So you’re looking for creative ways to run your team's next football fundraiser. We totally get it, you're a coach who has to run a fundraiser every single year to keep your team in position to have all the resources they need to be successful, but maybe your team or your community are getting a little worn-out from the fundraising. That’s totally normal.

The good news is that there’s plenty of ways you can switch up your team’s yearly fundraiser to keep things both creative and fresh. We’ll break down the top four ways you can run a fresh and creative fundraiser using Teamfi below:

1. Be incredibly intentional about your goal and your fundraising dollars.

Setting and communicating a clear fundraising goal is super important and can help with transparency for all of your team’s fundraising. Mendon Rocker Football in Mendon, MI did exactly this with Teamfi’s custom fundraiser description field, and it helped them raise $6,000 for their youth football program. Here’s how Mendon communicated where their fundraising dollars would go:

‍“This year, funding will be used to purchase training equipment for our players. We will purchase tackle wheels, and training tackling dummies that will teach players the proper and safe way to tackle opponents. Along with new training equipment, funds will be used to continue providing the best and safest equipment and uniforms for our program.”

They were 100% clear about what they were fundraising for and where their fundraising dollars were going, and it directly translated to their fundraiser’s success.

‍2. Be overly-organized with your football team’s fundraiser

Look, we get it, maybe this is NOT “creative” in the traditional sense, but we wanted to share this because going the extra mile with your team’s fundraiser can make all the difference in its success.

‍Springport Varsity Football in Springport, MI used 4 levels of organization to absolutely crush their Teamfi fundraiser and set a small-school fundraising record with a total school enrollment of just 250. Here’s what they did:

• Level 1 – Kick-off Meeting: Pre-designate a fundraiser kickoff meeting. This allows you to get your entire team in one location in a group setting to start things off, making sure everyone is on the same page as far as timeline and expectations go.
• Level 2 – Alumni Network: Include all of your football team’s alumni in your fundraiser. Taking the time to include previous players and likely donors to your team’s cause will help you maximize your football team’s raise.
• Level 3 – Minimize Overlap: Before launching, double-check to make sure there’s no overlap between contacts. By keeping multiple players from reaching out to the same person, it will maximize your fundraiser’s reach.
• Level 4 – Timing: Start your fundraiser on a Thursday or Friday, aligning with a typical payday for possible donors – this will help your team maximize your fundraising yield.

Using these 4 levels of intentional organization, Springport Varsity Football surpassed their 2024 fundraising goal by nearly $1,500.

3. Implement a strong Incentive for your football players

‍Lexington Christian Academy in Lexington, KY used a team-wide incentive to raise over $40,000 for their football team in Spring of 2024.

The incentive? For each player that raised $600, they received a free pair of LCA (Lexington Christian Academy) football gloves for the upcoming football season.

The results speak for themselves! Using a strong incentive to boost your player participation can be a new wrinkle to add to run an effective football fundraiser.

‍4. Run a performance based fundraiser for your football team

‍Chelsea Football in Chelsea, MI wanted to run a fundraiser this past spring, but did not want to run a traditional crowdfunding campaign. Instead, they opted to utilize Teamfi’s 100% free-to-use Lift-a-thon to raise money for their football program.

By doing this, they were able to successfully tie their team’s performance to fundraising dollar by gaining pledges from their community for each player’s project weight (squat, bench, deadlift) that they would successfully complete – learn more about running a Lift-a-thon with Teamfi here.

Once Chelsea completed their lift-a-thon, Teamfi’s lift-a-thon software helped them seamlessly collect their pledges. The end result? Over $40,000 raised for their team’s safety equipment for the upcoming football season.

There you have it, four ways to spark some creativity for your football team’s next fundraiser. If you want to get a live demo (takes about 20 minutes) from one of our founders, you can book one here and we’ll show you exactly how to implement the ideas above for your team’s next crowdfunding or lift-a-thon fundraiser with Teamfi – all for 100% free.