Fundraising: Sporting Event Buyout

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

This fundraiser will allow you to establish beneficial links with local businesses, raise much-needed money, and bump up the attendance at one of your home competitions.

Concept
In this fundraiser, local businesses are asked to purchase tickets to one of your home games. Ideally, one business will buy all the tickets for the game.

The business (it could also be a professional, like a dentist or doctor) can then use the tickets as thank-you freebies for clients, relatives and associates. There is also the potential to craft a promotional campaign around the free tickets: for example, radio advertisements could announce free tickets to the game for all patrons making a purchase on a certain day.

Aside from providing free (although inexpensive) gifts, the business will benefit from the perception that they're supporting a worthy school program.

Organizational Tips
Be sure to create signs you can post at the competition site and on programs, announcing the business as game sponsor.

It's unlikely that every ticket handed out will be used, so you can generally give the sponsor more tickets than available seats. Past attendance records will give you an idea of how many extra tickets you can safely pass out.

Help for the Sponsor
You can also assist the sponsor in distributing extra tickets: have student volunteers give blocks of these tickets to school classes, boy and girl scout troops and other groups.

References:
1. Richard Helweg & Eileen Figure Sandlin, 199 Fun and Effective Fundraising Events for Nonprofit Organizations, Atlantic Publishing Company, 2010
2. William F. Stier Jr., Fundraising for Sport and Recreation, Human Kinetics Publishers, 1994.

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