Whether it’s traveling to tournaments or purchasing gear and uniforms, the expenses for sporting events can mount quickly. If you are an athlete, a school, a fan of the community sports team, parent, or coach, you invest in your sports team every year. When the sports budget gets tight, there’s nothing better than a fundraiser to get your team headed in the right direction!
Today, let’s explore some of the best and the most effective fundraising ideas for sports teams that are perfect for individual athletes and larger sports or community teams. Let’s get started.
Basketball Shoot-a-thon or Skills Challenge
Everyone loves playing basketball. A Shoot-a-thon is a fantastic fundraiser idea for players because participants and/or audiences need only pay a minimal entry fee.
Organize it as individuals, teams, or both and have them compete against one another. Whichever team (or person) scores the most within the allotted time wins the battle. You can offer the victors some cool freebies or food coupons from a local restaurant.
This fundraiser idea is not just limited to basketball. You can choose any sport as long as you can find enough audience and participants for the contest.
Pro Tip:
Consider selling snacks and refreshments to increase earnings for this event!
T-shirt Sale
Sports fundraisers aren’t complete without a t-shirt or jersey sale. Reach out to every player on the sports team, their parents, teachers, and school faculty to donate sportswear like t-shirts for sale.
This way, you can cheaply acquire large volumes of t-shirts to sell, such as Senior Night t-shirts, Homecoming Weekend t-shirts, and whatnot.
Collaborate with the neighborhood printing store and personalize the t-shirts with player or donor names, numbers, or logos to make them even more unique and special.
For an added boost, have a competition to design the artwork. Either charge an entry fee to submit a design, or charge a nominal fee for students to vote on their favorite design. The winner gets their design printed on the t-shirts, and you’ve raised money before you’ve even ordered the shirts!
Fun Run Challenge
You can never go wrong with an inspiring athletic challenge like a fun run! Arranging a fun run challenge does not require much investment.
A fun run is an excellent way to attract the community and promote physical well-being. Charge an entry fee and get your fundraiser started. You can even allow local businesses to sponsor the fun run. Win-Win!
Fitness Classes
Hosting fitness classes or workshops is another excellent fundraising idea since it capitalizes on full team participation and puts their natural athletic skills to use. Get your teammates, and together you can create a fun and exciting fitness session for young students, parents, staff, and the community.
Some trendy fitness activities for fitness classes include:
- Yoga
- Exercise
- Running
- Dance /Zumba
- Cricket
Charge an affordable registration fee, and you can easily attract some fitness enthusiasts and beginners to join!
Dance-offs
Who doesn’t like to groove to some funky beats while having fun with their loved ones? Hosting a Dance-off is the ultimate fool-proof fundraiser idea for your sports team!
With a dance-off, you can bring the entire community together and raise money effortlessly. It is also great for spending some quality time with friends and family while dancing to the beats.
All you have to do here is charge a nominal entry fee to those who would like to participate, and you’ll start seeing people line up to get their dance on!
Pro Tip:
You can also combine the t-shirt sale fundraiser idea or sell your merchandise while hosting a dance-off to raise money for your sports team from multiple sources.
Sports Camp
You probably have lots of kids in your neighborhood. It is time to host a summer kids camp (or even a weekend camp) and bring them together to have fun and teach them sports.
You can raise money by teaching them your preferred sport or exercise and give the kids a fun and engaging camp. You can teach them multiple games and sports together, and they get to choose the team as per their interests. You can charge for the camp, and rest assured, the more kids you find for your camp, the more funds you raise for your sports team.
Face Painting Day
Another very fun and easy fundraiser plan is face painting. You need volunteers and non-toxic face paints for both kids and adults, and you are good to go.
Individuals can pay a small donation to get their faces painted and have fun at the event. You can also include some fun outdoor games and concessions to raise more money for your sports team.
Go Green Camp
This fundraiser idea is a complete win-win situation for you and the environment! If there’s litter and trash in public areas, you can host a Go Green Camp wherein you and your teammates can ask for pledges depending on how much garbage you pick up.
For example:
Ask for a small amount like 10 cents or more for every piece of garbage picked up; you’ll be surprised how much trash and cash you’ll manage to collect.
Get your team together and start the fundraiser to make your public areas clean and green.
Game Night
Game nights are one of the most fun and interactive ways to have a get-together with your friends and family! All you need for a game night fundraiser is a location big enough to hold the participants and some popular board games! Chess, monopoly, and similar board games are everybody’s favorite!
Here you either charge an entry fee or a fee per game, whichever sounds more profitable to you. Don’t make the entry fees too high, or you may have difficulty finding participants for the game night.
Wrapping Up
Now that you know a few unique and fruitful fundraising ideas, it is time that you take action. If your sports matches or the tournaments are nearing, organize everything, and get ready to raise funds with these fundraising ideas. By using these ideas, you can successfully raise funds for your sports team with only a minor investment.
Suppose you have decided and are preparing to launch your fundraising idea. In that case, you might want to check out LeanStream for some beneficial fundraising solutions that can make the entire fundraising process more manageable. Check it out here.
