Booster clubs are an excellent resource for a sports team to raise money. This source of funds, in turn, makes every season for the kids a better experience. When management works to plan booster club fundraising, it has a myriad of benefits that help the team succeed.
For example, booster clubs help organize social events that foster close relationships between everyone on the team. This non-profit fundraising pays for expenses like transportation, new equipment, and pre-game meals.
Furthermore, booster clubs spread the word of their sports team in the local community. Awareness like this creates even more support for your organization, which means more fans in the stands and more funds to develop a formative experience for the players, coaches, and parents. In this article, we’ll cover how to better plan booster club fundraising to grow faster.
Why It’s Important to Plan Booster Club Fundraising Events
Taking the long view when your plan booster club fundraising is crucial to sustaining long-term growth. For example, as some booster clubs find success with food truck sales, they might decide to purchase a food truck. By following making investment, the booster club will save money down the road by not paying a rental fee every time they hold a sale.
Decisions like these can only happen when there’s long term fundraising planning makes the commitment to planning ahead. By continually planning events for the future, your booster club will have a reliable source of funds for the team and its different functions.
Identify Holidays & Special Occasions for Non-Profit Fundraising
As you work with the booster club members to plan nonprofit fundraising events, keep your eye on the calendar for holidays or special occasions. These holidays can be the traditional celebrations of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the winter holidays, making for great opportunities to raise vital capital for your sports team’s booster club.
By planning for these holidays, you can plan out a well-organized fundraiser that people will wait for. For example, Halloween is a popular time for booster club management to organize things like a haunted house, pumpkin carving events, or a horror movie night for the entire community.
To plan booster club fundraising all the difference because you’ll have enough time to decide on the best type of fundraiser for a specific time of the year. As a result, you’ll have ample time to tie off any loose ends and make sure the event runs seamlessly.
Take Advantage of Local Events
You don’t need to feel limited by popular holidays, but instead, take advantage of local events like Homecoming and parades. Many fundraisers for a booster club find that raffle or scratch-off tickets sell out during these events.
Many booster clubs use the occasion of other sports events to promote their booster club. Your team can sell merchandise and fan gear, with every cent of the profits going toward the team’s expenses. The sky is really the limit, but to adapt to new circumstances requires your booster club to plan and always keep expecting new opportunities.
If your club manages to effectively plan ahead, your booster club will continue to find resources through fundraising. As a result, your players and coaches will have all the tools they need to succeed on the field or court.
Plan Booster Club Fundraising Far in Advance
Planning your booster club fundraising events is a crucial aspect of making sure the event runs smoothly. If you wait until the last minute to rent out all the necessary equipment, the booster club will pay more.
For the most part, this has to do with the short notice many companies have in their policies. During the meetings to plan out events, someone should research the best prices for anything to boost club needs.
However, with enough planning and organization, you can pull off events like a dunk tank. While booster club management might not have funds to buy a dunk tank, a well-organized booster club can find the best rental prices.
Plan Fundraisers Year-Round
When you plan your booster club fundraisers year-round, it becomes easier to adapt. If this year’s Halloween pumpkin carving didn’t go well, the management has enough time to plan a new event for the best price. In the same light, if the spring’s bake sale performed better than expected, the booster club’s board has enough time to plan a similar bake sale for the summer or fall.
Plan Booster Club Fundraising Events Based on the Seasons
While this might sound like common sense, many teams don’t take advantage of the time their players spend on break. Keeping in mind any religious holidays, it’s advantageous to plan fundraising events during Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring break when players already don’t have many commitments.
The holidays are a great time to fundraise for your booster club since many people are already in the giving spirit. Holding holiday-themed bake sales, Christmas tree sales, or Halloween pumpkin sales, is a great way to grow your booster club. Many people are already looking for these items, and the opportunity to help the local team convinces many people.
Be S.M.A.R.T
When looking at successful booster clubs and business, there is an anacronym that sums up the best performing operations. The acronym is SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
By specific, he means to set specific goals, such as raising a particular amount of money. This works better than setting abstract goals since a tangible goal makes the planning stages easier.
Measurable goals refer, obviously, to set measurable goals for your booster club. Measurable and specific tie together, since a particular purpose is something your booster club can measure and advertise. For example, after doing the math, you might find you can expect to make a certain amount of money.
Measurable and specific goals are more helpful to advertise since it’s more urgent to tell potential supporters, “we’re raising 2,500 for the football team’s pre-game meals.” The following three letters of the acronym–measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound–help you frame these measurable and specific goals. By keeping in mind your organization’s true capability, you’ll set your booster club up for success.
Don’t Wait! Start Planning Today!
Planning out fundraisers for a booster club is difficult, so you need months of planning in advance. If you plan year-round, take advantage of holidays, and make wise long-term investments, you’ll see your booster club grow as a result of consistent fundraising.
Booster clubs are an excellent way for parents and supporters to help out the coaches and players. Since booster clubs handle the administrative work of organizing fundraisers and events, coaches and players have more time to do everything they need to succeed.
