trivia night. It’s not as personal as the in-person kind, but it allows you to reach a larger audience and provides more opportunities for sponsors.
Cow Chip Bingo
This is definitely an event in which you want other activities going on around it. Providing live entertainment, food, inflatables, bake sales, games, etc… will further enhance the experience. Make this a family event and have fun. As far as the activity itself, you’ll need a cow and a large field. You’ll section off a field and sell squares (e.g. 100 squares at $100 each). If a participant buys square number 29 and that’s where a cow leaves their first cow pie, then that’s the winner and the person splits the pot taking home $5,000. Don’t be afraid to embrace the uniqueness of the event and promote it heavily. It’s different and can be profitable, especially if you combine other fundraisers with it (e.g. smaller 50/50s, auctions, cornhole tourneys, food trucks, bake sales, chili cook offs, etc…)
Have Fun
Yes, you want to raise money but make sure you are having fun. Don’t forget that you can’t spell fund-raiser without the fun. Nobody likes asking other people for money but when the activity is fun, enjoyable, and promotes a good cause, it become easier. Plus the more fun the event appears to be, the easier it’ll be to get participants and volunteers.