Many high school athletic directors supervise an ever-expanding array of athletic programs and related activities, as well as manage a budget for the related supplies, equipment and capital improvements necessary to support them.  Faced with ever-tighter budgets, athletic directors are increasingly challenged to come up with creative fundraising ideas for their programs.  While booster clubs and team coaches are often involved in conducting product fundraisers for their respective teams, athletic directors tend to favor funding opportunities that benefit their entire array of sports programs but do not involve the student-athletes in selling fundraising products directly to the community.  Most would also prefer to avoid fundraising programs that over-tax the adults in the community—especially those who are already providing more than their fair share of support to the school’s athletic program.  Coming up with new and creative sports fundraising ideas that have broad appeal and are not overly solicitous or commercial in nature can indeed be challenging.

Below are three great fundraising event ideas and two unique non-selling fundraising programs that offer the potential to raise a lot of money.  They also present terrific alumni networking opportunities.  Click on the blue paragraph titles and you’ll be taken to a page where you can request more information.

• Basketball Entertainment Events – You’ve heard about these basketball fundraising event ideas.  Athletic directors usually have ready access to the school’s gymnasium—a venue that often represents a significant expense to other organizations that wish to sponsor a fundraising event—so why not plan a sports entertainment event that would be fun for the entire community?  Events such as Donkey Basketball or Harlem Wizards games can have great community appeal and draw large admissions-paying crowds.  Several NFL teams have players who get together in the off-season to play basketball games against school faculty members as a fundraising event—and they also can draw huge crowds within their respective marketing areas.  

These events usually raise anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000, but some have raised $20,000 or more depending upon gymnasium seating capacity and how they are promoted.

• Nostalgic Rock Concerts – Of all fundraising event ideas, this one really rocks!  Name a legendary rock star or group—past or present—and they are probably being impersonated on stage by very talented performers.  Many of these acts have very wide appeal that cuts across generations and can draw sell-out crowds to your auditorium or other local venue.  Tribute acts include Elvis (of course), The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, The Temptations, Elton John, The Blues Brothers, Kenny Rodgers, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith, Barbara Striesand and many more. 

Tribute concert fundraising events usually raise anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000, depending upon auditorium seating capacity and how they are promoted.  

• Annual Golf Tournament – Contrary to what you may have heard, golf tournament fundraisers are not dead.  Not by a long shot.  While many golf events have been hit hard by the economy, consider utilizing the services of a professional golf tournament consultancy.  They’ll show how you can easily network existing human resources to put together an annual golf fundraising event at one of your most prestigious private clubs.  A well run tournament can bring in $60,000 or more in net profit with just 15 or 20 foursomes.  Last year a high school athletic director put together a golf tournament with the help of a consultancy and netted $87,000—and the 66 golfers that participated didn’t pay a dime to play at one of the area’s most exclusive clubs!  This year they’re making room for 100 golfers and expect to earn $125,000 in net profit. 

Like any golf event fundraiser, you’ll need to pull together a golf event committee and select a host golf course and; however, before you do either of those two things, check with your consultant.  Those may be two of your most important steps and you’ll want to make sure you follow your consultant’s advice with respect to them.          

• Online Magazines - Subscription Renewal Store –  Magazine publishers represent another industry that has been hit hard by the economy.  A magazine subscription renewal storefront can be custom-designed for your athletic department at no charge.  It will feature over 800 of today’s most popular (and non-offensive) magazine titles, many of which are offered to your supporters at “educational institution” pricing.  Your supporters can actually save money renewing their current magazine subscriptions (or purchasing new subscriptions) at your storefront.  In addition, each visitor to your storefront who purchases at least $50 in magazine subscriptions will receive a $50 restaurant gift card!  

Now, comes the best part.  Unlike other online merchandise stores,  the items purchased at this storefront are annually renewable.  The vendor takes advantage of that on your behalf by emailing reminders and your message to subscribers at renewal time to let them know they can continue to support your program by renewing their subscriptions at your storefront with two mouse clicks.  That means that with each passing year you can build on the number of supporters who order their magazines from your store.  With periodic promotions that your supporters can offer to their friends and family members, this program can be easily ramped up to generate tens of thousands of dollars in net profit every year. 

• VIP Fundraising Discount Cards –  Would you like to give something back to the Mom & Pop merchants and other retailers in your community who have supported your athletic program?  With a VIP Discount Card you can give them free advertising listings that will generate much needed foot-traffic to their retail locations as well big profits for your athletic department.  These fundraising cards don’t need to be sold into the community by student-athletes and their parents; rather, they can be pre-sold to large corporate sponsors in your community at $10 or $15 each as a promotional item.  They can be imprinted with the sponsoring company’s logo and/or the cause they are supporting—yours!  Most companies then give them to their employees and/or best customers as promotional gifts.  The promotional products industry actually grew to nearly $18.8 billion last year and many medium-size and large companies have already allocated money in their fiscal year budget for items such as this.  Keep in mind that your school is probably a “feeder” program for employees at several large companies in your area.  Also, don’t be surprised to learn that your alumni may be working in the purchasing department of some of your best corporate prospects!  In addition, this is a program that requires almost no work; just a little planning to get into your corporate sponsors’ budget cycles. 

These cards can also act as tiny billboards for your golf tournament or other athletic department-sponsored events.  A thousand cards can bring in up to $11,000 in net profit; five thousand cards can bring in up to $35,000.  If you wish to extend the reach of the cards, you can opt to offer them to your teams or booster clubs that may want to participate in the sale of these cards for a share of the profits.     

Consider a Sports Fundraising Partnership

The size of your school or school district doesn’t matter with respect to the last two suggestions—the magazine storefront, and VIP fundraising discount card.  There is no up-front cost and no risk of loss associated with either of those programs, and the size of the school or school district is not material.  The fundraising event ideas—i.e., the basketball events, tribute concerts and golf tournament may have minimum requirements that make them a better fit for a larger community support base.  However, you don’t have to go it alone.  Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto—and it's a good thing he did.  Bringing in another (or several other) school district athletic director(s) to participate in the enterprise not only spreads out the initial cost of an fundraising engagement, but it also maximizes each athletic program’s bottom line through economies of scale.  

Selecting from among these potentially successful sports fundraising ideas and committing to them is only a small part of the challenge that an athletic director is presented with.  The bigger challenge has to do with getting, building and retaining community support for your fundraising event ideas, and then managing all of the steps that are important to implementing and managing a large fundraising event.  That’s where many fundraising programs sputter—and sometimes stall.  Just keep in mind that the companies that offer these fundraising products and services have acquired the expertise to ensure they are implemented to their clients’ best advantage.  They usually have or can recommend someone who can take your fundraiser from mediocre to extraordinary.  The difference between a fundraising campaign that is just “put out there” and one that is properly implemented and supervised can be quite substantial in terms of the money that is ultimately raised. 

Consulting services aren’t cheap, but it can be far more costly to do without the services of a good consultant.  The cost of not having someone who can navigate success is often an “opportunity cost”.  That is, without a consultant it is the cost of what your fundraising program would have earned in net profit but didn’t.  Look at it this way:  They’re the experts; they know what works and what doesn’t.  They understand the subtleties of their program and they know what needs to be done to keep the program and your volunteers on track.  They can also deal with the people you've brought in to provide assistance and, at the same time, remove the risk of you damaging your relationship with them.  Consultants are also motivated to manage your financial risk and maximize your bottom line because they will want to work with you again next year and the year after.

Feel free to contact us.  Let us know what you have in mind.  We will help you get started in the right direction or we will refer you to someone else who will.      

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