ADVERTISEMENT

OT: Need some good ideas to raise funds for a HS band

K

kapyoche

All American
Sep 11, 2010
5,151
1,499
113
My son attends a public HS and his band will double in size next year. Being in the band is becoming cool again where I live.

As you know that a HS band requires a lot of resources so I will be assisting raising funds.

Since I am familiar with the sales process, I thought this is where I can help the most.

I have never done this before. I always thought this was a job for moms. I want to prove that dads can do this job just as well, if not better.

Has any dad here done this?

What works and what doesn't work?

Please send me any creative ideas you have.
 
Not original thinking but it worked: Once a year the kids went, in uniform, door to door asking for contributions. Of course this was done under supervision.
 
I assisted in fund raising with my daughter's soccer team. The team had previously held car washes. They encountered many issues, especially with bad weather on the scheduled dates of the event.

I decided to approach a local car wash to purchase discounted books of tickets. We sold the tickets in books of 5 at face value and made about $2.50 per ticket and thus made $12.50 on each book that we sold. People were happy to buy the books as they were getting something they would normally purchase and could use them whenever they wished. Additionally, they were happy to help the team. So it was a win-win and the team made 3X the profit that they made in previous years on good weather days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: beaced
What are the Booster organizations like at the HS ? if any are good - pick their brains - and try to be mindful to not duplicate things that they may be already doing.

- some local restaurants will do a "Band Support night" - & give you 5-10% of the food bill for the night - you promote it - & get lots of customers - win-win
- some supermarkets will let you do a "Bag Groceries Day" - kids bag & take to car for tips & general contributions - local grocery in this area will allow one day per group per year
- sell stuff - (just make sure some other team/ club in school is not already doing it) flowers / car magnets / drinks/ food at HS games / car wash
- identify strong band programs at other schools (with booster programs) - in your area (some will talk with you - some will not ) - or some distance away - - pick their brains.
- look into becoming a 'cause' that gets supported by Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions etc - either for the near term to help acquire new uniforms - or as a long term cause

If your Band Director is leading a new era of growth - am guess that he/she has experience with previous successful programs - use their experience & their network to connect to other schools that have been growing & successful at raising $$$

just about what ever you do - - will need you to promote the things like crazy to be a success -

Good Luck
 
Sell Mulch. Everybody needs it and everybody buys it. Take orders 6 weeks out. You can buy it from a local nursery for cost or minimal markup and make a dollar a bag vs. Home Depot. 30 bag minimum but most of the orders will be bigger. We offer 3 colors and nuggets.

Have all the much delivered to the HS and deliver to houses using rented uhaul trucks. Have kids follow in cars/pickups and neatly stack the bags at the house that ordered. Every order you make at least $30 bucks. Each Uhaul truck will have 10 or so orders.

My son's lacrosse team does this and raises about $5,000 every year. Keep the info on the people you buy and they will buy again next year. One weekend of work and you are all done. The only trick is when the mulch is ordered, have someone group all of the orders by development/area to minimize delivery logistics.

Best fundraiser I have ever been around.
 
RU85inFla said:
Sell Mulch. Everybody needs it and everybody buys it. Take orders 6 weeks out. You can buy it from a local nursery for cost or minimal markup and make a dollar a bag vs. Home Depot. 30 bag minimum but most of the orders will be bigger. We offer 3 colors and nuggets.

Have all the much delivered to the HS and deliver to houses using rented uhaul trucks. Have kids follow in cars/pickups and neatly stack the bags at the house that ordered. Every order you make at least $30 bucks. Each Uhaul truck will have 10 or so orders.

My son's lacrosse team does this and raises about $5,000 every year. Keep the info on the people you buy and they will buy again next year. One weekend of work and you are all done. The only trick is when the mulch is ordered, have someone group all of the orders by development/area to minimize delivery logistics.

Best fundraiser I have ever been around.
Click to expand...
Please keep in mind these are band members when making suggestions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Plum Street
Phi_1055 said:
Not original thinking but it worked: Once a year the kids went, in uniform, door to door asking for contributions. Of course this was done under supervision.
Click to expand...

The kids in my town do this every year on a Sunday in October. The whole music department participates. They wear band jacket or HS gear and a name tag, they have an information sheet to read and donation envelopes to leave on doorknobs. Parents follow in a car as the kids go door to door. It brings in over $25k in 4 hours every year just by asking.
 
This will sound crazy but it's usually as simply as asking. you would be amazed how generous the people and businesses in your town are. They will be more than happy to give.........
 
When I was in marching band, we sold various things to raise money. Far and away the most successful thing was Innisbrook wrapping paper, no joke. People asked my mom about that years later to see if they could get more - even though I think we only sold it twice.

We also had a lot of success the one year selling frozen cheesecakes. The problem with cheesecakes (and selling crates of fruit, which we also did) was transporting the stuff to those that bought it, once it was delivered. We had kids that sold 100 cheesecakes... and when they got unloaded from the truck, the parents had to then have the capacity to load them into their van/truck/whatever and deliver them *that day* to their recipients, otherwise they would thaw out. We also had kids that sold 40-50 crates of grapefruits... also not easy to pick up/deliver.

Candy sales were always successful, and the band kids became "pushers" in school... but I think there are more school rules about selling candy now than there were 20 years ago.
 
The Band at my son's school hosted an annual car show. $20 to enter a car. Local business donated items for the goodie bag given to each entry. Raffle was held giving away various prizes donated. Usually auto related. At the time I was doing sports photography on the side. I would donate a prize for the raffle of a photo shoot and show board. I could print up to 24"x36" poster.
Boards I did sell for about $250.00. Cost to the Band $0. If I got an order Band got 1/2 the poster cost. the 3 years I was involved they got $1500 from me plus what ever the raffle brought in.
They also had a vendor section that had to pay for a space. Detail shops, Tuners, Photographers etc
 
Kapy,
Rutgers has a program where you can buy football tickets at a good discount and sell them for fundraisers. Ticket office is at 866-445-4678 and open Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00.
 
Our town goes a bit over board. Some of the stuff they do:

- twice a year raffle
- yearly Scrapbooking event; they made about $4K on this (hard to believe)
- monthly used clothing drives
- Gift cards quarterly
- host a large band show in Oct, this is where they make the most money
 
Try box pools. Winner gets 50% and the band gets 50%.
You can pull these together quickly and do it for the Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series, college football finals or any other game.

Set it up weekly for all Rutgers games. Maybe get a few people to tune in who may have watched. Set up $10 a box. Band gets $500 a week x 12 and the half time winner get $200 and game winner gets $300.
 
mikeinsec127 said:
The kids in my town do this every year on a Sunday in October. The whole music department participates. They wear band jacket or HS gear and a name tag, they have an information sheet to read and donation envelopes to leave on doorknobs. Parents follow in a car as the kids go door to door. It brings in over $25k in 4 hours every year just by asking.
Click to expand...

No offense. But this is "begging" not fundraising. Not a fan. Teach kids that they need to provide something for in exchange for the donation. Goods or services: car wash, candle sale, donuts, coffee and tea sale, gift or greeting cards, etc.

One of my pet peeves in my area is a certain "youth basketball" team that regularly sets up a table outside the Post Office and asks folks to donate. That's not the way to it.

Disclaimer: Memorial Day is the exception for me, as I have a deep respect for those vets soliciting $ for their needy and disabled brothers and sisters, and in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Big fan of the "Buddy Poppy."

Now get off my lawn. . . .
 
  • Like
Reactions: gringo
One other idea. The band in my town set up the strings section of the band in Dunkin Donuts and played songs. The people waiting on line for coffee put money in the band donation bucket.
 
  • Like
Reactions: newell138 and RUinPinehurst
RUinPinehurst said:
No offense. But this is "begging" not fundraising. Not a fan. Teach kids that they need to provide something for in exchange for the donation. Goods or services: car wash, candle sale, donuts, coffee and tea sale, gift or greeting cards, etc.

One of my pet peeves in my area is a certain "youth basketball" team that regularly sets up a table outside the Post Office and asks folks to donate. That's not the way to it.

Disclaimer: Memorial Day is the exception for me, as I have a deep respect for those vets soliciting $ for their needy and disabled brothers and sisters, and in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Big fan of the "Buddy Poppy."

Now get off my lawn. . . .
Click to expand...

Agreed. I hate being accosted for donations out in public, in my house, or on the phone. Don't much like being accosted for goods/services either, although I don't mind if it's "passive," i.e., it's 100% up to me if I want to stop in at that car wash or go to a known fundraiser. The worst is those friggin' people stopping traffic at intersections, begging for $$, usually on weekends - not only are they a traffic nuisance, but they're a safety hazard, too. I'd rather have my taxes raised...
 
When my kids were in HS sports they always did a car wash and usually made in the $3,000 range. The car wash was free and it was up to the customer to donate whatever they wanted. Granted this was the girls track team so I would imagine a lot of men would pull in and donate just to watch a bunch of HS girls in shorts and t-shirts wash their cars, you may not have as much success w/ the band.
 
newell138 said:
When my kids were in HS sports they always did a car wash and usually made in the $3,000 range. The car wash was free and it was up to the customer to donate whatever they wanted. Granted this was the girls track team so I would imagine a lot of men would pull in and donate just to watch a bunch of HS girls in shorts and t-shirts wash their cars, you may not have as much success w/ the band.
Click to expand...

You mean, like this? :>)

http://klipd.com/watch/wild-things/washing-car-scene
 
It might sound strange, but when I was a kid we went around selling light bulbs to raise funds. It was amazing how quickly those sold out. Of course that was when light bulbs did not last as long as they do now. But sometimes selling practical items like that can work.
 
One of my pet peeves about going to Giants games is the number of cheerleading/baseball/football/band/tennis teams walking around the parking lot to raise money for them to go to Disney/California/Nationals/Regionals etc.

My high school baseball team sold beach towels to raise money for new batting cages. Practical item...
 
  • Like
Reactions: vkj91 and RUinPinehurst
When I was in band, we did the usual stand outside the grocery store begging, selling candy, but the most successful was selling light bulbs. Everyone needed them. If you can get a company to supply you with LED light bulbs to sell you might do good.
 
kapyoche said:
My son attends a public HS and his band will double in size next year. Being in the band is becoming cool again where I live.

As you know that a HS band requires a lot of resources so I will be assisting raising funds.

Since I am familiar with the sales process, I thought this is where I can help the most.

I have never done this before. I always thought this was a job for moms. I want to prove that dads can do this job just as well, if not better.

Has any dad here done this?

What works and what doesn't work?

Please send me any creative ideas you have.
Click to expand...
Have the girls stand outside waving signs that read "TOPLESS CAR WASH" getting cars to come in, then have the boys wash the cars without shirts.

Probably more appropriate with fraternities & sororities working together though.
 
A lot of teams have different fundraising programs--I work for the Philadelphia Soul and ours in particular lets organizations buy tickets from us at $15 each and sell them for any amount up to face value ($30 in our case). We can add in the National Anthem or a halftime performance spot for a band/choir or 90 minutes of private field time before the game for a sports team and it's usually a really good fundraiser for those organizations.

(Shameless plug but we're playing a game in June at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton if anyone is looking for a fundraiser and/or knows a group that wants to do the Anthem)
 
RUBubba said:
One of my pet peeves about going to Giants games is the number of cheerleading/baseball/football/band/tennis teams walking around the parking lot to raise money for them to go to Disney/California/Nationals/Regionals etc.

My high school baseball team sold beach towels to raise money for new batting cages. Practical item...
Click to expand...
I'm not against begging but it needs to be done in town. I'm not for canning at random events around NJ. Leave that to the Pedophile enablers. Yea, I went there.
 
24e9611784e5c22881a00c7094961162.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: mildone and FanuSanu52
RUinPinehurst said:
No offense. But this is "begging" not fundraising. Not a fan. Teach kids that they need to provide something for in exchange for the donation. Goods or services: car wash, candle sale, donuts, coffee and tea sale, gift or greeting cards, etc.

One of my pet peeves in my area is a certain "youth basketball" team that regularly sets up a table outside the Post Office and asks folks to donate. That's not the way to it.

Disclaimer: Memorial Day is the exception for me, as I have a deep respect for those vets soliciting $ for their needy and disabled brothers and sisters, and in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Big fan of the "Buddy Poppy."

Now get off my lawn. . . .
Click to expand...
Agreed, every fundraiser I've ever been a part of involved providing something for those that gave us the money. Even as a kid it annoyed me when we were actually doing some sort of service or sold a product for our fundraisers while others just stood around outside grocery stores asking everyone for their money. Anyway, when I was in high school band, we held a spaghetti dinner every year in our cafeteria where the jazz band performed and the marching band served everyone their food. That might be a good option since people get a dinner and get to listen to the jazz band (assuming your school has something like that).
 
RUBubba said:
One of my pet peeves about going to Giants games is the number of cheerleading/baseball/football/band/tennis teams walking around the parking lot to raise money for them to go to Disney/California/Nationals/Regionals etc.

My high school baseball team sold beach towels to raise money for new batting cages. Practical item...
Click to expand...
This happens at RU games as well. In the scarlet lot I get pop warner and cheer teams asking for donations. Usually East Brunswick.
 
Intresting how people look at fundraising so differently, I'd rather donate a few dollars in a can to organizations I have no ties to than buy wrapping paper, lightbulbs, frozen cheesecakes, etc. Whatever you do make sure it has a broad appeal beyond the band families. You don't want to just fundraiser amongst yourselves - which I have seen happen.

Golf outings can be profitable, a lot of work to organize but the golf course can guide you. If you don't have a good base of parents who golf I wouldn't do it though. You need golfers who know other golfers to get a good turn out. Get sponsership from area businesses for holes and tricky tray baskets, run contests for closest to the pin etc. Have a tricky tray or auction at the end during dinner. Have band families donate baskets in a set value range.
 
rutino said:
Intresting how people look at fundraising so differently, I'd rather donate a few dollars in a can to organizations I have no ties to than buy wrapping paper, lightbulbs, frozen cheesecakes, etc. Whatever you do make sure it has a broad appeal beyond the band families. You don't want to just fundraiser amongst yourselves - which I have seen happen.

Golf outings can be profitable, a lot of work to organize but the golf course can guide you. If you don't have a good base of parents who golf I wouldn't do it though. You need golfers who know other golfers to get a good turn out. Get sponsership from area businesses for holes and tricky tray baskets, run contests for closest to the pin etc. Have a tricky tray or auction at the end during dinner. Have band families donate baskets in a set value range.
Click to expand...

Different strokes.

Some people are happy to put money in a "please help" can or jar. Some people are really averse to that, but are perfectly willing to buy something they need/want to support a cause. Others like sponsoring kids for walk-a-thons or whatever.

We always found the most success by offering a product people wanted. Wrapping paper was a massive seller, and not hard to store/transport. Easy to sell door to door, easy to have parents take catalogs into work... and friends/family felt less guilty "donating/supporting" because they were getting something they were definitely going to use in return. It's sort of like Girl Scouts... the kids could just stand with a donation jar, but they do pretty well welling cookies.
 
RUChoppin said:
Different strokes.

Some people are happy to put money in a "please help" can or jar. Some people are really averse to that, but are perfectly willing to buy something they need/want to support a cause. Others like sponsoring kids for walk-a-thons or whatever.

We always found the most success by offering a product people wanted. Wrapping paper was a massive seller, and not hard to store/transport. Easy to sell door to door, easy to have parents take catalogs into work... and friends/family felt less guilty "donating/supporting" because they were getting something they were definitely going to use in return. It's sort of like Girl Scouts... the kids could just stand with a donation jar, but they do pretty well welling cookies.
Click to expand...
Yeah I get the different strokes which is why I said it's interesting how people view fund raising differently...
 
  • Like
Reactions: RUChoppin
we used to sell oranges and grapefruits from florida. made pretty good money on good produce in southern Illinois.
 
I have used a company called Charity Mania. It is a sports related sweepstakes program.

For football ($10 and $20 tickets) you get 3 teams each week (randomly selected on card). There are options to provide a "guaranteed winner" small fee, unless you sell 200+ tickets then its free.

The best part is, the proceeds for each ticket is about 70%, so you keep about $6 and $14 for the $10/20 tickets. Just google Charity Mania, and you should find the site. I don't want to link it, since I'm not 100% sure about board rules for that stuff. All the details are on the site.

You can also sell e-tickets, so if you have friends or family that are not local, it allows you to reach them; where your typical fundraiser might be logistically difficult.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

RU848789

OT: Fusion reaction generates more energy than put into the reaction (but still a long way to go)

Replies
45
Views
1K
Rutgers Football
rurichdog
rurichdog
R

"SOME" reasons for optimism

Replies
4
Views
546
The Round Table
RURahh
R
bac2therac

GAME 16 IOWA: One game at a time in this league

Replies
37
Views
1K
Men's Basketball
rufanpops
R
bac2therac

GAME 20 PENN STATE: Take a bow, Aundre Hyatt

Replies
108
Views
4K
Men's Basketball
Pils86
P
bac2therac

BACATOLOGY: 2/20 NCAA TOURNAMENT ANALYSIS...UPDATE RUTGERS NOW A 9 SEED AS OF 2/24

Replies
560
Views
14K
Men's Basketball
bac2therac
bac2therac
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back