How Can I Raise More Money for My Booster Club? 

Do you want to make 2024 your most successful fundraising year yet? If so, here are seven tips you can use to raise more money for your booster club.

1. Make It Simple for People to Donate

Generally speaking, local residents are more than willing to support your booster club and the student athletes you represent. We all want to be seen as helping the students in our neighborhoods and communities and to feel that we are making a contribution to the health of our children and community. However, you as a booster board member need to do your part by making it simple for them to donate. According to the Pew Research Center, 41% of Americans stated that none of their weekly purchases were made with cash in 2022. Only 44% stated that some of their purchases were made with cash. The bottom line is this: you need to allow people to donate using digital payment methods. This clarion call is more and more urgent every year. Every year there are more people who don’t carry cash with them. Every year there are more people who don’t even carry credit cards with them! Tap services such as ApplePay and GooglePay are becoming more prevalent. To keep up with the swift changes, move your club to modern methods of collecting donations.

2. Reach Out to Community Members

The best way to gain traction within your city is to connect with local community leaders. Pastors, small business owners, city council members, and others who have influence in the community can draw attention to your cause. Not sure where to begin? Start making your rounds in the neighborhoods adjacent to the school. Also, consider attending local events and setting up a booth for your booster club. Invite community members to your club’s games or performances.

3. Connect with Local Businesses

While national chain stores will sometimes donate to local causes, hometown businesses are a booster club’s best friend. There is a good chance that a few local business owners played sports for the school you represent. Even if they didn’t, most local companies jump at the opportunity to get their name out there by supporting student athletes. Local businesses like to be seen as supporting their local community. Give them an easy way to do so!

4. Get Active on Social Media

Showcase your fundraising events on social media channels. Encourage the students who will benefit to share your post and follow your booster club’s page. Before you know it, your page will have hundreds of followers and the ability to reach thousands of social media users. 

5. Create an Online Store

Want to sell more branded goods like cups, hats, and shirts? If so, then you need an online store. 

Let’s face it, parents and community members are busy. They often don’t have time to come to the school or meet with a booster club member to purchase apparel. Launching a digital store eliminates this purchasing barrier and can boost (no pun intended) your sales.

6. Build Sponsorships to Support Your Club

Build sponsorships that offer introduction and exposure to your membership. Something as simple as logo placement on the website or banners at your events is valuable to many sponsors. You can also include tickets to your programs to help build engagement for your program.

7. Upgrade Your Tech

If you want to raise more money, you need current technology to support all your hard work. Upgrading your booster club management software to an all-in-one solution such as BoosterHub is the best way to go. By doing so, you can manage sales, memberships, and sponsorships, and you can process concession stand payments, fundraise, and keep members in the loop with your sports or music event calendar. Having all of your communications in one place is a huge advantage for outreach.

Give yourself an edge this fundraising season and explore new tech for your club. BoosterHub’s integrated fundraising tool, BoosterBucks, is a peer-to-peer online fundraising platform that is very easy to set up and launch. Everything is done online, so there are no volunteer hours which need to be scheduled and managed. The software walks you through how to upload contacts for each of your participants, and then you are able to follow along as the fundraiser proceeds, watching the progress. You can form teams of your participants to gin up some competition and excitement, and to spur your contacts to reach out to their donors and tell them about your club, its needs, and its mission. Platform fees for BoosterBucks are a low 5% and it is fully integrated with your accounting system, making it easy to track monies.