According to a recent survey, the average American family spends more than $2,000 each year on youth sports. And it's not all that uncommon for some families to spend a lot more than that for their kids to participate in sports like soccer, baseball, football, basketball, lacrosse, and more.
Many youth sports leagues will try to take the financial burden of allowing kids to play sports off parents by holding team fundraising events. They'll come up with all kinds of crazy fundraising ideas to help pay for things like uniforms, tournaments, and travel.
We've created a list of ten team fundraising ideas that youth sports teams can use to generate money so that more kids can play sports without putting their families into tough financial spots. Check them out below.
1. Seeking Sponsorships From Local Businesses
Local businesses are always looking for ways to get their names out there in the world. Why not take advantage of this when you're brainstorming team fundraising ideas?
In some cases, you might be able to convince a single local business to sponsor a team for an entire season for a set fee. This will enable that business to put its name on your team's uniforms and to add its branding to things like the signs in your stadium, the programs you hand out, etc.
In other instances, you might want to see if a handful of local businesses would be willing to sponsor your team in a variety of ways. One of them might pay a certain fee to have its name added to your uniforms, while others might pay a different fee to have their names put on signs in your stadium, in your programs, etc.
Whatever the case, this should be where you start when you're trying to figure out some team fundraising ideas. Don't be shy about turning to local businesses for help when your sports team needs sponsorships.
2. Holding Special Dinner Events at Nearby Restaurants
One or more of the restaurants in your area might be interested in sponsoring your youth sports team in one of the ways that we just mentioned. But they might also be interested in partnering up with your team in a slightly different way, too.
Some restaurants have started to team up with youth sports teams to hold special dinner events at their establishments. These restaurants will agree to provide a portion of all their sales on a particular night to a team with the team agreeing to promote the restaurant and this dinner event in exchange.
This is a good way for youth sports teams to make money without too much effort on their part. All they have to do is try to convince people to pack a restaurant on a specific night and then sit back and count how much money they're able to raise by doing it.
3. Putting Together a Pancake Breakfast for People
If your youth sports team would like to take a little bit more of a hands-on approach to team fundraising, you might want to think about hosting a pancake breakfast. All of your coaches and players can get together to cook up a bunch of pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. for those in your community and charge a small fee for people to eat.
Generally speaking, you shouldn't have to spend too much money at all to get your hands on the supplies you'll need to pull off a pancake breakfast. It could make this one of the most lucrative team fundraising ideas depending on how many people show up to your event.
4. Offering Car Washes to Those in the Community
If your youth sports team's coaches and players aren't exactly the best cooks in the world, a pancake breakfast might be out of the question. But another way in which your team can work together to raise money is by offering car washes to those in your community.
Just like with a pancake breakfast, you can get all the supplies that you'll need to host a car wash for relatively cheap. From there, all you'll need to do is set up shop on a busy street and start waving people in for car washes.
Even if you only charge, say, $5 per car wash, your youth sports team should be able to raise a decent amount of money in a matter of just a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.
5. Creating Custom Scarves and Other Merchandise and Selling It
Most youth sports teams already buy merchandise for coaches, players, and parents to wear. So why not create even more merchandise than you already do and attempt to sell it to those outside of your team's immediate circle?
You can purchase custom T-shirts, hoodies, hats, and more and see if you can sell them to make a profit. You can even invest in things like custom scarves, like these soccer scarves, if you want to think outside the box while creating merch.
6. Collecting Enough Player Photos to Create a Team Calendar
2023 is right around the corner, and you know what that means, right? People are going to start picking up new calendars for the start of the new year.
You should look to cash in on this by putting together a youth sports team calendar featuring all of the coaches and players on your team. You can either hire a photographer to take professional photos or ask parents to submit some of the photos that they've taken over time.
Either way, you should be able to piece together more than enough photos of coaches and players to create a great-looking calendar. You might also want to ask local businesses to show their support to you by donating money to your team in exchange for advertising opportunities in your calendar.
7. Setting Up a Walkathon at a Local Park
A lot of schools throughout the country have been holding walkathons in recent years to raise money. You can lift a page right out of their playbooks by setting up a walkathon of your own at a local park.
All you'll need to do is get your players to find people to sponsor them and agree to donate a certain amount of money for every lap, mile, etc. they're able to do during your team's walkathon. It'll be a fantastic way to get your players some exercise while also raising some funds at the same time.
8. Hosting a Silent Auction With Donated Products and Services
In a perfect world, all of the local businesses in your community would be willing to financially support your youth sports team. But not all of them are going to be in a position to do this.
They may, however, be able to donate products and services to your youth sports team so that you can use them to hold a silent auction. During this silent auction, people will place bids on these products and services, and the highest bids will be the winners.
You can host a silent auction in person or even try to do it online if you would like. It's yet another way for you to get the businesses in your area to help your youth sports team raise money.
9. Scheduling a Talent Show Featuring Coaches and Players
All of the coaches and players on your youth sports team are obviously good at sports to some degree. But what else are they good at?
Can they sing? Dance? Juggle? Do something else that would entertain a crowd endlessly?
You should put the talents of your coaches and players on full display during a talent show and charge a small fee for people to get into it. It'll allow everyone on your team to have a great time while keeping those who come to the talent show entertained.
10. Creating a Summer Sports Camp for Younger Kids
Parents are always looking for ways to keep their kids occupied in the summertime. You can provide them with one great option for hosting a summer sports camp for younger kids each year.
The coaches for your youth sports team can oversee the camp and make sure that everyone stays safe while the players on your team serve as camp counselors. It'll set parents up with a valuable service and give your players a chance to raise a lot of money.
And who knows? It might even help introduce some younger kids to your team's sport and get them interested in it. It could work wonders for the future of your team.
These Are Just Some of the Team Fundraising Ideas You Can Use
As you've seen here, there won't be any shortage of options for youth sports teams looking for team fundraising ideas. There are so many ways that your team can make money to pay for things related to your upcoming season.
If you're in the process of doing soccer fundraising and would like to order custom soccer scarves, we can help you out. You can use our scarves to help raise money for your youth sports team.
Contact us to find out more about the custom scarves that we sell.