Fundraising???

[Monkeygirlsmom]

ok Our gym we need to find ways to help with the money!
what are some things your gym does to raise money for the gym

[Shawn]

One of the best things we're doing is selling discount cards for Dominos Pizza. The cards are good for a free large pizza with the purchase of one. They can be used twenty times and are good until December 2009. They cost us $1 apiece and they sell for $10, which means we get $9 per card sold. And they are a great deal, too, so they are easy to sell.

[DynamicMom]

Our Booster club moms are selling decorated flip flops. They are so cute, the flip flops come from old navy and then get decorated. They have ribbons, yarn, balloons, they come in all colors and you can request anything. I don't know if I'm explaining this really well. All the decorations are tied to the top part. They sell for $10 each, and have been very popular.

[hunde2]

We sell Homeinterior Candles.Seems like alot of people like them.50% of the profit goes to the gymnast.

[Gymmonkeymomma]

We have sold:
Yankee candles ( i think 40% profit)
Chocolate bars (hershey's, 50% profit)
Christmas wreaths
Pampered chef

The best money makers:
Running a meet at your gym (we only did 1 b/c we are a small team, and we only ran the concession another organization ran the actual meet so we didn't make much, but if you run the whole meet yourself, it can be a good boost to your acct!
Can shake - usually only once a year, many organizations do this so stores will only allow 1x/yr

TODAY we are having a clothes drive. There are companies that pay by the pound for used clothing, shoes, purses, linens, stuffed animals. My dh's pickup and my van are fully packed with stuff we collected from our neighbors and friends. I'll report back next week on how we did!

[skfleming255]

Our gym just did Rada cutlery. It sold very well. You can google it on the internet. You make 40% off your sales. Our gym made $2400 off of the sales, and we only had about 15 girls sell. The have some very nice things.
We, also, do an Applebee's pancake breakfast to benefit the gymnasts. We sell tickets for $5.00 each. The girls go and work the breakfast (hostesses, older girls serve, etc...). We have a tip jar that pays Applebee's for the food and their cook. We keep the entire $5.00 from the tickets. This goes over really well. We, also, sell Butter Braids. People love them. This benefits the girls, as well.
Our gym is in the process of putting together our very first auction to be held later this month. Big undertaking. Takes some time to plan.

[gymmomntc2e6]

We did a BBQ plate fundraiser. We had chicken and pulled pork, cole slaw rolls, green beans & a dessert. Did pretty good. We are in the south - may not work as well elsewhere - guess it would depend on how big people are into BBQ

[Monkeygirlsmom]

Thank you everyone for the ideas! I figure the more ideas we get we are ableto come up with something that will help!! thanks!!

[Tumblequeensmom]

We did the applebee's pancake fundraiser as well this year.... It was a great success... unfortunately, they are discontinuing this fundraiser

[gym law mom]

Before starting your fundraisers, sit down and work out how much the booster club wants to make and where the money will go---individual accounts or a general fund or both. In this slugglish economy I think we're all going to see a drop in what we can bring in. People are not going to be as willing to buy something from you after they've been at the gas station!! I would suggest not doing alot of little ones--you will have no friends or relatives left that will talk to you. Pick a few that have good track records and focus on making those as profitabile as possible.

This is what our gym does:
Host compulsory and optional meet(1 meet in the fall and 1 in Feb/March). We cleared a little over 5k from the compulsory meet and 1500 from the optional. These are usually big fundraisers for a booster club IF you host it and not the gym.
Used leo sales--2x/year---sell all leos at $10. Some money from this went to the girl's accounts/some to booster club.
Poinsetta sales---used a local florist.
Pizza Palz--Old Chicago. They do this nationally for 501(c)(3). Sell coupons for $11 good for 6 mos. People can then buy any of their pizzas with the coupon(the most expensive is $22). I forget the breakout on this, but these sell well.
Bingo--the mega fundraiser. We brought in about $160k last year. Boy, this really requires parent committment and coordination.
The gym has done butter braids in the past and they sell well. Only downside is parents have to come pick up their orders the day of delivery and then be able to get them to their customers quickly since they need to be kept frozen.

Stay away from Cherrydale. We did a cookie dough fundraiser with them and they shipped the dough unrefrigerated, then didn't want to reship a new order and it ended up they just refunded our $. I actually had people that wanted the stuff and 2 mos later had to give them their money back.

Hope all this helps.