Fundraisers

Steve,

Check into the legalities of a Texas hold "em poker tournament. Lots of interest and there could be $ too if done efficiently.

Love the Duck Race!

Raider, My son's school also has to do all of the fundraising. Our budget has actually been about 60,000/year. However, after paying off our hitting facility, the budget will drop quite a bit. We take a week long trip to Florida every year which is a chunk of the budget.

As has been mentioned previously, we did a Texas Hold em event last year which was successful (1st one we ever tried). We do all of the typical small fundrasiers as well. WalMart will match up to $500 if fundraising done on their property - including car washes. Our two biggest income producers are #1 a program/yearbook where each player is responsbile for raising $600 in ads. If a player chooses not to sell these ads, they can pay this amount and not do the work. The ads are then laid out (by parent volunteers) into a book along with pictures from the season and this is printed. We do have a printer who charges us a very reasonable fee to print. Then each player has a nice memory of his year along with producing income. This is our biggest fundraiser. The next largest fundraiser is that we work bingo. I realize not every area has this available. All schools here have certain nights at a large bingo parlor. Then the schools divide the spots that night amongst the various sports that want to work these. This is a year long commitment by each player. Each player is assigned about six nights year where two people have to work. A player can "buy out" of this option if parents so choose.

Golf tournament with a silent auction. Hard work but potential for a big payoff. You'll need to find someone who has done it before.

give me some more details on the poker tourney if you can. we tried the golf tournament last year and there is so many other groups in this area that do golf tournaments and have been doing them for a long time we made very little and i have pretty much given up on that idea. we are doing some major field work this year but luckily the booster club is paying for that. i'd like to raise enough to go to disney one spring. our basketball teams go at christmas every other year - i coach basketball too and its a great trip that id like to take in baseball but thats 10 to 15000 more dollars.
our kids are just fundraised to death especially the ones that play more than one sport. id like to find something where they are not constantly going door to door selling to the same people over and over.
i did start this year the policy that they are responsible for 150 dollars a player. they can either raise it through our fundraisers or just buy out. i also reward them for more than this giving by paying for their cleats if they raise a certain amount, hoodies, batting gloves, etc. ive thought about a program but our community is limited in the number of businesses we have nad these same businesses get hit by every group in the school.
thanks for your input and ideas - poker sounds interesting - like some details - i dont know about legality - we gave cash prizes for the duck race in basketball
steve
http://www.leaguelineup.com/raiderbaseball

We cleared about $3000 selling flats of flowers. We buy directly from wholesaler who delivers them to parking lot. Players separate orders upon delivery and load them into customer's cars. We do a pre-paid order form. Takes a lot of organization on the front end but its done after flowers are delivered.
A friend did a dodge ball tournament last year and raised $1700 in 5 hours on a saturday for ac/dec team. She said it was really easy to pull off. $10 entry fee for each person ($60/team) included t-shirt. Sold concessions, didn't charge admission but will this year. Guarantee of 3 games, winning team got thier entry fee back. Had jr high and hs teams separated, used two jr high gyms. Used "nerf" type plastic coated balls, not the killer ones we used in grade school...Spray painted small balls gold and gave winning team "golden balls"
Have heard of marathon baseball games where you get sponsorship for innings played, never participated in that though.

Raider - It sounds like you might be in a small community which I'm sure limits your fundraising abilities. I don't have the full details on the poker event, however if you're interested I could have someone call you with details. Send me a PM with you email or phone number and I can have the dad that organized call you.

However, we did this in conjunction with Shriners. Conjunction might not be the correct word - but we used their facility, a gaming commissioner was on site. We purchased the chips and cards (poker sets) in anticipation to hopefully doing the event again. We advertised through local media (whoever would do it free). We had the boys and parents pass out flyers anywhere and everywhere. There was a buy in of $50 I believe per player. We served hotdogs and softdrinks freely to participants. I want to say we had a $500 pot, $300, and a $100 - don't remember specifically. The dad that ran this knew exactly how many people we needed to break even and then to make such and such goal. I can tell you it took alot of people to run the event. You had to be 18 to participate as well. Fortunately for us, our dads and older players were pretty experienced in the game!

Again, if you want some specific info and direction, give me your contact and I will pass on.

Raider, I sent you a pm with the details to one of our best fundraisers. THE GOLF BALL DROP.

Raider, my son's team did something similar to what laf's did, but also had blackjack. We also at the same event had a silent auction with donations from local businesses (again may be a problem in rural areas). Each player/parent was responsible for 2 silent auction items - did not have to be expensive, they could provide them themselves or solicit from businesses. We provided snacks and drinks, with donation buckets everywhere!! Made several thousand dollars each time. And had lots of fun in the process.

hey could one of you pm the golf ball drop or rubber duck race. Same deal here..need cash and not a huge communtity. been thinking of a golf tourney..Hate selling those stinking peelers and junk like that. the dodge ball tourney also sounds different..not sure that our AD would go for it.

ive looked at bob's ideas on here and its all things we have tried at one time or another. we are doing the magazine subscriptions now, ive already talked about the golf tournament, we've done yard sales, suppers, we cant sell signs or programs because its the same ol businesses having to buy ads for football program, annual, homecoming tshirts, advertising for our coverage on tricitiessports.com, team meals, etc. i dont feel right hitting them up for much more.
steve
http://www.leaguelineup.com/raiderbaseball

Another one we have had good luck with is having a long ball contest and getting pledges per foot. The kids like the compitition and it raises a pretty good amount. We also try to incorp. this with our alumni game.

If you are at a larger school, we host a tourn. and play a game thirty minutes to an hour before school is out. Our princ. allowed students to purchase tickest to go to the game. Almost all students will spend the $3 to get out of class early. That is 2-3000 dollars with zero work.

we do have an alumni game which we make a little. we charge 25 for alumni to play but we feed them and try to get a tshirt so its limited. its more of a publicity thing then a fundraiser. i dont count gates in our budget. just about everything we make at the gate goes toward umpires. we spent over 3000 on umpires last year. we make some money on varsity games but lose it right back at jv and frosh games.
steve
http://www.leeaguelineup.com/raiderbaseball

Our alumni game is more of a PR thing, but it does get people out which helps with the fundraiser. We do not charge for our alumni game, but most do donate to the program.

I know what you mean about umpire's fees. We have to pay close to $2,000 just for our tourn. What do umpires charge where you are? We pay $65/ump with no breaks for tourn, double headers, sub-varsity, etc.

yep..The officials are making a killing.

quote:

Golf tournament with a silent auction. Hard work but potential for a big payoff. You'll need to find someone who has done it before.

Our baseball team held their annual golf tournament this weekend, with silent auction, and net profits exceeded $16K for our program. It is a lot of work, but also eliminates all of the small fundraising throughout the year.

I too would be interested in how you run your golf ball drop. Thanks.

16 K...what in the heck do you buy with that much money.. Would be fun. Hope to raise 8K with 3 fundraisers.

im wishing for 8k in 3. be lucky. we are trying something new in a couple of weeks sounds good - just have to wait and see. no sales - dont have to be there. picked out a night at pizza hut. they will give us 20% of sales of anybody that brings in a flyer saying they are supporting north baseball. just hoping we can get alot of people to go eat.

hopefully they can keep pizza on the buffett unlike the one in our town

they cant. they are not having buffet the night we are doing it anyway. which is good - more expensive.

What about advertising signs on the out field walls or fences? How much do you charge them over the cost of the sign and how much do charge each year to renew. How much do you put back to replace the sign in a few years?

At a larger high school (2,400 students), we charged $750 a sign and $400 each yr. after. At smaller school (400 students), we charged $250 a sign and $200 the following years. I think it depends on the community in which you live.