How to Fundraise for Your Youth Sports Team
Figure out what you are fundraising for., Set your fundraising goal., Be sure to set a challenging, but achievable, goal for your team., Understand the purpose of product-based fundraisers., Think about providing service fundraisers., Consider an...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Figure out what you are fundraising for.
There may be several reasons why your sports team needs to fundraise, but be specific.
Create a detailed list of all the things your team needs money for.
Here are some common examples of what sports teams need money for:
New equipment Travel cost Team uniforms Tournament fees Program operations Facility rental or repair New stadiums or fields Athletic scholarships -
Step 2: Set your fundraising goal.
After you’ve created a list of your team’s needs, set a funding goal.
To set this goal, estimate the price of all the things you listed in Step
1.
Add them up, and there is your rough goal.
Remember, some of things may require all or nothing funding, like program operating costs, whereas others might be nice to have, like new basketballs when your old ones are still okay.
In these cases, it’s best to set the goal to just include what you really need.
It’s easier to set a low goal and exceed it, than the other way around. , To check if it’s realistic, divide your total goal by how many people you think will help out.
This will be the amount each person will have to raise.
If it doesn’t seem realistic, consider changing your goal or inviting more people to join your fundraiser. , This refers to selling popular fundraising products like those listed below to friends and family, by going door-to-door, setting up a stand, or via the internet.
Candy bars Cookie dough Bake sales Yankee Candles Krispy Kreme Popcorn Discount cards Wreaths Tupperware Magazines Scratch cards First aid kits Gift wrap. , These offer a service to the local neighborhood, such as:
Car washes Yard clean-up Dog washes Holiday carollers Christmas tree pick up Gift wrapping services Bagger at a grocery store. , This involves hosting events to bring donors together to support the team, such as:
Pie auction Silent auction Banquet Restaurant dinner. , There are many crowdfunding websites, choose the one that's best for you. , These include:
Easy to understand and proven to work.
Teams are able to reach people they don’t know by approaching them with candy or discount cards.
It’s easy to get your team involved in participating in the fundraiser. , These include:
It’s very time consuming and a lot of work, for not that much profit.
For every $2 candy bar sold, approximately $1 will go to the fundraiser since the candy company takes 50% of the profits.
Each person you approach might be one or two candy bars at most.
It’s not always safe for players to be approaching strangers and walking around on the streets with money on them.
You won’t be able to sell to anyone who doesn’t live in your neighborhood. , With a car wash, you have the chances of attracting anyone that drives by.
The team will be working together to raise money and it will strengthen your group.
It's a great opportunity for your players to interact with their supporters, telling them what they are fundraising for and really connecting with them. , Having a car wash or cleaning up yards for a whole day will not guarantee that the team will raise enough money to reach their goal.
It may require the team to host more service events in order to get their new equipment.
You will be limited to reaching people in your immediate neighborhood.
It’s difficult to sell colored pencils to your aunt who lives a few states away, it’s impossible to wash her car. , The online crowdfunding website takes a small portion of each donation.
It’s a lot less work and takes five minutes to create a page.
You’ll be able to reach everyone in the country with just a click of a button.
The team members will build 21st century skills, such as storytelling and digital literacy. , Some may want to stick to what they know works and have product and service based fundraisers.
There is a chance that donors may not want to donate to an online fundraiser because they are used to supporting athletes by buying cookie dough or wrapping paper through them.
However, as crowdfunding is getting more mainstream, people are more comfortable than ever with giving online, and you can still collect checks from those who prefer to give that way, so online fundraisers might be a great addition to your other fundraising efforts. , It has worked for many teams and it’s easy enough for everyone to be a part of.
If the following applies to you, then these types of fundraisers might work best for you:
You’ve been successful with product and service fundraisers You want to bring the community together You want your players to interact with their supporters in person , If the following applies to you, then you’re ready to bring your team fundraiser online:
Your team has tried fundraising with products and services and it has not worked out.
You want to raise more money in less time.
You want to be able to reach out to everyone in the country.
You want to keep more of what you raise You want to save time and effort so your team can focus more on their drills at practice instead of raising money. , Every team needs a leader to make sure everyone is on track.
This leader can be a coach, team captain, or anyone who will look over the fundraiser.
They will be in charge of making sure the whole team is participating in the fundraiser and that everyone is working towards the goal. , Have everyone join the team fundraiser.
The more, the merrier! Whether it is your coach, assistant coach, or a team captain, have them join and work together.
If you work together as a team, you will raise all the money you need in no time. , No one is going to know about your fundraiser unless you tell them, so you will need to promote it to anyone that might want to support you.
Send your potential supporters an email letting them know about your team fundraiser.
Post about it on social media and reach out to your friends and followers.
Hand out fliers to local businesses.
The more people know about your fundraiser, the more supporters you’ll get.
Online fundraising websites have a built in emailing tool that will help your team create an email for your donors and send one to all of them at a click of a button.
It saves a lot more time and energy for your team so they can spend it at practice. , Send them updates throughout the fundraiser telling them how much you’ve raised or what you were able to do with the money.
You can also send them a reminder to let them know how much time they have left to donate to your team.
You can easily post an update to your site, and/or send it out to donors and potential donors. , Have small prizes at the end of the fundraiser just to keep your team motivated.
Give them a free pass from a warm up drill they hate the most if they raised the most amount of money.
Or to start in the next game if they promoted the fundraiser the most. On some fundraising sites, there is a tool where the team leader has the ability to track how much each player promoted and how much they raised.
There is also a way for them to track how much effort each player has put into their fundraiser.
So you’ll know which player to give a shout out to for their great participation or which player to remind to promote their page. , Show your donors how much you appreciate their support by giving them small gifts that won’t cost you a thing.
For example, give them a shout out on Facebook, a thank you letter, or an autographed picture of the team. -
Step 3: Be sure to set a challenging
-
Step 4: but achievable
-
Step 5: goal for your team.
-
Step 6: Understand the purpose of product-based fundraisers.
-
Step 7: Think about providing service fundraisers.
-
Step 8: Consider an event fundraisers.
-
Step 9: Look into online fundraiser sites.
-
Step 10: Be aware of the the pros of product fundraising.
-
Step 11: Be aware of the cons of product fundraising.
-
Step 12: Know the pros of service fundraising: You’ll be raising money from your local neighborhood and bringing the community together.
-
Step 13: Know the cons of service fundraising: Service based fundraisers are very time and effort intensive.
-
Step 14: Know the pros of online fundraising: Teams will be able to keep more of the money they raised for their upcoming season.
-
Step 15: Know the cons of online fundraising: Fundraising online is still a pretty new concept
-
Step 16: so people involved may not be comfortable with it.
-
Step 17: For decades
-
Step 18: sports teams have been selling products and offering services to raise money for teams.
-
Step 19: If you’ve decided the product and service fundraising is not for your team and want to try another way to fundraise
-
Step 20: online fundraising may be a great fit.
-
Step 21: Assign a leader.
-
Step 22: Get your team involved.
-
Step 23: Promote your cause.
-
Step 24: Keep your donors updated.Your supporters are your fans
-
Step 25: so they want to know how your team is doing.
-
Step 26: Motivate your team.
-
Step 27: Show your appreciation.
Detailed Guide
There may be several reasons why your sports team needs to fundraise, but be specific.
Create a detailed list of all the things your team needs money for.
Here are some common examples of what sports teams need money for:
New equipment Travel cost Team uniforms Tournament fees Program operations Facility rental or repair New stadiums or fields Athletic scholarships
After you’ve created a list of your team’s needs, set a funding goal.
To set this goal, estimate the price of all the things you listed in Step
1.
Add them up, and there is your rough goal.
Remember, some of things may require all or nothing funding, like program operating costs, whereas others might be nice to have, like new basketballs when your old ones are still okay.
In these cases, it’s best to set the goal to just include what you really need.
It’s easier to set a low goal and exceed it, than the other way around. , To check if it’s realistic, divide your total goal by how many people you think will help out.
This will be the amount each person will have to raise.
If it doesn’t seem realistic, consider changing your goal or inviting more people to join your fundraiser. , This refers to selling popular fundraising products like those listed below to friends and family, by going door-to-door, setting up a stand, or via the internet.
Candy bars Cookie dough Bake sales Yankee Candles Krispy Kreme Popcorn Discount cards Wreaths Tupperware Magazines Scratch cards First aid kits Gift wrap. , These offer a service to the local neighborhood, such as:
Car washes Yard clean-up Dog washes Holiday carollers Christmas tree pick up Gift wrapping services Bagger at a grocery store. , This involves hosting events to bring donors together to support the team, such as:
Pie auction Silent auction Banquet Restaurant dinner. , There are many crowdfunding websites, choose the one that's best for you. , These include:
Easy to understand and proven to work.
Teams are able to reach people they don’t know by approaching them with candy or discount cards.
It’s easy to get your team involved in participating in the fundraiser. , These include:
It’s very time consuming and a lot of work, for not that much profit.
For every $2 candy bar sold, approximately $1 will go to the fundraiser since the candy company takes 50% of the profits.
Each person you approach might be one or two candy bars at most.
It’s not always safe for players to be approaching strangers and walking around on the streets with money on them.
You won’t be able to sell to anyone who doesn’t live in your neighborhood. , With a car wash, you have the chances of attracting anyone that drives by.
The team will be working together to raise money and it will strengthen your group.
It's a great opportunity for your players to interact with their supporters, telling them what they are fundraising for and really connecting with them. , Having a car wash or cleaning up yards for a whole day will not guarantee that the team will raise enough money to reach their goal.
It may require the team to host more service events in order to get their new equipment.
You will be limited to reaching people in your immediate neighborhood.
It’s difficult to sell colored pencils to your aunt who lives a few states away, it’s impossible to wash her car. , The online crowdfunding website takes a small portion of each donation.
It’s a lot less work and takes five minutes to create a page.
You’ll be able to reach everyone in the country with just a click of a button.
The team members will build 21st century skills, such as storytelling and digital literacy. , Some may want to stick to what they know works and have product and service based fundraisers.
There is a chance that donors may not want to donate to an online fundraiser because they are used to supporting athletes by buying cookie dough or wrapping paper through them.
However, as crowdfunding is getting more mainstream, people are more comfortable than ever with giving online, and you can still collect checks from those who prefer to give that way, so online fundraisers might be a great addition to your other fundraising efforts. , It has worked for many teams and it’s easy enough for everyone to be a part of.
If the following applies to you, then these types of fundraisers might work best for you:
You’ve been successful with product and service fundraisers You want to bring the community together You want your players to interact with their supporters in person , If the following applies to you, then you’re ready to bring your team fundraiser online:
Your team has tried fundraising with products and services and it has not worked out.
You want to raise more money in less time.
You want to be able to reach out to everyone in the country.
You want to keep more of what you raise You want to save time and effort so your team can focus more on their drills at practice instead of raising money. , Every team needs a leader to make sure everyone is on track.
This leader can be a coach, team captain, or anyone who will look over the fundraiser.
They will be in charge of making sure the whole team is participating in the fundraiser and that everyone is working towards the goal. , Have everyone join the team fundraiser.
The more, the merrier! Whether it is your coach, assistant coach, or a team captain, have them join and work together.
If you work together as a team, you will raise all the money you need in no time. , No one is going to know about your fundraiser unless you tell them, so you will need to promote it to anyone that might want to support you.
Send your potential supporters an email letting them know about your team fundraiser.
Post about it on social media and reach out to your friends and followers.
Hand out fliers to local businesses.
The more people know about your fundraiser, the more supporters you’ll get.
Online fundraising websites have a built in emailing tool that will help your team create an email for your donors and send one to all of them at a click of a button.
It saves a lot more time and energy for your team so they can spend it at practice. , Send them updates throughout the fundraiser telling them how much you’ve raised or what you were able to do with the money.
You can also send them a reminder to let them know how much time they have left to donate to your team.
You can easily post an update to your site, and/or send it out to donors and potential donors. , Have small prizes at the end of the fundraiser just to keep your team motivated.
Give them a free pass from a warm up drill they hate the most if they raised the most amount of money.
Or to start in the next game if they promoted the fundraiser the most. On some fundraising sites, there is a tool where the team leader has the ability to track how much each player promoted and how much they raised.
There is also a way for them to track how much effort each player has put into their fundraiser.
So you’ll know which player to give a shout out to for their great participation or which player to remind to promote their page. , Show your donors how much you appreciate their support by giving them small gifts that won’t cost you a thing.
For example, give them a shout out on Facebook, a thank you letter, or an autographed picture of the team.Â
About the Author
Robert Allen
Experienced content creator specializing in lifestyle guides and tutorials.
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