Your fundraising doesn’t have to end when the last school bell rings out. Indeed, summer booster club fundraising ideas and events are some of the most popular and profitable you can run.
Summer is the social season. It’s a special time of year when families and communities come together to enjoy spending time outside. Warm weather and longer days make the summer months ideal for fun and fundraising outdoors. It’s also the time for community members to execute their booster club fundraising ideas.
The idea behind every type of fundraiser is they offer fun activities for the entire family. These seven popular club fundraising ideas run by booster club members have proved highly successful. Best of all, they’re memorable events you can use every year.
Donations for Summer Booster Club Fundraising
Club fundraisers are enjoyable ways to raise funds, but they also need cash to set up and run. Think about these costs as you prepare your events. Direct online and offline monetary donations are effective ways to raise money.
Consider a dedicated website to accept online payments if you don’t have one. Many sites offer a long-term solution as a centralized platform for booster crowdsourcing. They are also helpful for promoting booster club fundraising products and upcoming events. Use your website as an addition to—not a replacement for—your social media presence.
Raising money from individual contributors could include:
- Families and family members, especially parents of students
- Friends of the booster club
- Coworkers
- Peers
Be bold and ask local businesses to support your fundraising ideas this summer. You won’t know they will say no unless you ask, and you might get a nice surprise. Also, point out that event sponsorship is a short-term donation to help a cause.
| Charitable Giving Online Is on the Rise Charitable giving and the ways people donate are changing in the US. Online donations using mobile devices in 2019 rose by 6.8% compared to the year before. It’s a trend that analysts predict will continue to grow [1]. |
More Summer Fundraising Ideas for School Boosters
There are several creative means to increase your booster fundraising. One often-overlooked way is to charge a nominal fee to enter the event or participate in various activities. Having a list of what the prices include helps justify the cost. Another idea is to contact past or potential sponsors for a direct contribution.
7 Successful Booster Club Fundraiser Tips for this Year
One option is to hold several booster club fundraising activities on the same day. The size of your club, access to various facilities, and other factors will help you decide. Whatever you do, the emphasis should be on a fun day out for all. Choose events that appeal to everyone, whether they spectate or participate.
Our seven summer fundraising ideas that work are:
- A Scavenger Hunt
- Barbecue Extravaganza
- Ice Cream Making Contest
- Water Balloon Fight
- Sandcastle Sculpting
- Street Clean Up
- Summer Night Karaoke
You can embrace the seven booster club fundraising events on this page. Or, use them as a basis to develop a few new and unique summertime activities of your own.
#1 The Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? These fun games are easily adaptable for any age. That’s why they’re such a massive hit with parents, elementary kids, high school students, and older. You can pit mother and son with father and daughter, or whatever pairing of partners and groups work best for your event.
How Scavenger Hunts Work
The idea behind these treasure-like hunts is that the organizers place a series of tasks or clues in different locations. When the hunters find these clues, they lead them to the next one. The team members who reach the final destination first are the winners. Remember to rehearse these events so that you can set them to a time.
#2 Barbecue Extravaganza
No outdoor summer event is complete without the enticing smells of an all-you-can-eat BBQ. But it’s not only about selling delicious hot food to hungry attendees. You may want to sell tickets for BBQ cooking schools, cook-offs for the best BBQ, and so on. Creative minds will find many revenue streams around food.
Reach out to local businesses to sponsor your Booster Club’s BBQ events. There are potential opportunities here for food, equipment, and cash donations. The secret behind a great BBQ is proper planning, audience awareness, support, and execution.
Other Top Fundraising Ideas Around Food
Consider selling club-compiled cookbooks in a location where attendees can see, or better yet, smell the food. Pie-eating contests are fan favorites that always draw a crowd. As do homemade dessert stalls and event concession stands. Try asking local event organizers if your group can set up a concession stand for their event.
Note: Organizers must be familiar with and adhere to food safety standards for fundraising events.
AIM Affordable Events Liability Insurance
Does your Booster Club have event insurance to reduce liability this summer? Potential risks are everywhere. Even harmless fundraising activities can be susceptible to injury liability. These risks can result in expensive legal defenses if your booster organization is unprepared. AIM’s tailored events coverage protects fundraisers—and other events—starting from $65 per year.
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#3 Ice Cream Making Contest
A competitive ice-cream-making contest is a popular summertime event for families. Summer isn’t complete without the frozen treat, and July is National Ice Cream Month. If your Booster Club holds its summer fundraiser during this time, why not participate in the festivities. But any time during the hot summer months is ideal.
These events work by contestants creating their own innovative ice cream flavors from scratch. A popular fundraiser is to sell tickets that allow others to taste-test and vote on their favorite. The winner then gets to make extra portions to sell to their supporters.
Another favorite summertime treat is the classic ice cream float. Operating a build-your-own ice cream float station is a surefire hit when it’s hot outside.
| Americans Can’t Get Enough of Ice Cream, Says Survey Anything to do with Ice cream is sure to be a popular summer fundraiser. It’s the most consumed sweetened frozen treat among US adults over 55, suggests the study. But about 90% of Americans regularly enjoy this frozen dairy [2] [3]. |
#4 Water Balloon Fight – Fun for the Whole Family
Children and children-at-heart love nothing more than a water balloon fight to cool down on a hot day. It is the summer equivalent of the playful snowball battles of winter but less dangerous. This fun event is super-easy to organize, providing you have enough water-filled balloons. Moreover, there are several ways to monetize these activities.
Charging admission fees to join in the fun is one way, or you could charge per water-filled balloon or for a batch of balloons. And of course, everyone likes to have that last throw, so expect folks to keep coming back for more. If it’s a big hit, you might want to hold several events at different times throughout the fundraiser or create a tournament bracket.
Other Balloon-Related Fundraisers
There are many balloon fundraising activities. Invite people to burst helium-filled balloons with messages inside. Some notes award cash or other prizes, while others could read “Bad Luck! Please Try Again“. Another game is to guess how many balloons are in a container. The gifts go to those who get it right or the nearest number.
#5 Sandcastle Sculpting
Think paint ‘n’ sip art but with sand. It’s a fun, informal party event where expert sculptors demonstrate how to build sandcastles. For adults, a little wine tasting is encouraged, which either helps or hinders creative attempts. See our guide on how to include alcohol in your events the right way.
Of course, there is no way you can gift wrap the sand structures, so be sure to have volunteer spectators grab a few snapshots of this memorable event. It’s one of those activities that everyone from young students to grandparents will enjoy doing and watching.
#6 Street Clean Up & Sprout Up
Another of the winning booster event ideas for schools is the great street cleanup fundraiser. It may not sound glamorous, but it is a fun activity with many potential rewards. Sprucing up your local neighborhood is a high-profile endeavor that the community appreciates. Be sure to promote any street cleanups ahead of time.
Seeing the results of the team effort is as rewarding for volunteers as it is for residents. And planting a few flowers along the sidewalks will further enhance your cause. To fundraise, try selling Booster Club merchandise or event tickets to passersby, and invite impressed onlookers to give what they can to support your organization.
| Community Street Clean Ups Beyond Boosters Cleanups are great fun. They are rewarding for everyone involved, both at a personal level and as a fundraising event. But studies show that cleanups are critical for raising public awareness and creating a sense of community. And cleanups support economies while protecting local wildlife [4]. |
#7 Summer Karaoke Competition
You don’t need perfect pitch to enjoy a good singalong. Outdoor Karaoke events are fun to watch and even more enjoyable to partake in. It’s a versatile fundraiser where you can divide competitions into different types of music, gender, age groups, parents vs. kids, etc.
Three other karaoke-themed activities to consider could be:
- Name that tune
- Pop star sing-off (don’t forget the costumes)
- Karaoke roulette
There should be prizes for winners and runners-up to encourage participation. Other ways to fundraise are to have a nominal entry fee or a small charge to participate.
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Closing Comments
Summertime is ideal for booster club fundraising in the outdoor sunshine with your club’s supporters raising money. All the fundraising events in this guide are enjoyable family fun, but they take time to prepare. Whatever type of fundraiser you choose, the secret to a successful, stress-free occasion is for booster club members to allow plenty of planning time.