Team fundraising. You can’t escape it. Teams always need money, whether we’re talking school sports, the robotics club, or an entire youth sports organization. New equipment, travel, scholarships and the like all require resources that often just aren’t in the budget. Yet you want and need these things, so expectations are high.
If you’re in charge of fundraising for your team -- all the time or you’ve been tagged to head up a single special project -- your job is to turn everyone’s expectations into financial reality. It’s an assignment that can make even a pro wince.
Here at SquadLocker, our job is to make things easier for teams of all types. And that includes creating a path to successful, painless fundraising. (Did we say painless? Yes, so keep reading.) We’d like to share two versions of reality, and you can pick the one you like best.
Reality Option #1 – in a word, UGH!
This is your usual experience, the one you probably expect. In this universe, fundraising is:
- Hated by you as the admin or volunteer in charge. It’s a necessary evil, but it’s a lot of work. It is not only a pain, it is the ultimate in redundant effort because you have to think up and manage fundraising activities and pitches, over and over again.
- Hated by players because they are all-too-often enlisted as sales people, even if they’re just little kids. Selling candy, wrapping paper, or whatever has virtually nothing to do with sports (or any other team’s purpose), and it can make kids feel like they’re being punished for being part of the team. Not a spirit-builder.
- Hated by parents and community supporters because they feel like you always have your hand out. Don’t they pay enough already in fees and other out-of-pocket expenses for their kids to play? Or in the form of sponsorships?
- There is always another need for money, so you have to keep doing fundraisers. After a while, it can feel as if you’re crying “wolf,” as the old story goes.
It’s enough to give you a headache and cause your formerly-most-loyal volunteers to change their phone numbers. UGH, indeed!
Reality Option #2 – in a word, SquadLocker!
Yep, you can designate your SquadLocker store as Fundraising Central for your team, all with little effort on your part. Ahhhh, now we’re talking.
- It’s easy to set up. No pre-ordering in bulk with all the hassle of tracking and storage and the inevitable leftovers. You can simply add a 5%, 10% or 15% margin to product prices in your store to generate revenue on an ongoing basis, every time someone makes a purchase. Or you can also designate certain items (perhaps with a uniquely alluring decoration motif) to serve as the centerpiece of a special event, promotion or campaign. We’ll send along your earnings monthly, so you can get busy putting that money to good use.
- It’s easy for supporters to show their love. All they have to do is shop your online store, any time, any day, from the comfort of their own home and device. Products are high quality and 100% relevant for your audience, practical items people want to buy anyway. A few clicks to pick what they want, and we’ll deliver directly to them. It’s fast, it fits, and it’s contact-free.
- Shoppers can select as many or as few items as they want, without feeling hustled to buy something they don’t want, won’t use, and which may cost more than they want to spend.
- Give the kids a break, they signed up for a sports or academic team, not the sales team.
Didn’t we say it would be painless? We’ve helped teams raise more than a million dollars, and that figure just keeps growing. It’s so easy to become your team’s fundraising MVP, when you use your store as home base. But with a win this big, you’ll want to watch out for that splash of Gatorade!
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