The Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading Fundraising
If you are reading this, you need money for your cheerleading team. It does not matter if you are a parent, a volunteer, an employee of the local high school, the cheer team coach or choreographer, you will benefit from reading this guide. In this ULTIMATE GUIDE, you will learn about profitable cheerleader fundraising ideas that are quick and easy!
Before discovering this guide, it is likely that you have searched for easy fundraising ideas on your own. There are a lot, aren’t there? Despite the abundance of ideas outlined out there, not too many will bring in the kind of money that you need. Bypass selling those expensive greeting cards and cans of flavored popcorn for pennies on the dollar.
Learn How to Make Profits Quickly!
Cheerleading teams have a lot of expenses. Just the standard items – uniforms, pom poms, and athletic shoes – cost a lot! Not to mention the travel to the events, and competitions. You only have so much time, so it is important to get the biggest bang for the buck from your fundraising efforts.
Isn't it time to learn about cheerleading fundraisers that are Productive and Profitable!
I Was a Coach Once
Back many years ago (9) I started coaching my sons travel baseball team. My Team Mom and I spent what seemed like hundreds of hours and utilized numerous resources to create a team that was not only well-trained but achieved the highest level of success in all that they did. There was one thing, though, just one thing that ALWAYS hindered our team from experiencing the best season. You want to know what it was? MONEY!
It is time to learn about cheerleading fundraisers that are Productive and Profitable!
Then – seemingly out of nowhere – I discovered an easy, quick way to make cash for my team. A fundraiser that actually worked!
Grab Your Pom Poms and Start Cheering!
- Are you READY to take part in a fundraiser that can quickly result in hundreds to thousands of dollars in profits?
- Are there REALLY easy fundraising ideas out there that will rake in the profits that your cheer team needs to be successful?
- Are there profitable fundraising ideas available for cheerleading teams that PROMOTE products that consumers truly need?
If You found yourself shaking your head YES while reading the 3 questions above then let's go on........
GOALS
Before we get into the nitty gritty of the Top 3 Fundraising Ideas. Let’s talk about goals. Goals are super important. For Example, If you need to raise $30,000 I would not suggest selling candy bars that profit you $0.50-$1.00 each. See what I mean? Your Goals need to be intentional and realistic.
Ok! So you have goals laid out.
LOOK FOR DIVERSITY in your Cheerleader Fundraising
No different than a good investment portfolio, you want to look at several different fundraisers. Be careful to not get too many, but you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket either. Keep in mind your groups volunteers, parents, who ever are going to be selling have lives and don’t want to be selling all the time for the organization, even if they are good at it.
We like DIVERSITY in our cheerleader fundraising efforts. Things change and things get stale. No matter how awesome the fundraiser is, your supporters want VALUE. There are very few fundraising programs out there that stay hot forever.
3 Categories for a Diverse Cheerleading Fundraising Campaign
Let me explain how to be Diverse. I like to break it up into 3 categories.
LOCAL- Ideas here would be raffle tickets, local discount cards, or other local companies that offer a product in a fundraising fashion.
SEASONAL- Ideas here would be an annual bake sale, yard sales, car washes, flower sales around mothers day, and mums in the fall.
PERPETUAL- This one is my favorite. Maybe I am a little jaded since Sudz Fundraising falls 100% here. These are your year round fundraising opportunities that take less physical effort. These would include online catalogs, Amazon Smiles, Sudz Fundraising.
We Created an Acronym to Help you as you fish through all of the ideas out there.
“SUPER” FUNDRAISING PROGRAM
The “S” is for “Super”
The “U” is for “Unique”
The “P” is for “Profits” (You Know Those Are Sweet!)
The “E” is for “Easy”
The “R” is for “Rewarding”
Implementing S.U.P.E.R. Cheerleader Fundraising Strategies
Look for Super Unique- (yeah I just added two together. I roll like that) If everyone is selling discount cards, especiually in a small town, you don’t want to choose that one right now. Why? Well the obvious, but also because it is typically the same businesses on every card. Now if you can get different businesses to participate enough to add value to your card, then maybe consider that. You want to look for something no one else is doing at that time and has a catchy offering to the SUPPORTER. ( the person you are selling to)
Implementing S.U.P.E.R. Cheerleader Fundraising Strategies
The next thing and normally the most obvious thing for your cheerleader fundraising is PROFIT. I caution you to look for VALUE first, then profit. What will keep your supporter tribe engaged and wanting to continue the support of your group is VALUE. Once you are certain Value has been established then look at how much can you profit per item sold. Now is the important part. Tie that to the Groups goals. How many items at that profit do each person or family selling need to meet the goal?
Don't Forget the E.R.
Your Cheerleader Fundraising Need All Letters of S.U.P.E.R.
Easy and Rewarding are the last points we want to make sure we cover. If the fundraiser isn't easy for your people to sell, and easy for your supporters to purchase it will not go as well as it should. We have made this mistake a few times when we have rolled out new order forms or marketing programs for our groups. It also needs to be rewarding for the people selling and the people buying. Everyone wants to feel good when they are helping people.
My Trifecta
Amazon Smiles
Amazon Smiles- Big perpetual
This is a no-brainer. You set your organization up with Amazon, they give you a link and you share that with your tribe. They purchase from that and you get 0.5% of qualified items.
Sudz Fundraising
Sudz Fundraising- Local perpetual
I am a little bit jaded on this one since I own the company, but here are the reasons I like it as a big part of your yearly goal. We are ONLINE Now and Offer Our Team Stores to Help Reach Supporters that are out of your area.
- Value- Sudz Products strive to be as close to national leading brands, and by selling in bulk your supporters receive a quality product at a price that is equivalent to big box retailers or less.
- Service- Sudz strives to have the best customer service in the fundraising industry.
- Product Selection- Sudz products are items that you use on a daily basis for example laundry detergent products, trash bags, dish soap, soy candles, and more.
Local Ideas
Local Amish Farmers or Greenhouse- Seasonal
Look around your local community and ask if anyone in the Amish community grow and sell flowers. You can setup your own fundraising opportunity with them in 3 easy steps.
- Negotiate prices based on an estimate of how many you think you can sell based on your supporter pool, and your congregations time to sell.
- Create a simple order form with pictures of what they will be getting. Mark up at least double what the cost is from the grower. Set a date you will turn orders in to Grower, and a date you can pick them up.
- Once that is all set. Go SELL!
Other Resources
Detailed Resources for Fundraising Success
3 Qualities Your Group Needs for a Successful Fundraiser
The 10 Steps to a Successful Fundraising Event
Cheerleading Fundraising
