Budget Friendly Ways to Promote Your Fundraiser

May 21, 2018 / Football
{Sponsored} Fundraisers are all well and good, but marketing them to the right audience is the way to get the most out of them. Creating and sticking to a plan is tricky, and it is easy to go over budget. The key is to use financially controllable pieces to put the puzzle together. Here’s what we’d suggest.

  1. Poster brigade. Leverage volunteers from your team and boosters to obtain poster boards, markers or other decorative items, and work with any artistic volunteers to create posters promoting the fundraiser. Cut poster boards in half to get the most out of the donated supplies.
  2. Artistic touch. Put an artistic volunteer to work creating a black & white design for a fundraiser flyer. Request that each student involved in the team prints off a few. If you leave it in loose terms, those who don’t have ready access to printing and print a couple, and those who wish to print more can do so.
  3. Reconnaissance. Scout locations ahead of time to get permission to place a poster or flyer so you know how many and what size you’ll need to have volunteers create.
  4. Use those networks. Utilize social media posts. Create an enticing post about the fundraiser and request that every player on your team shares the post. Make sure to post across all platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) where your team has a presence.
  5. Pitch in a bit of cash. Boost a post for a small amount of money. Social media advertising goes a long way. Be sure to set the boost for your local area (perhaps within 10 miles of your school) and target everyone 15+ to reach students and community members. Consider a budget of around $5-10 for the boost. For boosted posts, the fewest words possible should be used, including words in the graphic utilized. Be sure to include a photo.
  6. Events are key. Create an event on Facebook. Set it to “public” and allow anyone to invite others to the event. The event should have the date and time of the fundraiser, the goal and what money raised will support. Recruit some players to post in the event from time to time. Be sure to give event updates.
  7. Put it on the news. If your school has a media class that presents news, give them an interesting tidbit to share on the program. Also be sure to submit the fundraiser to the e-newsletter.
  8. Chalk it up. If announcements can be written in chalk on the sidewalks outside the building, deploy your artistic team members to create messaging about the fundraiser.

Choose at least four items from this list. If your students are lower income and do not have the ability to provide poster boards or decorating supplies, consider purchasing them against the total funds raised as a cost for the fundraiser. Be sure to remind students that the supplies will be used for the next fundraiser as well, so to cap markers well and screw on lids to paint jars securely. Always get the buy-in from your players on the plan you have in mind. The more they can contribute willingly, the better the fundraiser will go. Take suggestions they make and fit them into the plan if you can — or tell them that their idea is great for next time if you can’t.

ⓒ 2018 USA Football


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