Let’s face it: sports equipment and youth sports teams can get expensive.
You’re probably tired of the same youth sports fundraisers year in and year out. And finding enough sports team sponsorships to reach your fundraising goals takes lots of time and effort.
What’s the best solution?
Fun and easy youth sports fundraising ideas to energize your league! Tiltify Personal has combed through our arsenal of ideas for youth sports and has compiled a list of 16 of the best team fundraising ideas and fundraising events your team can pull off to raise money.
We all want to see our child thrive on their youth sports teams.
5 Clever Ideas for Fundraising for Youth Sports
Tiltify Personal Crowdfunding
The best innovation in sports fundraisers goes to Tiltify Personal. Say goodbye to bake sales and product sales; the future of crowdfunding fundraisers has gotten easier with Tiltify Personal.
Collect contributions to support your youth sports team or an individual athlete. You can collect from just about anyone: your family members, community members, and even local businesses.
Your fundraising efforts don’t have to stop at door-to-door. Tiltify Personal can help you fundraise for your sports team on social media!
Make your fundraiser more personal by:
- Collecting real-time contributions: Go live on platforms like YouTube and Twitch so fans, families, and players can track your progress.
- Create viral moments: Host a guest coach, thank contributors, and give rewards live to create momentum for your campaign.
- Leverage existing content: Add pre-recorded social media content directly to your fundraising campaign page.
Text-to-Give Fundraiser
Fundraising for sports teams doesn't have to be expensive and complex. Text-to-give is a low-budget and user-friendly way to raise funds for your youth sports team.
Get a text-to-give platform that will assign you a unique phone number that you can promote to your community. You can assign a specific keyword for contributors to text to start funding your purpose. Once the contributor has the keyword, they will text the number and be prompted to fill out the necessary information to confirm their gift.
The process takes a few minutes, which is great for those on the fly but also those who normally may not know about your sports team.
Contributors can also text the number throughout the year to contribute without needing a specific campaign to contribute towards. Text-to-give is an awesome way to get gifts throughout the season continuously.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser
With peer-to-peer fundraising, you’re raising more contributions and expanding your networks wider for your youth sports fundraiser or even PTO or PTA fundraisers.
Use a platform like Tiltify Personal to help create the best peer-to-peer fundraising campaign page. Each team member participating will create their own customizable fundraising page linked to the main campaign page.
Have the participating team members share their campaign pages with their personal network of friends, family, and neighbors. Don’t forget to share campaign pages on social media! All contributions raised by the individuals will be redirected to the team donation page.
Peer-to-peer fundraisers sell team spirit and add some friendly competition between team members, seeing who can raise the most funds.
Virtual or In-Person Classes
Everyone loves the opportunity to learn something fun, and a great way to do that is through a virtual or in-person class.
Virtual or in-person classes are a great source of sports fundraising ideas. You can get the community members involved and work with the local athletes.
Depending on the setup, you’ll need a large enough venue to host your course or a decent camera and a strong internet connection if you’re doing an online class. Online classes can be streamed live using platforms like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, or you can pre-record the class and share the link to your video with those who contribute to your youth sports team.
Some ideas on types of classes to offer:
- Woodshop
- Taxes
- Yoga
- Pilates
- Cooking
- HIIT
- Zumba
You can collaborate with local fitness instructors or local restaurant chefs. Some may volunteer their time for a good cause, or you can negotiate a reduced rate. You can use your team members to save on outsourcing; some team members may have skilled parents who would be willing to teach a class!
Sponsor an Athlete
Face it: most people don’t know the total cost of playing youth sports. All they know is the simple equipment cost and uniform cost.
They don’t realize things like:
- Facility rentals
- Referee fees
- Travel costs
- League Insurance
- Registration fees
- License fees
When you break the true cost down and allow for contributions to cover the cost of a player for the season, community members get a personalized experience of how they are making an impact on youth sports in the community.
Create a Sponsor an Athlete program to bridge the gap between your sports team and the community. All you need to do is list the costs associated with a player and add up the total.
An example of per player cost:
- Uniform expenses
- Equipment expenses
- Facility maintenance per player
- League insurance per player
- Referee fees per player
- Awards
- License fees per player
- Registration fee per player
5 Traditional Youth Sports Fundraising Ideas
Field Day
Who doesn’t remember having Field Day growing up? Not only is Field Day a great way to engage the community and raise money for your local youth sports team, you can keep the community active by offering fun events.
Make sure your venue is large enough to host Field Day, so a school field, park, or stadium is a great option.
Offer fun activities like:
- Sack races
- Tug-of-war
- Relay races
- Obstacle courses
Add some friendly competition by offering awards and prizes.
Youth sports team members can be volunteers, as well as parents and coaches. You’ll need some planning when hosting a Field Day event, and make sure your activities comply with any necessary venue regulations.
You can charge an entry fee or set up a charge per event participation. You can also raise more funds by adding snacks, drinks, food trucks, and raffles to rake in as much gifts as you can on the day of.
Ice Cream Social
Ice cream is a fundamental snack, no matter the season. Hosting a fundraising event like an ice cream social is a great way to raise money for your youth sports team.
Ice cream socials will require some advanced planning, like setting up a time and place, like the park, a community center, or your local high school.
Offer a range of ice cream flavors, sauces, and toppings from your local ice cream suppliers or ice cream shops. You can get a bit creative by offering activities at your event, too, like an ice cream flavor-tasting contest or a sundae-making competition.
You’ll need to set a price for ice cream and tickets for entry or activities to generate funds.
Bingo Night
Bingo is a game great for any age. Hosting a Bingo Night event is a great opportunity to gather your community members together and bond.
You’ll need a venue large enough to host the event, a time and date for the event, and to promote the event well in advance. A great way to promote the event is to create flyers and posters and put them in high-traffic areas.
You can also create a Tiltify Personal campaign page with the details and share it on your social media and your youth sports team’s social media pages.
The more the community sees your event, the higher the chances you’ll have a wider audience attending your event. You can also host an online Bingo Night on the same day, so those who can’t physically make it can be part of the fun, too.
Participants can be charged an entry fee, and you can offer small prizes like free merchandise from your youth sports league, gift cards, or coupons from local businesses!
You can tack on other things like snacks, raffle, and concessions to generate more money and reach your fundraising goals.
Trivia Night
Who doesn’t like testing their wit against someone? Trivia night is a great way to bond with your community and also raise funds for your youth sports team.
Participants can form teams prior to the event or be spontaneous and create teams day-of. Each participant will pay an entrance fee to help your sports league get the funds it needs.
You can make it a themed trivia night, where you only ask questions about Sports, History, or Movies, or it can be mixed topics. You can draw more attention by offering a special prize for the winning team.
Auction
Hosting an auction fundraising event is a great way to bridge the gap between your sports league and the local community. Reach out to local businesses and community members for donations to your auction.
There are two types of auctions you can have: traditional auction or silent auction. Traditional auctions have a live auctioneer and a silent auction; people can write bids down on bid sheets.
Ideas for donation items:
- Gift cards
- Sports memorabilia
- Luxury bag
- Dinner for two
- Access to local events
- Sports team members’ artwork
- Sports team members’ lawn mowing service
3 Easy Fundraisers for Youth Sports
Bake Sale
A tried and true fundraiser idea is the bake sale. Bake sales are easy to organize and quick to set up. All your team members have to do is bring in some baked goods to sell.
You’ll need to promote your time and location for your bake sale. Make sure you promote in a high-traffic area. You should set your table up in a busy area so you can engage the rest of your community.
Car Wash
A car wash is an effective fundraiser. Requiring little planning, find a location where there’s a parking lot that you can use. Maybe a local business that is closed on the weekend or the school’s parking lot.
Offer different tiers or add-ons to raise more funds for your youth sports team, like:
- Waxing
- Interior clean
- Undercarriage clean
50/50 Raffle
Have someone in your league organize a 50/50 raffle during your home games, tournaments, and other events throughout your season.
Announce the raffle a few times throughout the game and make a final announcement as ticket sales are about to close. Use apps like Venmo or Zelle to make contributions super easy.
3 Fun Youth Sports Fundraising Ideas
Movie Night
A great youth sports fundraising idea is hosting a movie night. It’s an easy-to-organize event, and everyone loves a great movie!
You will need to find a location that’s going to fit everyone, so maybe try the school or a local movie theater. If the weather is nice, you can host one on the sports team field.
Once you have the location and date set, find an age-appropriate movie that people of all ages can enjoy.
Video Game Tournament
Video games have a place for all ages. Hosting a Video Game Tournament is a great fundraising event. You can host at your local arcade, community center, or school.
Have a generous spread of new and retro video games so parents and athletes can compete with each other. Charge a participation fee to help raise funds for your purpose.
To add more funds, you can sell snacks and drinks and even host a video game-themed raffle.
Food Truck Partnership
Hosting a partnership with a local food truck is great for the community and getting your sports league name out.
Book a food truck or two to be waiting in the parking lot during or after your game lets out. Plan ahead of time the logistics, such as fees and suggested donations. Promote to your audience in advance which games the food truck will be at.
Additionally, as part of your partnership, the food truck drives around with a bumper sticker with your youth sports team logo on it.
