5 Fundraising Tips: Plan The Best Sports Booster Club Event for Your Hometown Team

As we celebrate the spirit of sports with National Coaches Day, it is prudent to explore innovative ways to show our support for your favorite hometown sports team. If that sounds like you, a booster club event might be exactly what you’re looking for.

What is Booster Club Fundraising?

Booster clubs are created to raise funds for school sports and organizations. They are typically run by parents and help provide adequate funding for club activities, uniforms, and other supplies.

Booster clubs can raise funds by collecting membership fees, hosting events, sales, and more. Register your club as a 501(c) with the Internal Revenue Service, and you are good to go.

Despite their compelling benefits, most parents have little to no experience raising funds, which calls for appropriate guidance. If you run a booster club and seek relevant fundraising tips, here is a primer on the most effective strategies you can try!

Sell Some Swag

One of the best ways to spread the word about your booster club and raise funds is by selling attractive merchandise and sports-specific items. Here are the catchiest product ideas that can help you raise sizeable capital for your booster club:

• Apparel: Be it the classroom or the gym; everyone loves to wear high-quality and attractive apparel. Sell custom-printed clothing such as microfleece jackets, lounge pants, and pom top beanies to members of your community who are eager to feel cozy this season.

• Blankets: Selling customized blankets can help your booster club raise funds and gain exposure for your sports team.

• Sports-Specific Items: There are several sports accessories that you can sell to raise funds for your booster club. These include custom hockey pucks, golf bags, and baseballs with your team’s logo.

Share Your Message with Direct Mail

A well-crafted mail campaign is an extremely memorable fundraising technique. All you need to do is write, design, print, and distribute hard copy requests asking for donations to your club. These requests show up in your donors’ mailboxes and establish a real relationship with your organization. 

Studies indicate that donors will more likely read a direct mail appeal instead of an email appeal. Experts consider direct mail to be better at telling a convincing story and communicating facts than digital approaches. Be sure to use colorful and vibrant flyers to grab maximum attention in a short timeframe.

Host an Exciting Event

Hosting a fun and engaging event can help raise decent funds for your booster club. All you have to do is make sure the donors have a good time and make jolly memories. Some ideas for fun events include:

• Game Nights: From sports trivia to bingo, there’s no limit to the possibilities presented by a game night. Make sure you have some small prizes ready to give to the winner! Use flags to advertise your evening of fun and games.

• Sports Contests: Hose sport-specific contests with which your booster club is associated. For instance, if your booster club is related to a basketball team, they can show off their skills in a hoop shooting contest.  You can sell tickets and ask local businesses to sponsor contestants.

Share School and Team Spirit Online

Enlist booster club members with an active online presence and ask them to start online campaigns. These can consist of stories and pictures of how your club is helping the team and why donations are essential. The club members can share this information with friends and family online and raise funds to fund the teams’ needs.

Sharing the team spirit online can massively improve your fundraising campaign as people feel a sense of inclusiveness with the sports team and feel compelled to donate. Such campaigns can leverage effective storytelling to online viewers.

Partner with Local Businesses

You can raise funds by partnering with local businesses willing to request their customers to spare some change towards your booster club fundraising. This practice will provide you with adequate funds and require minimal effort.

Reach out to other local businesses to collaborate with your booster club by placing coupon books in their lobbies. You can then raise funds for your club by selling these coupon books to customers.

You can also ask popular local gift shops to set up a booth and wrap gifts throughout the day to raise funds and spread awareness about your club and the associated sports team. Make your booth look catchy and attract more customers by using appropriate advertising tools like outdoor banners.