With school funding consistently decreasing in the last few years, it has become difficult for school administrations to handle extra-curricular activities; especially those associated with sports teams. Most of the schools have just enough to run their curriculum activities. Low and lack of funding have led to a situation where school teams are collapsing because they cannot meet their running expenses.
As a football team patron in your school, you cannot stand your team collapsing as this will have a major impact on your school’s reputation in your county, and talented players may transfer. Here are some strategic methods that you can use to fund the activities of your football team.
1. Crowd Funding
Crowd funding is a strategic school fundraising idea that involves creating an online funding page and sharing it in various online platforms. Crowd funding has consistently proved to be one of the best fundraising strategies because every member of the team, including parents, can contribute. There is also a chance that other well-wishers and interested parties will support the team when the page pops up on their social platforms.
2. Find a Sponsor
Thousands of professional sports teams fund their operations by getting a sponsor. The same can apply for a school football team. There are hundreds of local businesses and organizations that are willing to sponsor the team in exchange for publicity. For example, a local business may request its name to appear on the sports team jersey in exchange for a one-year sponsorship. This funding strategy will help the team to run for a year without financial problems.
3. Online Merchandise Selling
You can create a team store that sells team-branded merchandise through online platforms. Some of the products that you can sell include phone cases, hats, water bottles, and custom t-shirts. To create a team store that operates online, you only need a simple website and a secure payment platform.
4. Sell Branded Team T-Shirts
One of the ways through which fans show support for their school teams is by wearing branded t-shirts. Therefore, you can develop a custom t-shirt and ask people to give an opinion about design and material. If all goes well, you can produce it in bulk and sell to your fans through all the platforms possible. Studies show that approximately two billion t-shirts are sold each year in the world. This is a clear indication that there is a ready market for branded t-shirts.
5. Offer Paid Lessons
To create a team store has sometimes proven to be an expensive fundraising initiative for a school sports team. However, other fundraising ideas such as offering paid lessons to the local football team could prove to be a cheap way of getting some funds to run your team. There are many football teams out there in the neighborhood that do not have professional trainers. Getting two or three experienced players to offer weekly training lessons can generate some funds to cater for minor team expenses.
6. Share Your Facilities
If you have a training ground and other sporting facilities, chances are that you are not using all of them at the same time. Why not create a revenue stream by renting them to the local teams. Gym equipment and other training facilities are very expensive. Local teams and sports clubs consider renting rather than buying.
As you can see, you don’t only have to create a team store to sell merchandise and raise funds for your school football team. Apparel fundraising and sharing training facilities are some of the fundraising ideas for schools you can incorporate. Trends show that most of the class teams have incorporated new revenue sources that fund their operations other than depending on the school administration.
