For most youth football leagues and teams, fundraising has become the vital backbone to their existence. If it wasn't for fundraising, millions of children wouldn't have access to a sufficient set of pads or get to practice on quality fields with their teammates and coaches. More importantly, organized youth football as a whole would become an afterthought in most areas.
So, whether your team exists within an organization that runs league-wide fundraisers or one that expects each club to raise money on their own, how does one go about acquiring and managing funds? Well, here's three tips provided by two men-youth football coach Larry Canard of Chantilly, Va. and Scott Hiland, President of the Washington Township Youth Football League in Indianapolis--who have 25-plus years combined of experience in football on the youth level on how to do just that:
Tip No. 1: Attain (or retain) a local sponsorship
Canard: Teams will go out and find corporate or local business sponsors to earmark funds directly for that team. If you're asking about how to go out and find those guys, well, it tends to work better for local mom-and-pop companies as opposed to big chain companies. I have seen sponsorships come from orthodontists who have braces on half the kids in the league, local pediatric doctors who work in the community, local mechanic shops and plumbers. I think the best way to kind of address that is to have someone really coordinate those activities or to recruit parents into the program to hit the streets and find those local business that will be willing to sponsor the efforts of the year. In a way, you're asking the business to pay back because they already do a fair amount of business with the families in the program.
Hiland: Get into the community with a sponsorship, but don't just go to a sponsor and say ‘I want more money.' Tell them your plan. If you were to get sponsored, you have to let [the sponsors] know what they are getting out of it: Are they going to get their name stuck on the helmet? Are they going to have their banner on the field or a big board with their name up front? Have a nice package to present to them.
Tip No. 2: Have an outside source help with budget
Canard: I think it makes sense to have an outside accounting firm--or at the very least--a treasurer that's not involved with every little sub-sport of the large umbrella of the youth club to coordinate with the commissioner to work on the budget to set their fundraising goals.
Hiland: We have an accountant who has his own accounting firm look over the books at the end of the season. It helps you find out what you want to do with the money, why you need the money and what kind of money you're bringing in and spending. It's absolutely vital [to have an outside source]; I would recommend hiring an accountant or somebody else if you can.
Tip No. 3: Get the kids involved with the fundraising
Hiland: In some communities, it works like a million bucks. Having the kids go door-to-door selling candy or trash bags-you're not going to say no to them. You have to know who you are and the community you live in to know whether it's going to work out or not.
Canard: If you can get the kids involved in the fundraising, that's a tremendous success. A cute 7-year-old boy in a football jersey that's draping down to his knees is hard to say no to. Those are the best type of fundraisers not because it's hard to say no to the kids but that it gets everyone involved. One of the things that happen in volunteer organizations is that a few [of the parents] carry the load for everybody else and that becomes a tough load to pull. I think by doing it this way, by getting every kid together on a Saturday or whatever it is, you're getting every parent involved, also. It exemplifies what the game of football is about in terms of teamwork and everyone doing their job.