Parents Fundraising ideas

[Uglybetty]

Just wondering if anyone has tales of any successful fundraising ideas? All the usual annual events (e.g Xmas party, cake sale) are well covered....I'm looking for something a bit more original

 

[Jenny]

I have heard you can raise a lot of money bag packing at local supermarkets but I have never done it myself.

sponsored cartwheels?

 

[kaloss]

Our gym does Bingo, the team parents work at a local bingo hall. Not sure what the % is that we keep! but it's our biggest fund raiser!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Bag packing is a good one - if you have a nice big supermarket. I know Asda do it a lot as Big Boy is always down there for Rugby - they usually make around £500

 

[skschlag]

Our team does Bingo as well. We pay rent to the bingo hall and any profit we make is ours to keep. It is very profitable, but requires a good set up and lots of willing people!

 

[Becauseisaid]

What about babysitting? With the holidays coming up, you could give the parents a night to go shopping (or just take the night off) while the kids get to stay and play. If you can use your gym, that would be great.

 

[Gymdad2]

If you are in this for the long haul, the best fundraiser is to put on a meet. It takes a few seasons to build it and it takes a lot of effort, but once you get it established it will be your biggest fundraiser. Eventually you reach the point where you can bid on state or regional meets. When we got to this level found we could drop all the other fundraisers.

 

[skschlag]

Our team does Bingo as well. We pay rent to the bingo hall and any profit we make is ours to keep. It is very profitable, but requires a good set up and lots of willing people!

 

[skschlag]

Sorry, didn't mean to double post....that is what I get for posting at home and at work!

 

[kaloss]

It's part of joining our team, we are assigned a Bingo team and it rotates so we are volunteering about once a month

 

[skschlag]

Ours is different, since not every parent can commit. Our booster club is completely separate from the team,and you have to join intentionally. We do Bingo every Friday and Saturday night, with each person working every 6 weeks. we run 3 session (1 Friday 2 saturday) every weekend. I like it because you don't have to do it. Since we are a separate club, people only join and participate if they want!

 

[shelovestoflip]

If you are in this for the long haul, the best fundraiser is to put on a meet. It takes a few seasons to build it and it takes a lot of effort, but once you get it established it will be your biggest fundraiser. Eventually you reach the point where you can bid on state or regional meets. When we got to this level found we could drop all the other fundraisers.

I agree with GymDad2....our gym runs a yearly invitational and our profits are about $30,000/year. Not sure how that is compared to other invitationals, but it's enough for our parents association to pay for team leotards every three years (assumming you are not new to the team), bring in speakers for the team every month (nutritionist etc), and pay for judges to come to judge before the season starts.

Running a meet is huge and takes up your entire weekend but the girls love 'their meet' and it beats selling wrapping paper or candles etc!

 

[MBJ974]

One of the best quick fundraising ideas that we've participated in was a lottery. The gymnasts pre sold as many raffle tickets as they could for $20 each. Each raffle ticket had a three digit number on it and the winning number was based on the Pick Three Mid-Day Lottery drawing in our state. If your raffle ticket had the winning number on it for that day, you won $50. This fundraiser ran for one month.

 

[MaryA]

Just keep in mind that there are permits to get and rules to follow to run bingo and games of chance. In our state, you need to have both a bingo permit and a "games of chance" permit to run bingo. You have to have had your non-profit status for 2 years before you can get a "games of chance" permit and 3 years to get a bingo permit. I'm sure it's different from state to state, but make sure you've done your homework and found out what is involved before you count on bingo or a lottery for your gym fundraiser.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

And here in the UK there are more stringent rules.

We put on our first meet this year, and I do think its the way to go

 

[Uglybetty]

Thanks...there's some great ideas here. Will put some of them to the committee.

 

[kayjaybe]

Our biggest fundraiser is a yearbook. We solicit ads from local businesses.
1/8 page - $25 (business card size)
1/4 page - $45
1/2 page - $80
full page - $150

If you sell a total of $150 in ads, your child gets their picture in the yearbook. (Pretty much everyone does this.) There are also photos of state, regional & national qualifiers, the full team, and candids.

Each team member reaches out to local businesses, especially those they frequent. Most places you do regular business with will at least cough up money for a $25 ad, just for goodwill.

We use the local community college to lay out and print the books. This allows us to do them at cost and gives the cc some great experience in a real project.

I think we profited about $25,000 from the book last year.

 

[gopuckgo]

At a gym that my daughter used to attend they did a "rec" meet. Levels 1 and 2 ish? All rec classes brought parents, friends, etc to watch them. The team girls ran a booth with baked goods and a used Leo sale. The upper level older girls on team were the judges. They handed out ribbons and small trophies. Expenses were minimal and viewing/entrance fees were $10.00 adult and $ 5.00 per kid. It raised a lot of $ and it was fun for everyone. The rec kids loved showing off some of their skills to everyone.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

apparently I was told yesterday that we are doing calendars for Christmas - so thats the Rugby Boys and the gym girls I shall be obliged to purchase.

 

[Jenny]

We could do a chalk bucket version of calendar girls. Or perhaps not!