Fundraising ideas for youth football

[gridironmike]

I wonder if any of you are active in your local youth football programs, or Little League, Babe Ruth, basketball, etc.? I'm looking for some creative (serious) ideas that we can do at our games this year to raise some extra money. We changed our name and colors from Vikings (definitely was not my choice) to Cavaliers (to match the local high school) and our cheerleaders need more cash than we do. We're going to let kids come out at halftime and attempt field goals for a dollar. We split half of the take with the winner. We do the half and half drawings too. We sell programs and t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, etc. Any (serious, please) ideas?

[Mooney]

1. If your field is surrounded by chain link fence, then sell billboard space to local businesses. Charge $300 for the entire year since it's probably a multi-purpose field. Get 10-15, and you have some serious $$ that will repeat every year.

2. Type up a fundraising letter asking for donations. Give 10 to each player and ask that he fill out the address of a family member or friend, and have him write a personal note. Collect them and mail out with a return envelope. Donations will pour in.

3. Send letters to your local American Legions, Lions Club, Kiwanis, etc. They have tons of $$ that they have to get rid of every quarter.

Make sure when you recieve large donations/billboards that you recognize the donors in a meaningful way. We send plaques with the current team picture in it to large donors/businesses. Total cost about $15, well worth it.

Unless you have a lot of volunteers, stay away from crap that doesn't give you a good return for your efforts. 50/50, which you're already doing, is a great example of an easy fundraiser that will give a great return without much effort.

[aREDSKIN]

I wonder if any of you are active in your local youth football programs, or Little League, Babe Ruth, basketball, etc.? I'm looking for some creative (serious) ideas that we can do at our games this year to raise some extra money. We changed our name and colors from Vikings (definitely was not my choice) to Cavaliers (to match the local high school) and our cheerleaders need more cash than we do. We're going to let kids come out at halftime and attempt field goals for a dollar. We split half of the take with the winner. We do the half and half drawings too. We sell programs and t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, etc. Any (serious, please) ideas?

We just go done with Babe Ruth All-Stars. Our teams best fundrasier was standing outside of the local Wal-Mart and just asking for support. We did it 2 times in 6 hour shifts with 10 kids splitting the shifts. We made 1200 the first time and 900 the second. We had the kids out there in their uniforms and signs and the Wal Mart customers were much to my surprise very very generous. It was easy the kids didn't mind it too much and the parents were obviously happy. Give it a try.

[Major Harris]

We just go done with Babe Ruth All-Stars. Our teams best fundrasier was standing outside of the local Wal-Mart and just asking for support. We did it 2 times 2 6 hour shifts with 10 kids splitting the shifts. We made 1200 the first time and 900 the second. It was easy thew kids didn't mind it too much and the parents were obviously happy. Give it a try.

this is actually a good suggestion. i don't know if all wal marts are like this, but the one here will match your collections, up to 2k.

or you could just beg es members for money. *cough*die hard*cough*

jus' jokes dh.

[SkinsBry]

Maybe a chicken bbq at one of the games or a snack bar with hot dogs, drinks and snacks at all home games.

If you want to do something away from the field you could try selling candy or Joe Corbi's. http://www.joecorbi.com/

[Die Hard]

Hey Mike, this is what we've done (and we've been fortunate to raise $23,000 in the past 2 years).

1. Kids sell chocolate bars. They usually get 2-3 boxes each.... the deals are usually 50/50 (50% profit). Any funds generated from this method goes towards the purchase of the child's year end gift.

2. We have 50/50 at half-time... but it was out-lawed this year. Still, it was good while it lasted.

3. We have a team BBQ and flag football day... where every person pays $5 for food... and we play flag football. WHen all is said and done... we end up with over $100 in profit.

4. We sell clothing merchandise (hats, sweaters, hoodies, tshirts, etc).

5. My parents ran a food stand (hot dogs, sausage, backbacon, chocolate bars, chips, pop/water/gatorade) for 2 years. This was our biggest money maker.... whereby we made over $13,000 in profit. Of course, it was also a "production"... which meant by parents (and aunts/uncles, brothers) had setup time, take-down time, food preparation before and during, etc.. not to mention they had to drive an hour each way to get to the park.

Talk about sacrifice huh? And I don't have any kids on the teams... they just did it out of the kindness of their heart.... which allowed us to buy a lot of equipment.

6. Corporate sponsorships. We asked everybody if they knew anybody that runs a company that would donate $250 (in which case, we posted their logo and link on our team website and gave them a plaque at the end of the year). We probably raised $2000 that way.

7. Dinner Dance. Rent a hall, music, food, etc... between a few teams and sell tickets to friends... have the kids/parents sell tickets. We actually lost money on this event because of logistics.... but it should have been an easy rake in. Not to mention, it's a great bonding experience for coaches/parents to share a few drinks and buy a few rounds.

7. ExtremeSkins. Asking friends here if they wished to donate... has turned in a phenomenal response. More than I could have every managed.

There are plenty of other ideas that we could have used... like a car wash... or a pancake breakfast (find a restuarant that will sponsor) and have people sell tickets and get together one morning.... or a golf tournament.... and I even tried to organize and NFL pool among the parents... and even organize a Poker tournament (I didn't get the 36 people I needed to make it worthwhile).

Hope that helps.

[Corcaigh]

Up here in booming Loudoun County we do the following:

We have local businesses sponsor each team, with different levels of participation:

http://www.ayfl.org/Forms/AYFLSponsorshipProgram2007.doc

A local sports store chain gives discounts to the players and gives a percentage back to the league.

Sell the right to concessions to a local coffee store on game day.

Also as a source of funds, an additional $50 fee is charged at registration. Those who volunteer in the league in some capacity for at least several hours are elegible to claim a refund.

[Skins PR]

Up here in booming Loudoun County we do the following:

We have local businesses sponsor each team, with different levels of participation:

http://www.ayfl.org/Forms/AYFLSponsorshipProgram2007.doc

A local sports store chain gives discounts to the players and gives a percentage back to the league.

Sell the right to concessions to a local coffee store on game day.

Also as a source of funds, an additional $50 fee is charged at registration. Those who volunteer in the league in some capacity for at least several hours are elegible to claim a refund.

You're involved in the AYFL? I'm a coach and board member for CLYFL in Leesburg.

[Corcaigh]

You're involved in the AYFL? I'm a coach and board member for CLYFL in Leesburg.

I help with coaching.

[Skins PR]

I help with coaching.

Cool, what age? I'm coaching C league thie year.

[Die Hard]

Up here in booming Loudoun County we do the following:

We have local businesses sponsor each team, with different levels of participation:

http://www.ayfl.org/Forms/AYFLSponsorshipProgram2007.doc

A local sports store chain gives discounts to the players and gives a percentage back to the league.

Sell the right to concessions to a local coffee store on game day.

Also as a source of funds, an additional $50 fee is charged at registration. Those who volunteer in the league in some capacity for at least several hours are elegible to claim a refund.

You know what? Those are some excellent ideas.

I'm also the fundraising coordinator for the league... and I think those are some great suggestions. I'm going to implement those next season.

Thanks.

[Major Harris]

if you're going to sell something, try ESPN the magazine fundraiser. it's super easy. they offer a great deal for your customers, and you keep like 60% of the funds.

as previously mentioned, advertising space is great as well. our youth league just got a brand new field, with lights, bleachers, scoreboard, sod, irrigation system, paint machines, paint, a field house with 6 team rooms, a conference room w/ 4 42" plasma tv's w/ satellite service. the league director can turn the lights and sprinkler system on from his house, and the sprinklers are programmed to not come on if it's raining. every last bit of it was donated or paid for by selling advertising space. not one cent of taxpayer money went into it.

[Mooney]

our youth league just got a brand new field, with lights, bleachers, scoreboard, sod, irrigation system, paint machines, paint, a field house with 6 team rooms, a conference room w/ 4 42" plasma tv's w/ satellite service. the league director can turn the lights and sprinkler system on from his house, and the sprinklers are programmed to not come on if it's raining. every last bit of it was donated or paid for by selling advertising space. not one cent of taxpayer money went into it.

That is friggin' sweet.

[gridironmike]

Thanks for all of the ideas. I should tell you that our registration fee is $30. Last year, we had 85 boys and 70 girls. We practice at the same field we play on. We used to practice off site and had to rent port-a-johns for $300 a season. They'd sell Gatorades out of a cooler for a buck and they might sell $20 worth. Once I convinced the others that if we practice where we play, we eliminated the port-a-john expense and the parents that used to sit around and watch practice now can do things to maintain the facility. We open the concession stand every night and we make about $200 a night. We used to partner with a local pop distributor and sell cases of pop, but last year we relied solely on the concession stand and merchandise sales. I have considered (and got the info) for the ESPN fundraiser. We did send out approximately 250 letters to local businesses and have got a nice return. Our cheerleaders sell Little Caesar's kits similar to the Corbis. Wal Mart won't let us stand out front (or anywhere else!). The discounted fee for parental participation is a great idea. I've often thought about offering a discount for early registration too. I didn't actually think I could solicit a donation from the ES community. Our football team will be OK, and I have went bare minimum ordering the new stuff so we could funnel all the extra to the cheerleaders. They need about $9000. Thanks for all the replies.

[Corcaigh]

Yeah, I made the comment about booming Loudoun County as I noted you're from southern WV and the population density and economics might be very different. Our League has about 600 kids signed up across three age groups for tackle football at $160 a head, and there are five other youth football leagues within fifteen miles.

[Die Hard]

Wow... surprised at some of the registration costs. Our registration is currently $250/person. The league provides equipment (tattered as usual), each park (3 teams) has their own practice facility that we practice 3 nights a week. Then our games are at another facility (a few within the city). In that fee.. it covers insurance, equipment, kids keep the game jerseys, practice field rentals, game field rentals, refs for games, EMS for games, year-end trophies for all the kids and coaches plus 6 individual awards per team.... as well as $400/team for their team banquet.... and a team photo included. And the league gives coaches some team equipment/supplies.

And the season is 5.5 months long.

That's probably one of the most affordable sports next to soccer/basketball.

[Kosher Ham]

I love threads like this, and have a lot of respect for anyone that tries to influence our youth in a positive manner.

Nice job gentlemen.

Lots of great suggestions.

[gridironmike]

If I charged a $50 fee, the participation would be next to nothing. Our insurance runs about $20 and $7 per cheerleader. All three teams and all three cheerleading teams practice at the same facility three nights a week during school and more during August. We do not give the jerseys away at the end of the season. We all have a season ending banquet together. Individual and team pictures are actually a fundraiser too. The photographer gives us a cut of the money. I just got a $10,000 grant to buy new bleachers two years ago. For $30, our kids get nice equipment and uniforms, insurance, socks, mouthpiece, end of year banquet, and a trophy. The economics of Loudon Co. and (western) Greenbrier Co., WV are night and day.

[Die Hard]

If I charged a $50 fee, the participation would be next to nothing. Our insurance runs about $20 and $7 per cheerleader. All three teams and all three cheerleading teams practice at the same facility three nights a week during school and more during August. We do not give the jerseys away at the end of the season. We all have a season ending banquet together. Individual and team pictures are actually a fundraiser too. The photographer gives us a cut of the money. I just got a $10,000 grant to buy new bleachers two years ago. For $30, our kids get nice equipment and uniforms, insurance, socks, mouthpiece, end of year banquet, and a trophy. The economics of Loudon Co. and (western) Greenbrier Co., WV are night and day.

Our problem is.... finding parks to play games. Most teams practice at a school facility or public park.... but we have to pay for all of it. Practice facilities are pretty cheap (approximately $2.50/hr).. but you practice for 2 hours a day.... 3 days a week... 5.5 months a year and it can add up.

There are 6 teams in 3 divisions..... each park has a team in a division. So we have 18 teams in our league... which would make practicing at one facility nearly impossible.

What I'm working on beginning next year... to get raise funds to purchase land to build a 2-field football facility with all the trimmings Going to have to go after corporate sponsorship. The only problem is... Hamilton is an old city (upper and lower mountain areas)... and real estate is REALLY hard to come by. It's going to have to be donated. And any new land now is REALLY expensive ($2.5M just for the land)... and kinda far out of the city limits to boot.

So it's going to be an uphill battle.... but it'll be great for football if we can get it done. Hamilton is a big city... and we're a pretty big league. And we're not anywhere where we could/should be as far as publicity and marketing/advertising. We could be HUGE if we get this done.... but getting the right people is another story.

[gridironmike]

Our league consists of kids from four local areas. (WV has three classes of schools, AAA, AA, and A (smallest). We are an A high school with about 330 students. These four areas used to support their own high schools. When they all consolidated, these schools had junior high football programs. Now, they've all consolidated into a middle school.) We use one of the old high school/junior high fields. We have to carry a $1 mil liability policy to satisfy the Board of Education. We don't even have lights anymore, and we are the only locale in our overall league without them. I am on the town park board, and we are going to try to get the BOE to lease us the field for a $1 a year or give it to us.

[Die Hard]

Our league consists of kids from four local areas. (WV has three classes of schools, AAA, AA, and A (smallest). We are an A high school with about 330 students. These four areas used to support their own high schools. When they all consolidated, these schools had junior high football programs. Now, they've all consolidated into a middle school.) We use one of the old high school/junior high fields. We have to carry a $1 mil liability policy to satisfy the Board of Education. We don't even have lights anymore, and we are the only locale in our overall league without them. I am on the town park board, and we are going to try to get the BOE to lease us the field for a $1 a year or give it to us.

Sounds like a pretty sweet situation then... since the properties are just sitting there unused Hamilton is a pretty big city... and some of the schools are OLD. I'd imagine it might be a pretty good idea to sit on one of the schools waiting for it to be condemned.... and then seeing if we can purchase the land.

Now I just have to get in the ear of a member of the BOE

[gridironmike]

We even use their old equipment room. The lockerroom is a little removed from the field, so we don't use it.

[Die Hard]

BTW... here is a link that you might be able to use:

http://www.usafootball.com/grants/

[gridironmike]

Yep, we applied last week! We have Arts & Rec grants in our county based largely on a hotel bed tax of the Greenbrier Resort. Thats what I was able to get the bleachers with. We have about four to five other sources for grant money. I forgot to mention earlier that we (the voters) approved a bond for our consilidated middle school for a turn key facility. After the school was built, the athletic fields were just that, fields. No structures went up. I'm on the Little League BOD and we have built one (at this point, the only) of the fields on the property. A former coach of mine is now on the BOE and he was on the committee that makes recommendations regarding the arts & rec grant. He helped me get the bleacher money, but a point of contention was me spending money on the old high school/jr. high field when the new middle school field has nothing. The middle school plays their games at the high school. The middle school is getting a track built right now (around what will be the football field) due largely to his efforts. It shouldn't be hard to add a couple of goal posts, bleachers, and lights....except for the need for $$$$$$$.