The "F" Word...4 Steps To Effective Basketball Fundraising

One of the main differences between many championship teams and teams that lag behind is one thing… Not having the resources.

Resources could be basketball training equipment, new basketballs, jerseys, warm ups and so many more things. So what’s the problem with all of these?

THEY COST MONEY!!!

And when this comes to mind every coach rolls their eyes because they have to encounter that one “F” word that everyone hates…

Fundraising

The goal of this article is to make sure your program has the appropriate tools to take control of the “F” word by making it an efficient and fun process. Because we get it, as a head coach you have a lot going on. You have to prepare for your next opponent, analyze game film, deal with annoying parents, etc… and you probably have a full time job on top of all that.

You want your team to have the best tools available so they can compete at the highest level. However, it is likely that the main issue is that you have little to no budget to work with.

Your program’s funding is dependent on your kids going out into the community and selling coupon cards or ESPN magazine subscriptions. Then, after a large output of time and energy by yourself and the players you have to spend all the money to make sure you don’t have to reuse the same uniforms that you have had for the past 3 years.

When it comes to providing your program with new equipment you will have to push those purchases back several years. Even though the players could be benefitting from them greatly RIGHT NOW!

What if I told you that instead of waiting 2 years you could raise the money that you need in just 30 - 60 days? You just have to know what to do, what tools to use, and who to delegate the task to. Many coaches don’t want to think about the daunting task of fundraising extra money, especially when the season is about to start. However, there is a simple solution...

Put someone else in charge of it!

Have that person read the 4 steps below, tell them what the team needs to raise money for, and let them set up the framework. Now you can spend your time doing what you do best, coaching.

Utilize the 4 Steps Below To Hit Your Goals In Record Time!

1: Engage Your Alumni

• Create A Facebook Group For Basketball Alumni
  • Encourage alumni to invite others since you may not be connected to a large portion of the Alumni players, especially if you are a new coach.
  • Post when the annual alumni game will be, when the season is starting, the schedule, gameday hype, if you make it to state, etc…
  • My high school coach made one of these and I love it. One of the assistants set it up and then they invited all of us to join. 

2: Engage Parents & Fans

• Create an email list or another Facebook group/fan page for everyone that is interested in following your program.
• Post the schedule, game scores, players of the game, statistics, videos from practice, etc..
• The equipment manager or maybe one of the assistant coaches could head this up.

3: Create A Simple Campaign

• This process is very easy if you know where to look. I recommend “Go Fund Me”. It is extremely easy to use and a well-known platform.
• It will run a campaign for you, allow you to accept payments online, and then pay out at the end of the campaign period.
• Write a short summary on what you are fundraising for and how it will help your program then add a picture and you are ready to go.
• Setting up these campaigns usually takes less than 5 minutes

4: Share the campaign

• Now that you have all of your supporters grouped up you have the perfect platform to share the campaign and encourage them to share it with their networks as well.
• With Go Fund Me it will give you easy ways to share via email, Facebook, Twitter, and more. You can even embed your fundraiser in your school's website.

In short, you need to be engaging with the people who are fans and supporters of your program, create a simple campaign explaining what your team needs and why, share it with your supporters, and hit your fundraising goals in record time! I think your players and their families will appreciate not having to sell and buy more wrapping paper this year.

Don't have the time to set up your own fundraising platform? This is for you: