A Guide to Fundraising Ideas: Girls' Softball or Other Girls' Sports Teams

A Guide to Fundraising Ideas:  Girls' Softball or Other Girls' Sports Teams
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The Need

Girls’ softball fundraising is necessary for a team to buy uniforms, buy and maintain equipment and travel to different games and tournaments. Of course, parents want to give their daughter’s every opportunity to succeed and make the softball team experience the most it can be. When coaches and parents work together and help girls conduct easy and fun fundraisers, a tighter community bond develops among all players and families.

Team Participation

Fundraising ideas girls’ softball teams often start with are player-oriented fundraisers - car washes, candy fundraisers, magazine sales, and so on. These are tried and true fundraisers that generate the needed money but require the players and parents to go to neighbors, family and co-workers to solicit sales. Considering that most kids also have school fundraisers that overlap with team functions, everyone can start to feel overwhelmed by the constant asking for support. However, if you are choosing to do one of these fundraisers, keep them as short and simple as possible.

Sponsors

A great fundraiser idea is to get the local businesses involved in supporting your girls softball team. You can do this is more than one way:

  • Sell banners that are hung on home field fences.
  • Print a sponsor’s name on the team uniforms.
  • Ask a local sporting goods store to sponsor the team with equipment donations.

Thinking outside the batter’s box helps a softball team find new ways to gain community business support. Talk to team parents and find out what people do for a living. A parent working at a local bank may be able to put a candy box in the lunchroom or ask the manager to sponsor the child’s team. Remind business sponsors that not only do they gain excellent community exposure, but they can also deduct the sponsorship as a donation to a non-profit organization.

Go Green

There are a lot of green fundraising ideas girls’ softball teams can use which eliminate the need for parents and team member to sell products around town. Holding a recycling drive where team members bring in cans, newspapers and other recyclable goods to turn in for money is simple and easy. Collect toner cartridges from home and parent’s offices; this not only reduces the overall carbon print the team makes, but is an no-thought fundraiser.

Concessions

What ball game is complete without hot dogs and popcorn? Don’t overlook this money generator. Coordinating one or two parents to run a concession stand during the games provides parents, siblings and other spectators with refreshments while the home team makes money. A little extra coordination can sell team t-shirts, baseball hats, and other memorabilia to team fans generating even more revenues.

Popular concession stand items includes:

  • sports drinks
  • soft drinks
  • water
  • hot dogs
  • popcorn
  • candy
  • potato chips
  • foam fingers
  • t-shirts
  • hats
  • blankets
  • balloons
  • seat cushions.

Start small and establish a presence at the games. As more fans expect to see you there, add items to the stand - always starting with a few and seeing how they sell. Don’t get caught up on stocking a lot of inventory until you know you have a market for them.