Organize an event

Putting together a fun event is one softball fundraiser that's always a big hit. Essentially, you are organizing a big party that in turn raises funds for your team or league.

Events can range from a Saturday afternoon get together such as a pig roast or cookout to a more formal affair such as catered dinner dance. Choose one that fits your style and budget and then set about lining up some fundraising activities to go along with it.

These can include charging admission, placing a markup on all the food and drinks, auctioning off donated items, doing a slave auction, conducting a 'men in drag' beauty pageant, or anything else you think of that your crowd will support.

Make it as fun as possible, get plenty of advance publicity, and you'll do great!

Conduct a raffle

Raffles are another great way to raise funds for your team or league. They are easy to put together, but you really have to work the prize angle hard. You have to have a highly desirable grand prize and you'll sell a lot more tickets if you have lots of other prizes as well.

If it's a league-wide fundraiser, then go for a new car as the grand prize. If it's just for your softball team, then shoot for something nice like a big screen TV.

To get a good deal on your grand prize, negotiate a win/win deal with the supplier. They want good publicity, but they are not in business to give away expensive inventory. Aim to get a 40% discount from list and factor that into the number of tickets being sold and their pricing. Tickets priced in the $5, $10, or $20 range. work best

Contact local businesses for donations of secondary prizes like restaurant gift certificates, new bats and gloves, bottles of wine, and anything else you can line up to increase the desirability factor of your raffle.

Sell tickets not only to friends and acquaintances, but to the general public as well. A sales table in front of high-traffic locations like grocery stores, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart is like printing your own money. Put up big signs telling why you're raising funds and what your raffle prizes and ticket prices are, then watch the sales pile up.

Pizza discount cards

Everybody loves pizza and who wouldn't want to get two pizzas for the price of one? Softball fundraising doesn't get any easier than this!

You can buy pizza discount cards for Papa Johns or Pizza Hut that retail for $10 and cost about $2 in quantity. That means on every sale you're making $8 profit.

Plus, not only will your friends love buying one to support your team, you can easily sell these to the general public. Just use the same approach mentioned above for raffle ticket sales at high-traffic locations and you'll hit a home run every time.

Softball fundraisers summary

These three fundraising ideas will help make your softball season a big success. You can join forces with other teams to do an event or put together a raffle, or just sell pizza discount cards one weekend. Just remember, a little advance planning goes a long way to making your softball fundraiser run smoothly.

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