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Baseball Fundraisers

Baseball fundraisers typically start shortly after the winter pre-league meeting where the coaches are assigned to their teams. The fundraising committee is usually formed during this time and the fundraising committees are formed to start their planning for the coming season. The fundraising committee is responsible for setting up the baseball fundraisers and making sure that the team has enough funds for uniforms, equipment and travel during the season. One of the first things the committee will need to do is determine what the funding needs for the team will be for the entire season. This gives them a goal to work toward using baseball fundraisers.

Once the committee has a budget to use as a guide they need to come up with fundraisers to help them meet their needs. This list should include a variety of fundraising ideas such as those below:

Raffles: These can be done using donated prizes or they can be 50/50 raffles where the prize is half of the money raised in the raffle. If prizes are used rather than the money, the committee will have to solicit donations for the prizes. The prizes must be of some value in order to entice people to purchase the tickets.

Sponsors: One of the best baseball fundraisers is in the form of sponsors. These are businesses who donate a certain amount of money for the entire season. In turn they are allowed to advertise on the back fence of the ballpark or on the uniforms. Businesses know this is a tax-deductible donation and are usually quick to sponsor a team. Sponsorship accounts for the largest percentage of funds for most community baseball teams.

Logo Items: Committee members can use team pride to their advantage and raise funds selling t-shirts, ball caps, water bottles and other items that have been imprinted with the team name and mascot. These can be sold at the games in the concession area and advertised through team newsletters so that family and friends are aware that they are available. If the community has a newspaper or journal they can also be advertised in it.

Team Yard Sales: Ask the team members family to donate their unused and unwanted items to the team for a baseball fundraiser yard sale. Advertise the yard sale well in advance in as many places as possible. Hold the yard sale in a large area, perhaps the baseball field or its parking lot. The team can set up a concession stand and make extra money for the team. If there is ample space the committee can advertise table space for a set fee and have another profit area. This draws even more people to the yard sale making it more successful in the end.

Product Sales: These fundraisers are typically set up through a fundraising company. They can be direct sales like the chocolate bars that are sold every year in practically every town or they can be catalog sales like Fun Pasta, the pasta that has more than two hundred shapes to choose from and many complete pasta kits and gifts. Both types work well to raise money.

There are many other fundraising ideas that the committee can put on their list and use to increase their budget. The point is to have ideas ready when it comes time to put the baseball fundraisers into action. Finally, the committee needs to make sure they have enough volunteers to work each fundraiser. Keep a roster of the volunteer names and phone numbers so they are readily available when they are needed during the baseball season.

Baseball fundraisers are as much a part of community baseball as the hotdogs are. They are a necessary part that keeps the teams able to play their favorite game and stay both socially and physically healthy.