Fund Raising Ideas?

[GoHeels]

Short time lurker and first time poster, so I preface this with thanks in advance for any feedback or suggestions offered.

As a parent of a travel ball DD (10U), we are often faced with a variety of expenses associated with travel ball, and search for fund raising ideas to assist in offsetting those expenses. We have spaghetti dinners, car washes, and cooperation from a local restaurant where the kids were allowed to assist in waiting tables & received a % of gross sales for the evening. With that mentioned, we are entering the time of year in which we are beginning to discuss fund raising ideas, and I was curious what types of fun or successful fund raising events board members have experienced. Since we have ample travel clubs in the area, we are attempting to break out of the status quo and offer something unique, which may lead to a more profitable fund raiser for the girls.

Anyone care to share their fund-raising success stories? Thanks!

 

[Michael N]

We have used a personal letter to family and friends asking for donations with great success in our area . We used it for both my Daughters one of which plays Softball and the other who is a Cheerleader . In both cases it was the single largest revenue generator for the girls . If you would like I can forward you a copy of the letter we used ?

 

[joemcq51]

You should probably look into hosting a tournament. If you have plenty of teams locally, you should get a good response. Not only do you raise the money from hosting an event, you save money of not having to pay registration or travel to a tournament.

 

[GoHeels]

If you would like I can forward you a copy of the letter we used ?

Michael N-Sure that would be fantastic. Thanks for offering!

 

[chinamigarden]

Bowling parties worked well for us in the past. We would book a bowling center for a night in February. The bowling center would charge us something like $12 per person for 3 games and shoes. then we would charge $20 for tickets bought in advance and $25 bought at the event. Each team in our organization was responsible for a couple of baskets to raffle off, plus we had 50-50 tickets. Over all we would profit $2000.

We do charity poker parties now. Depending on the laws in your state this is a great fundraiser.

 

[Goobie]

Another one that depends upon the laws of your state... but our ORGANIZATION does a raffle as follows:

We print up 1000 raffle tickets numbered 000 - 999. Each has a tear off stub with the purchaser's number. Each player in the organization sells 10 raffle tickets for $10 each ($10,000 total money pool). We then pay out $100 per day to the holder of the raffle ticket that matches the Daily Pick 3 drawing form the nightly drawing.

Since we sell 1000 tickets (all choices) and there are 31 days in a month, we give out $3,100 in price money leaving $6,900 for the organization.

Couple of notes:
1) Each raffle ticket has the chance of winning multiple times (if same # is pulled more than once in the month). Purchasers love that.
2) We have each raffle ticket purchaser complete their name and address on the raffle ticket and we simply mail out a check for $100 when they win. There is also a spot on the ticket where the purchaser can "donate" their winnings to a specific team in the organization rather than get a check. Several people select this option.

Since you have to sell all 1000 tickets, it really does take an organization to sell all of them. I doubt a single team could do it all.

btw... last year I was lazy and didn't sell my tickets so I just bought all 10 for $100. Two of my ten numbers came in. I had opted to "donate" any winnings to my daughter's team so her team got not only their share of the $6,900 but my $200 in winnings. Her team got just under $1,200 total.

 

[littlereddeer1]

We were thinking of doing gift wrapping at Christmas. Setting up a table at a local business and wrapping as people came out of the store. Has anyone ever done this?

We also have a parent that does yard work and has been saving wood which we will sell by the wheel barrow full when it gets into winter.

poker run, pancake breakfast with Santa and there is always Americas finest chocolate to sell.

 

[GoHeels]

That is awesome Goobie! Interesting concept!

 

[Lozza]

We do trivia nights here. Last one I went to raised $2500. There was extra games you could join for a price. You could hire one of the players as your table 'runner'. We would set up a bottle of alcohol and whoever got their coin closest won. (I think this works better here as we have $1 and $2 coins. It's always 'gold coins only'.

Don't know if this is an option but there is a hardware store here where you can set up outside for a day selling sausage sandwhiches. See if any local businesses will let you do that. Up to $4k can be made from one day.

I don't know if this will work but we have fundraiser days and a common one is $100 boards. 50 squares and they're $2 each. First prize $80 second $20. (or whatever you want. Prizes add up to $100) That's $100 for each board. Don't know if that works for you though.

 

[softballdad#16]

Shotgun raffle

Shotgun Raffle always works well in our area. Each girl sells 15/$10 tickets. Your gun cost will be in the range of 300-450 dollars. Not much effort and you will make $800.00 to $1000.00.