Look, we totally get it. Fundraising as a cheer team is an incredibly important part of sustaining a successful program – whether it’s for necessary equipment or travel, we know that the dollars you fundraise are integral to keeping your cheer program running smoothly.

Unfortunately, we also understand that fundraising can be equally as difficult as it is important which can make the entire fundraising process a stressful one. This is exactly why we started Teamfi – to make fundraising less stressful and allow coaches to keep the focus on their teams.

To that note, here’s five effective and unique ways your cheer team can use Teamfi to fundraise the necessary funds for your program. The best part? Each of the five ideas below are 100% free to utilize.

‍Option 1: Run a Crowdfunding Campaign

While maybe not the most unique fundraising method on this list, running a crowdfunding campaign with Teamfi can be an incredibly effective fundraising option for your cheer team – teams who utilize Teamfi's crowdfunding campaigns can raise hundreds of dollars per fundraiser participant.

Not only is it effective, but crowdfunding with Teamfi is also simple, straightforward and timely. By utilizing Teamfi’s automated outreach to fundraiser supporters, your cheer team can raise funds for your team in just two weeks. The steps for crowdfunding are incredibly simple:

1. Create your Teamfi Account and Log in
2. Create your team’s fundraiser (requires answering just a quick questions)
3. Share your fundraiser participant sign up link
4. Have your participants add their friends and family as possible supporters
5. Press “activate” and start collecting donations via Teamfi’s automatic outreach

If you have any questions about crowdfunding with Teamfi, be sure to check out our Frequently Asked Questions page where we answer all of the most common questions coaches ask us.

‍Option 2 : Run a Pick a Date to Donate Calendar Fundraiser

A second great option for your cheer team to reach their fundraising goals is to run a Pick a Date to Donate Calendar Fundraiser. Much like crowdfunding, Teamfi’s digital calendar fundraiser is a highly efficient option for fundraising as it helps remove the headache of distributing paper calendars and needing to collect any cash or checks – everything is managed completely digitally using the Teamfi coach dashboard.

Like all Teamfi fundraising products, the process for running a digital calendar fundraiser is incredibly easy. In a calendar fundraiser, each fundraiser participant will have their own, customized digital calendar in which they will try to get sponsors for each date on the calendar. To “sponsor” a date, it requires a donation in the same amount of the number of day(s). For example, day 30 would be a $30 donation for a fundraiser supporter to sponsor it. The end goal is for each fundraiser participant to get sponsors for all 31 days on their calendars, resulting in a total of $496 raised for your cheer team for each fundraiser participant who completes their calendar.

In this way, a digital calendar fundraiser is a great method to raise money effectively while eliminating the hassle of manual calendars and donations. Additionally, it’s a great way to set a clear and visual fundraising goal for each fundraiser participant.

‍Option 3: Run a Pen & Paper Calendar Fundraiser

Look we get it, not everyone wants to run a digital calendar fundraiser. Some cheer coaches might just prefer to run a calendar fundraiser the old fashioned, pen and paper way.

This version of a calendar fundraiser works the exact same as a digital calendar fundraiser (see idea #2 above), but there is a bit more added work. Instead of distributing a digital sign-up link to Teamfi like in the case of a digital calendar fundraiser, you’ll need to print off paper calendars and distribute them to your fundraiser participants, and then they’ll use it to collect any sponsors. Additionally, instead of collecting all the donations online (in the case of using Teamfi), you’ll need to keep all of the cash donations or checks organized over the duration of the fundraiser.

If you do opt for a pen and paper calendar fundraiser, you’ll probably need a template for what a calendar fundraiser looks like. While there’s plenty of templates available online for purchase, we’ve provided a free to download ready-to-print calendar fundraiser template to save you the $5-10 and make your life just a little easier.

‍Option 4: Run a Fill My Bow Fundraiser

If you prefer to run a traditional, “pen and paper” style of fundraiser, a Fill My Bow Fundraiser is an incredible option for your cheer team. Much like a “pen and paper” calendar fundraiser (see idea #3 above), the goal of a Fill My Bow fundraiser is for a fundraiser participant to collect donations for each available space on their paper bow. This makes it a great fundraising option for cheer teams who want to set a clear and visual fundraising goal for each participant.

If completely filled, the Teamfi Fill My Bow template would collect 25 total donations for each fundraiser participant, totaling $425 each raised for your cheer team.

When running this type of fundraiser, we’d recommend holding a meeting to kick off the fundraiser where you hand out the paper calendars to each participant and explain the process. Then, after anywhere from two to four weeks, we’d recommend holding another team meetings and collecting all the paper bows and any donations.

‍Option 5: Run a Performance-based Fundraiser

Want to tie your team’s performance to your fundraising? If so, look no further than implementing an “A-thon” (see liftathon, shootathon, or hitathon for examples) for your cheer team. Whether you choose a Cheer-a-thon or Stunt-a-thon, this fundraising idea can tie together your team’s cheer performance with fundraising dollars.

In cheer-a-thon, you would set a time limit (usually anywhere from one to three hours), and each fundraiser participant would collect pledges before the event based on the number of cheers they could complete in the given time. For example, if a fundraiser supporter pledged $5 per cheer successfully completed in the cheer-a-thon, and your team successfully completed 35 cheers within the set time limit, that pledge would end up being a $175 donation for your cheer program. In this way, you can tie your cheer team’s performance directly to your team’s fundraising dollars.

As far as the timeline goes, a Cheer-a-thon can take your team just a few weeks from starting to collect pledges to running the event and collecting the money, making it a great fundraising option for your team. The best part? Teamfi’s a-thon software can handle absolutely everything from tracking your cheer-a-thon participants, progress, collecting pledges, and donations – all for 100% free.

‍Conclusion

And there you have it, four unique ways your cheer team can raise the necessary funds for your program for 100% free! If you’re interested in seeing any of these fundraising methods in action, just book a quick demo with our cofounder and we’ll show you exactly how any of these methods would look for your team using Teamfi. The best part? After the demo you’ll be ready to kick-off your fundraiser.

Not a meeting person? No problem – feel free to send us an email and we’ll respond as fast as humanly possible.