Fundraising

Fundraising is a large part of any youth program, especially in the non-profit sector. It is important that you get creative with your fundraising and find additional ways to generate revenue to make sure you have the necessary funds to keep the program afloat. Here are some additional tips and suggestions to ramp up your fundraising:

1. Have a Plan: The first step to fundraise or try to generate any additional revenue is to have a plan! Outline your goals and how you plan to achieve them.
2. Engage the Community: A lot of times the hardest thing about fundraising is asking someone for money, but sometimes that’s all it takes. Encourage team members, families, and supporters to participate.
3. Show the Value: Show your donors and sponsors where the money is going and how it impacts your program. Put together informational packets for them as well as end of season reports. Keep a list of everyone you have asked to donate. Keep track on when you talked to them, what was the result, when you need to follow up, if or what they donated, etc.
4. Tell Your Story: To really show your value you want to tell your story. Let potential donors and sponsors in to get to know you, your organization, and the impact you have on the community. A great story will build trust and make donors feel like they are part of your organization making a difference.
5. Say Thank You A LOT: Just as we thank our volunteers, we must thank our sponsors and donors as well. If you have the ability send them something such as a team picture of the team they sponsored or a nice framed picture of your ballfield or court with their banner on it.
6. Maintain Transparency: Provide updates on funds raised and their impact on the program and within the community.

Here are 15 ideas you can use to raise additional revenue for your organization

1. Concessions: Offering a concession stand at games is the most common way to raise money without just going out and asking for sponsors or donations. You can either run your own or contract it out and take a percentage of sales or charge a flat rate vendor fee. Having food, drink, and snacks at your games not only provides a service to spectators, it will bring in another valuable revenue stream.
2. Hold an Event: Hold a car wash or set up shop in front of a retail store to solicit donations. Take it to the next level with things like an opening day, casino nights, dinners, 5K races, tournaments, luncheons, or a food truck event. Invite your entire league to attend plus the local community!
3. Get Creative with Sponsors: The most basic and easiest way to get a sponsorship is on your jerseys, website, or a banner at the field, which is something we all do. Research the company you want to sponsor and get creative with a sponsor based on something that would give them more value. This can bring in the bigger sponsors. You can also look at in kind sponsors as well who will provide a service for free to save your program the expense.
4. Get a Photographer or Videographer: Most, if not all of us, have photographers to do the leagues team pictures. Your program will take a cut of those revenues. You can also look into a photographer to do action shots or video of the kids and sell those as well, resulting in more revenue for the program.
5. Sell Multimedia: To take your pictures and video to the next level you can create a highlight reel and put it on a cd to sell at the end of the season. You can try to do this in house or have a company do it and you get a cut of the revenue.
6. Sell Merchandise: There are several websites out there where you can set up a team or league store. They will do all the work for you and you get a percentage of each sale. This will also help market your program if participants are out in the community wearing your apparel!
7. Sell Goods: It is common for teams or leagues to sell things like candy bars, popcorn, or coupon books. There are companies out there you can get set up with that have you sell their goods for a share of the profits. Girl Scouts selling their cookies is the most well-known example of this. Each child can sell to friends, family, and their network to raise money. You can also hold contests within your program for those who sell the most and an incentive to raise more funds.
8. Silent Auctions: Get donations from local businesses and hold a silent auction. This can be a one-time event, on a game day, or throughout the season. You can use a website for the bidding or do it in person.
9. Raffles: Similar to above you can get donated items and raffle them off throughout the season, at an event or on your game days. You can also hold a 50/50 raffle where 50% of proceeds get paid to the winner and your organization keeps the other 50%. This is a great way to raise money for the organization or a specific cause like sending a team to a tournament.
10. Get More Vendors: Most of us have concessionaires for our programs. If you have a large program with a lot of people at your park or gym you can also invite vendors out to set up a table to either sell things or promote something. You can charge a vendor fee for being on site to promote their product or service. This can be an add-on to your current sponsors or a way to recruit additional businesses to be a part of your program.
11. Crowdfund: Use all the tools at your disposal such as websites, social media, and apps to fun an online crowdfunding campaign to rally the local community and beyond to donate to your program.
12. Run a Contest: Hold a contest with an entry fee where part of the fee goes to your league and the remaining can be paid out in cash or prizes. Contests can be an event on site like an eating contest or by submission like an art contest.
13. Host Restaurant Fundraiser: Many restaurants let you set up a night or week to send supporters to the restaurant and in turn will donate a portion of those sales to your organization.
14. Phone-a-Thon or Online Tele-Thon: Gather all your staff and volunteers together to do a one night Phone-a-Thon or set up a live stream and run a Tele-Thon online through YouTube, Facebook, etc.
15. E-Sports Tournaments: E-Sports is one of the fastest growing segments in sports, and many of your young athletes participate during their free time. Do a pre-season or in-season E-Sports tournament in the sport you are running. There are companies out there that will run your tournament completely virtually. Give trophies, prizes, and recognition to the winners while entry fees can go back to your program.

By implementing these diverse fundraising strategies, youth sports programs can secure the necessary financial support to thrive, ensuring that all young athletes have the opportunity to play, grow, and succeed. Having a plan and getting creative with your fundraising will make sure you fundraise like a pro and keep the necessary funds coming in to keep your program flourishing for the long haul.