Any creative fundraiser ideas?

Talk to GOOD EYE he has some good stuff!

Not sure if this is possible with you but my least year as head coach one of the parents came up with a fundraiser that turned out to be awesome.

There was this local business that had MANY acres of land set up for four wheeler trails. The parent asked the business if there we could set up a concession stand for the riders and keep the profit. The thinking was this place wasn't near any restaurants and the no concessions on hand. The business said he wasn't interested in anything fulltime but would be willing to give us a Saturday to run a concession and he would give us half of all the admission price each rider paid. He charged each ATV vehicle you brought I think $20 so obviously we made $10 profit from each vehicle. So if you brought 3 vehicles and 10 people he only charged having each vehicle because it was easier to track than whether someone actually rode or not.

We looked into from an insurance perspective and the policy he carried protected us from any liability and it turned out to be an awesome day. I can't remember the exact number but we made something like $4000 off of it. When we were leaving and settling up he apologized because it was such a slow weekend. He said if it was a normal weekend he believes we would have made closer to $10,000.

My advice is to look into businesses that offer a unique service and work something out like this. It was fun for everyone and never felt like work when people took their turn at the concession stand.

Another year we had a great idea but never really worked out is have a Haunted Forest. We teamed up with the softball team on this. On our campus we have this small valley covered with trees and bushes - just typical wooded area. We built a path through it and set up several things to try and scare people. Players and parents from both teams dressed up in costumes and hid throughout the trails. It was another fun thing we did and it made some money but was slow getting off the ground. I believe if we would have stuck with it then it would have grown.

Another thing we did was put on co-ed softball tournaments. Charged each team $100 and sold concessions at them. These usally brought in around $1300 at a whack. You can do a homerun derby, limit homeruns and charge for more (sort of like mulligans in golf).

To me one of the biggest things about fundraising is be creative. Everyone hates to sell stuff and all organizations sell the same stuff. People get tired of getting hit up for the same stuff and your people get tired of doing the selling. Think of things outside the box and are fun and you will be surprised how much more money you will make.

Yard sale. Everyone brings everything that they want to sell. They get all of their friends , relatives etc to bring everything they want to donate. We collect for a week and rope off part of the shool parking lot. Then on Friday night we have a huge cookout and sell chicken dinner plates in the parking lot. The players then stay up all night playing basketball and video games at the school. Then at 5am on Saturday morning the huge yard sale starts and lasts most of the day.

It is amazing how much money you can make doing this. And it is one of the most fun things we do all year. The players love it and have a blast. And the parents get to spend some fun time together as well. The entire community comes out to shop at the yead sale. Even folks from other communities come by. The first time we did this it shocked me how much money we made. At the end of the day we arrange for the Salvation Army to come by with their large truck and we donate everything not sold to them.

When my son was in high school, the coach got involved with a local entertainment venue and the parents work the varies booths. The team was paid for the amount of hours the parents worked. Also, one of the local halls where they put on dinners for clubs and social events would hire the team as waiters and bus service and their wages would go to the team.

Now that he is in J.C., his coach has them working for 1 of the Pac 10 colleges and 1 pro team as security for home football games.
They also use a company that is call DonateToMyTeam.com which does up letters to friends and family for donations which brings about $4000 a season

I live near Boston. I purchase 58 tickets to a Friday game in July game @ Yankee Stadium (bleacher seats and not a Red Sox game). I arrange for a bus and every year I have sold out (lots of Yankee fans here). I make a pretty good profit and put the money back into fall baseball programs. Yankee Stadium is about a 4 hour drive, longer with traffic, so this is the only opportunity for a lot af fans from here to get there.

Driller Man...you giving away my secerts....you know me I'm a master at fundraising...

If anyone wants to discuss fundraising...PM me...

When I was coaching travel ball we ran a fundraiser based off of the Il lottery (pick3 game) 1000 tickets sold @ $5.00 a ticket.
Each night based off of the pick 3
(assuming all tickets were sold) there was 1 $50.00 winner. 30 days in a month minus the payouts= Hey you gotta do the math--- I was a BB player LOL.
I'm not sure of a H.S. allowing this type of fundraiser as it may promote gambling? Most people loved it (getting a chance to win each night for a month!)

There were several things our HS coach and others came up with and one that really surprised me was selling flowers (we limited it to roses of a single color to make it easy on everyone) and offering to deliver them on Valentines Day. You need to find a wholeseller you can get a good price from, but you will be surprised how much you can make on a dozen roses. We even got a pretty good deal from a local Sams Club one year. Shop around and you can really bring in some good money in a short amount of time.

I am actually helping a fundraiser right now for a 12u team. We are actually getting as many autographed items of former pro athletes and having a raffle. We have gotten many nice autos, We actually even got an autograph ball of the entire Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees with many former MLB players on it. We are trying to get all autographs through e-mail requests which is VERY time consuming, but it is fun for me to help and I know it will help me in the long run. Right now I think we have gotten around 10 to 15, which isn't very many, but all these guys played pro ball which is always a plus. If worse comes to worse we will start TTM autographs, but I think we won't need to. We actually thought of a great idea of getting authors of sports books to send some material too and it has been more successful honestly.

Another idea, which can be a hit or miss, selling silicon wristbands(livestrongs) with the teams logos on it. I know a great site where you can get 100 for 40 dollars and free shipping. Sell for 2 dollars each, you make a 160 dollar profit. Being a kid, I wear many and think this is a great idea. The only problem is if you get to many and the sells start to slow down, it could end up getting you guys in more of a debt than anything. Another thing is if you sell for too much, no one will buy. with one dollar you don't make a profit, with 3 dollars you won't have customers, 2 dollars is a good range. A buddy of mine is in the hospital for a heart transplant and we sold 100 bands in 6 hours, so you got to look at that.


Hope this helps.

1. Pro Baseball Team ticket sales: 50/50 split with high school...Raised over $12,500 net to team. We picked 4-5 series (Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, etc), bought/sold seats in Sections behind home plate, home team dugout & outfield for "variety" of customer budgets. The big "payoff", besides the great $$$'s, was that the HS teams got to play on a Pro Ball field, and attend one of the Pro Team games, & had a party in private box, included booster parents & teammembers....Ameriquest , Texas Rangers, Arlington, Tx. Sold lots of 4 & 8 tickets at special prices to companies, outfield bleachers we sold to Little League & Pony leagues as 20-30 ticket lots for their team(s), set up EBAY account, & did PSA's in Dallas Morning News & local paper, radio Stations, School District made a "commercial" & broadcast email to entire district personnel, local District TV Station. Our Advertising was underwritten by grocers, Veterinary office, car dealership, etc.
2. Dozens of Roses for Valentines: buy from wholesaler, then retail them at competitive prices, team members deliver on Valentines day, or parents, if it was school day. Sold to Law firms, Acct firms Real Estate brokers, etc. Any LARGE corp goes for this to help out "local teams"!! Parents can assemble in boxes, write gift cards. Take orders & have customers pre-pay. I got about 65/35 split, depends on when you commit to pricing from wholesaler, with best pricing in December. Probably tight on time to organize for this season, but again, about $7000 net to program. ($3000 to Select team for summer ball).
3. Golf Tournament. I'm not a fan of "chasing a little white ball", but it can pay big bucks, too.
Get prizes & advertising underwritten, register 4-somes (say $100-$200 each)... requires about 3-6 months advance planning.

PM if you want details.

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If you have any 'Shovel Ready' projects on the shelf you might consider throwing your cap into the ring. I hear there is still billion$ and billion$ still available!




.

Our HS team has not done this, but we saw it at a tournament game in Gulf Shores. Simple as it sounds, the gambling hook is irresistable. HS baseball "Diamond Girls" patrolled the stands selling $1 raffle tickets, to be drawn near the end of the game. Winner of the draw gets half the money, baseball program gets the other half. Pure profit, minus the miniscule cost of numbered tickets.

quote:

Originally posted by spikester:
I'm looking into fundraiser ideas for our HS. I'd be interested in hearing creative, successful fundraisers that others may have seen work. Has anybody done anything like a "Dugout Club" where "members" go to a local restaurant/bar and have coaches debrief recent games/practices and other relevant happenings? That practice seems more prevalent in football (film reviews for parents). The idea is to open up communications with and among parents (with established ground rules) Charge "members" and get % of food/drink order donations from restaurant.

Do a "walk-a-thon" or "anything-a-thon" and your profit will be 100%!

Any TEAM that uses a 3rd party for their fundraiser is throwing their own profit money into the ocean! Why allow someone else to make money off your team is a crazy way to fundraise if you ask me, but I guess some teams are more motivated to do it on their own vs. others.

quote:

Do a "walk-a-thon" or "anything-a-thon" and your profit will be 100%!

We've had "hit-a-thons" for years & came out with only a couple K or so (if lucky), garage sales less.
So, we considered the bottom line: volunteer hours, time & effort vs. greater net.

quote:

Any TEAM that uses a 3rd party for their fundraiser is throwing their own profit money into the ocean! Why allow someone else to make money off your team is a crazy way to fundraise if you ask me, but I guess some teams are more motivated to do it on their own vs. others.

While I agree with above, I think much depends on the area of the country, needs of the program, community support, and most importantly, the net profits. We are fortunate to be in metro-Dallas, so that was in our favor. It will be different depending on locale.
For sons team, it was worth it to net $12,500 profit to the program for pro baseball ticket sales, and $7000 profit from Roses for Valentines, after a split.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballmom:

quote:

Do a "walk-a-thon" or "anything-a-thon" and your profit will be 100%!

We've had "hit-a-thons" for years & came out with only a couple K or so (if lucky), garage sales less.
So, we considered the bottom line: volunteer hours, time & effort vs. greater net.

quote:

Any TEAM that uses a 3rd party for their fundraiser is throwing their own profit money into the ocean! Why allow someone else to make money off your team is a crazy way to fundraise if you ask me, but I guess some teams are more motivated to do it on their own vs. others.

While I agree with above, I think much depends on the area of the country, needs of the program, community support, and most importantly, the net profits. We are fortunate to be in metro-Dallas, so that was in our favor. It will be different depending on locale.
For sons team, it was worth it to net $12,500 profit to the program for pro baseball ticket sales, and $7000 profit from Roses for Valentines, after a split.

I agree, some area are stronger for baseball support than others, so I've never heard of the pro baseball ticket sales?

Who did you do the "Roses for Valentines" with?

Who has more information on that idea that would work with the Orioles or Nationals over here in Winchester where we are at the top of the state in VA.

Coach Milburn,
Check with the Orioles or Nationals home office/promotional Dept. If thet don't have such, then OFFER to help them sell their tickets, with the payoff for the HS teams to play on a major league field & make some $$ for their programs...

1. Texas Rangers have a promotion to help them sell tickets...We bought at cost ($6.50, outfield bleachers, $12.50 3rd base, $20-$25 bihind homeplate, 2nd deck). Minimum purchase at cost was $11,000. (as I recall). Retailed them for $10, $25 & $40-$50. I put together our publicity & got underwriting for a few ads. Student/school district TV program gave us air time, I got PSA'a in local newspapers, set up an account on EBAY to sell "lots" of 5-8 or 20 for a 10% -15% discount. All verbage stated what funds were to be used for (Field upgrades, facility improvements, uniforms, etc.) Customers paid via paypal or met me with cash/check...I designed an ad & flyer that "promoted Texas Ranger Baseball & our HS team, with the series we selected ( Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Phillies & Astros), with a diagram of field & location of "sections" we'd purchased, with pricing.
As tickets sold, I updated the EBAY listing & coach list, so the boys on the team & parents got daily changes, so we didn't run into problem of over selling specific seats. Some of us concentrated on corporate and business sales & the Ebay thing. Many parents & kids mostly did their neighbors, employers, & the like.
We always went back for more tickets to yankees & red Sox.
To sell outfield tickets, I co-ordinated w/LL & Pony directors to get their teams to buy lots of 15-18 or more. It was alot of fun hearing back from the the Coaches...many brought their teams to the HS games...Kids were in awe of seeing the HS boys playing!!

2. Roses for Valentines: Call a local flower wholesaler to buy them (maybe even Sam's Club, but tell them you want bulk, that you & volunteers will assemble)PAY when you pick up, NOT in advance. Price the box, filler, ribbon, gift cards & preservative. Check local retail pricing & sell for a little less (or the same, since this is for a non-profit), write up your script for the kids & parents & go for it! Sell them by the dozen only. And, you can have some (100) or so to be sold for $5-$7.50 each at the school cafeteria, before class or during lunch period. This is a labor intensive project, but the parents have fun that day & the team delivers what THEY sell. Son & I usually had to bribe someone to help us be cause we sold the most (but eliminated ourselves from the prizes)...get underwriting for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place prizes for sellers ...Day at the spa, limousine for 2 hours, tickets to a pro game, etc. 2-3 weeks before Valentines, have your order forms & "script" for the boys, parents, etc. They sell for 1-2 weeks ONLY, turning over cash, checks & completed order forms everyday. Give final quantity total on order to wholesaler. On Valentines Day (7AM-8AM)pick up, assemble, deliver. I set up long tables, had 1-2 assemblers assigned for each player (seller) for each phase, then girls writing gift cards. When cards were written, that player was ready to map out his delivery, then report back in to help someone else with their deliveries. or assembly. We served pizza & drinks all day long.

Another idea, is Poinsettias for Christmas...always did several thousand $$' with that, too.

If you want to sell great products check out a company called Gourmet Creations. www.gourmetcreations.net
They make gourmet dip mixes. For their fundraising program they all sell for $5 each and the profit for the organization is 50% or $2.50 each. They ship for FREE! It's so easy and unique....you will make a lot of money for your teams!

Our travel team has done a Yankee Candle Fundraiser several times. They give you 40% of what you sell. They sell themselves pretty much. We have made $1000 each time which was pretty good for only 12 kids. They send the merchandise back to you packaged for each buyer so you don't have to sort everything out yourself.

A number of teams in our organization made a killing selling batteries from Interstate. These are not car batteries, rather they are household batteries, which is great because EVERYBODY uses them. Below is a link to the site for information.

http://about.interstatebatteri...uHsp8CFYmF7QodHXgA1w

And here is a link to some testimonial results:

http://about.interstatebatteri...sing/successstories/

We host a softball tournament over the MLK holiday weekend. The teams are made up of 15 coed players, with two players from the HS team to serve as team captains. All players must be recruited and signed by the high school players, at a cost of $10, per player. Each team is responsible for getting sponsors and donors, or they must volunteer for other non-playing responsibilities during their down time. There's also a parent team, faculty team, and an alumni team.

We utilize a local Little League baseball complex, we run three fields in a pool play/bracket play format. We minimize our expenses and we use all volunteers and/or sponsors for concessions, umpires, and tournament officials. It has been very lucrative the past two years.

GED10DaD

quote:

They also use a company that is call DonateToMyTeam.com which does up letters to friends and family for donations which brings about $4000 a season.

Instead of having a company do this and taken part of the profit. We started doing our own letters and sending them out. We print off the letters through the school, get the envelopes from the school, and mail them our through district mail

Butterbraid.com. Sells wonderful frozen bakery. Reasonable and absolutely delicious. Everyone loves food. Not sure what the profit percentage is though.