Great ideas on how to raise money for cheerleading may include:
- A pancake breakfast. An all you can eat pancake breakfast can generate a lot of money from hungry members of the community. In the same vein, you can go with an all you can eat spaghetti dinner as well. Food is a great option to raise money, and if those options are too labor intensive, a good fundraising option can be to team up with a local restaurant. Pizza places work best for this, with a portion of the night’s earnings going towards raising money for the squad.
- Selling candy. Chocolate sells especially well, especially from major companies. Many chocolate companies have wholesale opportunities that can be used to raise money. This type of option can be irksome at first, but if a squad dresses in their uniform and sells on location, major money can be made.
- Cheer breakfast fundraiser. Retail tickets to an all-you-can-eat breakfast fundraiser that the cheerleaders patron. You can do a pancake fundraiser and do all the work. On the other hand, you can make a deal with a local restaurant for a portion of the total tab.
- The cheer car wash fundraiser. Wash cars on a Saturday morning. You can have the girls holding signs and waving to passing cars. This works great in the spring and summer months. Find a local car wash that pays you a percentage of every car wash you sell. Have them make up a card that has your cheer teams name on it. When people get a car wash, your squad will get a portion of the proceeds.
- Throwing a raffle. Selling tickets with a grand prize of money or a gaming system or just about any kind of prize is great. You can vend various tickets to people and generate some serious funds. Fundraising is easy when you’re selling tickets for prizes that are worth way more than the cost of the ticket. A raffle ticket can be as little as $1 and if you get 100 through 1,000 tickets sold, you’ll see a major profit.
- Throwing a bake sale often. Selling baked goods and chattels is an outright sure-fire way to make serious money. Selling cookies of different types, and even brownies or cake can have people paying upwards of $3 each for the privilege to try the sweets that a squad can come up with. Serving the options with additional sales items like coffee, tea, and milk can see major strides in terms of financial endeavors. Do not neglect to look into this as a low-cost plan of action. Also, try selling cookie dough. It is all the rage these days, and you will create a customer base that will buy from you each time you run the fundraiser.
- The Tee shirt fundraiser. Furthermore, hold a contest for a new design for the official school tee shirt each year. You can provide a prize for the winner and sell the new official school tee shirt to raise funds. Knock the school team spirit with this cheerleader fundraiser.
- Dining Out Fundraiser Night. Contact local restaurants to see if they would be interested in sponsoring a cheer fundraiser night. Many restaurants are willing to donate a portion of their proceeds on a particular night if, in turn, you promote their restaurant. It usually works like this:
- You designate a certain date as the cheerleading fundraiser night.
- The restaurant or restaurants agree to donate a portion of their proceeds to your team on that specific night.
- You make flyers, posters, announcements and other marketing materials to promote dining at those restaurants on that night.
- Cheerleaders on your squadron dine at the restaurants, take pictures and provide short cheers all through the night at the restaurant to promote sales.
- Depending on how many restaurants get involved, you could earn several hundred or several thousand dollars in a single night. You may want to see if certain restaurants would be willing to set up a monthly, or even weekly, cheer night to help bring in funds throughout the year.
❖Portrait Sales. Gather a variety of vintage and period clothing, then find a photographer who would be willing to donate his or her time to take photos in exchange for advertising in the form of posters and flyers announcing the event. Charge a small fee for reservation tickets, which should yield a 100 percent profit, then raise the cost of printed photo packets. After the photographer is paid for the packets, the surplus charge becomes profit for the squad.