What are your best team fundraisers?

[kshilt]

We are dreaming of taking our little league baseball team to Disney World for a tournament next year. Many of the kids have never been and this would be a once in a lifetime trip for them. We can't make it work unless we can do the trip on a really tight budget. I've spoken to Disney about the discounted package but now I'm looking to find the best fundraiser ideas for the team. Anyone have any suggestions on fundraiser they have done in the past that were successful? We will need to do multiple events to make this happen so any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jjsmom]

My nephew's wife is director of a dance academy and they've been raising money for their August performance trip for about 18 months. They've held a variety of fund raisers including the standard bake sales and car washes. Last November, on a Friday night, at the school they had combination product party. Reps from Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Thirty-One set up their stuff and invited parents, grandparents, and friends to place orders. The reps donated most of their profits as well as raffle items. I think over $1000 was raised including book orders for people who couldn't come that night.

 

[kshilt]

Great idea. With school getting ready to start, we are hit up by all kinds of fees and fundraisers at the beginning of the school year so we need to get creative with everyone else also asking for money at this time.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Kids start selling the 2012 Entertainment Books in Sept (coupons start Nov 1, 2011)

http://www.entertainment.com/fundraising/

 

[mrp4352]

Many restaurants will set up a fundraising night, where they will give you a portion of the profit of all sales that say they're with 'such-and-such' group during a specific time period. I've even been handed a flier by a group while walking into the restaurant during the time period for their group. (although you might want to check with the restaurant before doing that) I've seen it at Chili's, Sonic, Chick-fil-a and one of the local barbeque restaurants.

Good luck!

 

[worm761]

Do you have a community center that you could host a movie night in? At DS old school, in the fall (think Christmas shopping time!) the 8th graders hosted movie nights. You dropped your kid off between 5-8. They had drinks, hot dogs, chips, popcorn and a movie for the kids to watch. They charged $5 for the evening. We used to drop DS off so we could go Christmas shopping together.
You could consider a spaghetti dinner too. Pasta bought on the cheap, cans of tomato sauce, go to a bread store for Texas toast and toast with some garlic butter on it.

 

[andymattmom]

Check with local restaurants and see if they have any fundraising plans. One of our local ones gives 10% of sales over a certain amount for the one night. People turn in coupons with their bills (can't be handed out on site) and the money goes to organization. We made $300+ for our high school sports team.

I think Papa Johns or some places do things like this also. In all honesty I am not a fan of buying baked goods from people sitting outside stores. You never know how they have been prepared.

I'd recommend a garage sale also for the team. Another thing a local car dealer here did was gave money for each test drive to the high school athletic department. It was held in the school parking lot.

 

[jjsmom]

Let me tell you about another fund raiser that is very popular in this area and brings people out in droves. It's called a "tricky tray" (don't know why they call it that) but it's similar to a Chinease auction. It requires work on everyones part, but I know a couple of years ago a very small private school in the area raised over $10,000. It works like this. You solicit local business for donations, either products, services, or cash in exchange for recognition. These donations become prizes. For an admission fee (usually $10-20) people are given a number of tickets. They use these tickets as "raffles" for products/prizes they're interested in. You draw a few tickets at a time to keep people sticking around. They can buy extra tickets once they get in the door. Offer snacks/hot dogs/sodas and a bake table as well and possibly some entertainment.

 

[soccerchick]

Since it's a baseball team, I'd do a Bat-a-thon. Easy money.

Car washes are also good $ for a few hours work. Around here, there's a Chik-Fil-A that allows groups to use their water. Depending on the age of the kids, you'll have to teach them how to wash cars correctly and/or have lots of parents to do it.

Ask grocery stores for bottled water donations and sell them at your car wash.

Raffles work well too. Our softball team has done two. One was a bunch of gift cards that businesses donated. We sold a set number of tickets for, I think, about $1300 profit. Another time we purchased some crazy plasma tv at a huge discount (store provided item to us at cost or close to it) to raffle. The nice thing about raffle tickets is that you can set up places to sell them and some people will still donate a $ or two even if they don't buy a ticket.

Sell space on a professionally made banner (screen print). Take the banner to every game you play and attach it to the dugout with carabiners (sp?). You can have a business sponsorship banner and a personal friends and family banner. You can get these made fairly cheaply.

We did Bingo too. Lots of work to set up the first one (buying supplies), but we made good money and have supplies to do another one this fall.

 

[yoopermom]

DS16 has to do tons of fundraisers for his different activities, and they make the most money on the sportscards they sell for football. The link on the front of the card is www.abenityrewards.com. Local businesses "donate" so that the card can be used at their location for a discount or specific reward for the year. To the best of my understanding, the $15 each card sells for is almost pure profit, and each player is required to sell at least 25 (and DS usually sells at least 50).

Terri

 

[kshilt]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I'm putting a list together now to have the parents decide which ones sound the most interesting.

 

[karlacorley]

You can also do christmas wrapping booth on Black Friday !

 

[crazelion]

Contact local stadiums see if bb team volunteer in the concessions stand for money. I know our local marching band fights over days we have baseball games. They make excellent money. My son boy scout troop sell fruit as there fundraiser.

 

[elgerber]

You can try local nurserys too. Our elementary schools sell poinsettias and they have a big profit on them, and our choir sells Christmas wreaths, also with a big profit. Very easy to sell for the holidays also.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

Contact local stadiums see if bb team volunteer in the concessions stand for money. I know our local marching band fights over days we have baseball games. They make excellent money. My son boy scout troop sell fruit as there fundraiser.

YES!!!! My daughter does competitive cheerleading. They travel all over the country for competitions. Without this fundraiser we could never afford it. We are just outside of Detroit so we do Comerica Park with the Detroit Tigers. I can't tell you how easy it is and how much fun we have. We have been in booths selling everything from beer and brats, to Dippin Dots, to snow cones and lemonade. We work concerts, too. This Sunday I'm working the Paul McCartney concert. In August we are scheduled to work for the Kid Rock concerts. We have a blast and pay for almost the whole season with the funds. Easy, easy money. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[worm761]

I totally forgot! Winn Dixie and Food World always have volunteer baggers. You just donate to their team while they bag your groceries. Some are good and others are horrible but I always give a few dollars to them.

 

[sharon_wv]

Where I grew up in Pennsylvania, the groups always do lottery fundraiser. This type of fundraiser is based on the teh Daily Number Lottery number. Each person who buys a ticket gets assigned a a three digit number, and then if that number comes up in the Daily Number Lottery they win the allotted prize.

They can cost anywhere from $5-10 per ticket for a month or $20 for a full year. You can have special days be bonus prizes (like weekend days or holidays, or even game days) where they win more than the standard prize. I calculated how much you can raise from this fundraiser and it was based on a 2-month calendar, with the winner getting $50 per weekday & $100 on Saturdays.

You do have to sell 1000 (000 to 999) tickets to maximize your

Incoming $20 per calendar $20000
Winning 2960
Cost of Calendars 200

PROFIT $16,840

Assumtions:
1. Need to sell 1000 tickets 000-999
2. Price per ticket = $20
3. Weekday payout - $50 per day
4. Saturday payout - $100
5. # chosen is based on Daily Number which is Monday-Saturday

If you don't sell all the tickets, you might lose out (unless those numbers unsold actually end up being daily numbers so you don't have payout either). Plus, you have to consider your organization and whether they'd support or approve any type of "gambling" which I suppose this can be considered.

Where I grew up, it's really easy to sell because it's so common & anyone would rather spend $10 or $20 if they have a chance to win the money back and then some vs. buying some cheap candy or wrapping paper, you know.

I couldn't sell this idea to my daughter's band; they instead do the high labor fundraisers like dinners and such, that have a much lower rate of return.

This is a website that I found that explains it and sells the supplies.
http://www.sportsinfomedia.com/productdetail.asp?id=16

Good luck -- hope the kids make it to Disney to make magical memories!!

 

[andymattmom]

DS16 has to do tons of fundraisers for his different activities, and they make the most money on the sportscards they sell for football. The link on the front of the card is www.abenityrewards.com. Local businesses "donate" so that the card can be used at their location for a discount or specific reward for the year. To the best of my understanding, the $15 each card sells for is almost pure profit, and each player is required to sell at least 25 (and DS usually sells at least 50).

Terri

We LOVE these cards! Our hs football team sells yearly and Papa John's and Fazoli's are on there. We have buy 1 get 1 free pizza and free drinks at Fazoli's so the cards pay for themselves fast.

I also agree with the Xmas wreath or poinsettia idea. I bought several wreaths during a neighbors high school days. They were beautiful and when it is something I can use like that it makes it worth it even if a little extra $$.

One thing I don't buy is the popcorn tins, wrapping paper, etc. Seems things are so overpriced and quality is not good.

 

[jjsmom]

You can also do christmas wrapping booth on Black Friday !

I also heard about some cheerleaders locally who offered Black Friday Babysitting at a local church; it was supervised by several adults, too. They advertised games, age appropriate activities, snacks and lunch for the kids.

 

[sharon_wv]

I also heard about some cheerleaders locally who offered Black Friday Babysitting at a local church; it was supervised by several adults, too. They advertised games, age appropriate activities, snacks and lunch for the kids.

I think this is a FABULOUS idea! I want someone in my area to have this fundraiser so I can help them raise $$$.