Fundraising Ideas for American Football Teams

Posted by Dan Rohn on 23 May 2022

If there’s one sport for spectators to rally around and support it is football. The nation’s favorite sport and a significant part of our sporting culture. From the NFL Super Bowl through to High School Varsity. Supporters come flooding to cheer on their local team, but that doesn’t mean teams go without typical financial struggles. If your football team is in need of new pads, helmets or some cleats, take a look at some of our fundraising ideas for American football.

Taster days and training events

This idea works particularly well for High School teams looking to get some extra funding. All you need is a coach and a couple of star players from the current team. Host a tester or training day for other high schoolers or even those in middle school. Show them what they need to do in order to make it onto the team or what sort of talent they need to out-perform. Those who are hungry to succeed in the sport will happily pay for such a day.

A key feature for why you should raise funds this way is because there is a huge amount of profit to be made. Setting up the day is the same as setting up a training session. All the equipment is already purchased and your coach is the only other essential attendee. Charge each of those in attendance $30 and imagine the number of funds you could raise. There’s even the chance to break the day down into a morning and afternoon session so you can double the profits.

The 312 challenge

Did you know that the average game of football lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes? So why not have your team raise some funds by doing something else for that duration? In fact, why not invite spectators and team family members to join in. Each individual could decide what it is they want to do. It might be rowing or running for 3 hours and 12 minutes, or they could do 312 push-ups. Anything that involves the 312 number.

This type of challenge is an ideal way to raise funds because it removes the responsibility and hardship of fundraising from the committee. Instead, each individual signs up to their challenge and is in charge of raising funds and gaining support. They can do this through friends and family but they can also use their social media to raise money. If only 10 people sign up to take part in a 312 challenge and only get $50 in support – you’re still looking at a $500 profit. Not exactly chump change!

A quiz night

If there’s one thing a true football fan loves, it’s testing their knowledge. Whether it’s spouting the incredible achievements of their beloved English Patriots or their detailed knowledge about Tom Brady’s early days – if there’s a chance for a football fan to talk about their team they’ll do it.

This is why themed quiz nights are complete sellouts in the footballing world – especially fundraisers. Announce to your neighborhood that you’re raising funds for the team through a quiz night and you’re guaranteed to sell tickets. A little tip from us – hosting a quiz near the Superbowl is always a selling point. Make the theme about the two teams in the final or about the history of the Super Bowl itself. Your questions will quite literally write themselves and plenty of people will revel in the annual celebration of the sport.

Capturing game day traffic

It doesn’t matter what the idea is for raising funds, but you need to make sure you’re capturing your game day traffic. Each week you’ll have plenty of people show their support for the team – and your opposition. So think of how you can grab a few extra dollars from these people while you have their attendance.

For the home crowd, it might be selling branded merchandise. Phone cases, caps, foam fingers, t-shirts, stickers. It can quite literally be anything, just make sure there’s a profit. For the away fans, think more along the lines of what they might want. It could be drinks, popcorn, hotdogs, even cake. A bake sale is always popular among Americans so why not bring the bake sale to game day and make a few extra bucks in the process.

Keeping it simple – bucket style fundraising

If you’re short on time, creativity and let’s face it – effort – then there are other fundraising ideas you can try. Going into local businesses and asking to pop a bucket at their register so that people can donate their loose change can help raise funds while you focus on the real challenge – winning games. There isn’t much else to it. The more buckets you get out there, the more you can raise without even lifting a finger.

Thankfully, you don’t need many fundraising ideas for American Football in order to make money. It’s one of the most-watched sports in the country and best-supported events across all ages. Take any of these ideas and put them into practice, you’re almost guaranteed to make a profit. 

If you’re interested in further fundraising ideas for sports we have other articles including soccer, ice hockey, basketball and baseball. 

Need help running your American Football fundraising event?

Don’t forget, if you’re hosting any live fundraising event, check our Givergy as we have a bunch of great features to help run your event and maximize your raise including evening ticketing, silent auctions, prize draws and online donations. 

Run an auction

Either before a specific game or at the actual game itself, gather up a number of great prizes supporters could offer up, and run a mobile bidding auction. These could range from memorabilia of the actual team to local restaurant vouchers and vacations. You could display prizes at the game or simply run the whole thing online, with easy check out options to pay. You could even show a countdown timer at the game on the big screens, adding some excitement and energy to the end of the auction!

Set up a donation drive

If you have a specific cause or reason to raise money, setting up an online donation page for supporters is a great way to achieve your fundraising goal. Very shareable, so easy to create a network effect of online support, you can give details of what the money will be used for, different options to donate, and the option for donors to leave messages. Payments can be collected online too, so it is easy to get the money in the bank!

Dan Rohn

Vice President of Sales

Dan has served in the fundraising space for over a decade, consulting and assisting non-profits all over the world to become more effective and efficient by implementation of interactive digital solutions.