Fundraising

Coach asked a couple parents to come up with some fundraising ideas to present to the team. Only one that parents liked was block pool but looking to do maybe 1-2 more fundraisers.

For Nationals, we had a banner made with the girls' picture on it. The girls asked for sponsorships from friends, family and businesses for $150 each. In exchange, they got their name or logo on the banner, which was displayed at all 7 of our games. DD got 7 sponsorships.

Car decals sell well and the profit is really good. For HS ball I had a decal designed and made for about $2.00 a decal. We sold them for $10 each with every player on all 3 teams required to sell 10 each. Made close to $2000 for the program.

Another good fundraiser that we did was Butterbraid Pastries. You can look them up on line - and for the record they are fabulous. If you are near by I will order 7.

We have also done garage sales that were very successful.

My DDs' team does a night a local comedy club. Each family is responsible for buying four tickets for that night. The comedy club kicks back a percentage of ticket sales and (I think) what the bar takes in. I have no idea how much. DW and I can't go out much, so we just give away the tickets. I hear most of the parents of the team go and have a great time.

I am a huge fan of doing one big event and being done. I hate selling stuff for % of sales.

- Casino nights are a gold mine if allowed in your area. Much easier than golf tournaments to arrange and run.
- Superbowl squares are easy to set up and run and you can do these for any big game on any weekend.
- GoFundMe or similar works as well

We are in the Kansas City area. We purchased an autographed Eric Hosmer bat and Whit Merrifield bat. We sold raffle tickets at 1 for $25 or 2 for $40. We capped it at 144 tickets because we have 24 girls. We asked each to sell 6. We make close to $3000 after reimbursing for cost of the bats.

Fundraising always a tricky one - some parents like the help; others would rather just pay for their kids' sport than spend the time trying to find support. I'm sort of in the "I'll just pay for my kids' sports" category, but I know money is tight for many out there so being able to fundraise is a good way to help cover costs.

My favourite is gift card sales - Fundscrip was the best I've seen. Doesn't really cost anyone anything to support your team as they are getting a full (say) $50 value for the $50 they spend.

Our TB team has the best fundraisers ever and we have put very little money into DD playing outside of travel because of it. We work concessions at 2 NASCAR races. Each parent works Saturday and Sunday two weekends a year. If the weather is right we can clear $13,000 in a year. A couple of years when the weather was cooler we made less but it can be a gold mine. We make 10% of sales plus any tips we receive. You can make a pile of money off of $6 beers and $4 drinks when it's 85 degrees outside.

We have paid for all of our showcase through next summer and still have the fall race coming up. No one really minds working because it actually is a lot of fun. The people watching alone is worth it and you actually meet people from around the world.

We will also do football boards for big games and typically can fill up a $10 square board and a $20 square board. School ball is a little different this year we will have a golf tourney and sell sheets. I thought it would be the worst fundraiser ever when my DD had to sell them for volleyball in 7th grade but they sell like crazy and people constantly ask me when she is selling them again.

I pretty much hate fundraising, but for us it's something that we have to do. I can only keep going to the same well so many times lol. I always feel like it makes family and friends feel obligated to buy something to pay for my kids athletics. That being said, if it weren't for fundraising we would have a lot harder time coming up with funds for DD to play ball.

This year we sold pizzas. In fact tomorrow morning is the day we have to go to the pizza joint and make them. The shop gives us 4 hours to make them, and I believe that we only pay a small portion for ingredients and packaging so most of the money goes towards the team. Most of the money from this fundraiser goes towards indoor training and a couple of winter tournaments. We will also have to sell raffle tickets for the organization that goes to field upkeep, equipment, etc.

A team DD played for in the past had a cosmic/ glow bingo. One big fundraiser in the winter was all we did. This made a ton of money even after the expenses were paid. We also had a 50/50 and wheel barrel of booze drawing while it was going on. This type of bingo is so popular around here it sold out without even trying. It is a lot of planning and prep work, but still had a good time even though we were working it.

We have sold butter braids also. As SBmom mentioned...these things are delicious. I don't think we made a lot of money off of them though.

We also get a couple of small sponsors. The org DD plays for 100% of sponsorship money you bring in goes straight to the players fee's, which is nice.

My summer softball team isn't considered a NFP at all, so our fundraising has been much more creative in a way. We solicit area mom/pop businesses to donate in return for advertising banners and FB advertisements.

We also did a car wash one Saturday in May from 10a-2p. Made just under $400 doing car washes strictly by donation (drivers paid what they wanted, most were at a minimum $5). We actually had more cars show up AFTER 2pm, and my girls decided to stay and keep washing cars - they decided on their own turning cars away meant turning money away, so they worked and earned their keep.

We also designed a logo for the front and back of a t-shirt, bought t-shirts wholesale for around $2/shirt, and found a company who batch-printed the shirts for around $3/shirt. Sold each shirt for $12 each and were about to make around $300 profit.

We've looked into other fundraisers but don't want to spread ourselves too thin, but we're definitely considering the car wash and t-shirt sale for 2018.

I still have 4 tubs of cookie dough in the freezer from 12U fundraising. DD is 17.