Parents Fundraising.....new mom needing advice

[Gymmastmom9]

I am new to the gymnastic world. After a year of having my daughter be involved, I realize how expensive it is. I am currently trying to come up with fundraisers to help the gymnasts. I am having a hard time starting fundraisers, getting people involved, coming up with fundraisers that we could actually benefit from and not loose money.

There is about 30 girls that go to the gym, less than half the parents help. Many say they don't want to fundraise. There is only a handful of fundraisers a year they use to do

Does anyone have advice for me?
how to deal with the parents? profitable fundraisers? pros and cons of fundraising?

I want to get things moving for the next season.
I truly would appreciate any advice, thank you!

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

Are you doing these fundraisers through a 501c3 booster club??

 

[raenndrops]

Cons of fundraisers: Some families wont participate.
The best fundraisers are the ones where they don't really have to "do" anything. Some of te gyms around us do the Kroger Rewards fundraiser... but I think you have to be a 501(c)3 group to participate - I dont know though since we dont do it.

 

[duyetanh]

Cons of fundraisers: Some families wont participate.
The best fundraisers are the ones where they don't really have to "do" anything. Some of te gyms around us do the Kroger Rewards fundraiser... but I think you have to be a 501(c)3 group to participate - I dont know though since we dont do it.

Ok I will bite...wth is the Kroeber rewards fundraiser?!?

 

[raenndrops]

Ok I will bite...wth is the Kroeber rewards fundraiser?!?

Not sure exactly... just know that you can sign up for Kroger rewards and designate who gets the "reward" proceeds. You earn the rewards just for shopping like normal. Then, quarterly, they send the money earned to the different groups.
One of the gyms we go against, I know for sure does it and each quarter, all the parents have to do is let them know how much of it they earned.

Here is what I found when I looked it up:
Kroger Community Rewards
What is Community Rewards?
Kroger Community Rewards makes fund-raising easy by donating to local organizations based on the shopping you do everyday. Once you link your card to an organization, all you have to do is shop at Kroger and swipe your Plus Card!

A digital account is needed to participate in Kroger Community Rewards. If you already have a digital account, you will need to ensure you have a Plus Card linked to your account. Then, go here to select an organization.

Please note, a Plus Card is required for the Kroger Community Rewards program so that your transactions apply toward the organization you choose.

How do I select an organization to support?
Selecting the organization that you wish to support is as simple as updating the Kroger Community Rewards selection on your digital account.

1. Sign in to your digital account.
2. Go here to search for your organization
3. Enter the name or NPO number of the organization that you wish to support.
4. Select the appropriate organization from the list and click “Save.”

Your selected organization will now display in the Kroger Community Rewards section of your account. If you need to review or revisit your organization, you can always find these details under your Account details.

Any transactions moving forward using the Shopper’s Card number associated with your digital account will be applied to the program. It takes approximately 10 days for the Kroger Community Rewards total to begin displaying on your receipt.

How do I view my Kroger Community Rewards details?
Wondering how much you’ve earned toward your selected organization? You can view the total you earned during the last quarter in your account details.

How do I ensure that my transactions are applied to the program?
You must present your Shopper’s Card or provide your Alternate ID at the register during the transaction in order for it to count toward the program.

 

[Madden3]

Other super market chains and other retailers do this as well. The amount your organization gets per purchase is very small, but all a person has to do is sign up and then actually shop at the store (and remember to use their card or whatever.)

Another fairly easy fundraiser is look for a local restaurant that will give you a cut of their sales sold on a certain day and time. (I think they usually just give you a cut of the sales to people who come to the restaurant because of the fundraiser.) Then you need to promote it - get lots of flyers out to people and remind and remind and remind them to come to the restaurant at that time and to bring your flyer. Again, not much money, but easy.

Fundraising any kind of substantial funds takes a ton of hours of organizing and a reasonably reliable income stream. Hosting regular meets and doing a great job at it (so attending gyms want to keep coming back) can be a reasonably good way to raise funds but it is a lot of work.

But my tip to gyms who are hosting meets is do not neglect to run an excellent snack bar. Gym meets last for hours and people get hungry. And bored. And they are essentially a captive audience. I have been to many meets where the snack bar ran out of things (or everything) really early, food choices were weird or poor, they were poorly staffed and slow at rush times, etc. and I always think about how they are losing money.

 

[kayjaybe]

But my tip to gyms who are hosting meets is do not neglect to run an excellent snack bar. Gym meets last for hours and people get hungry. And bored. And they are essentially a captive audience. I have been to many meets where the snack bar ran out of things (or everything) really early, food choices were weird or poor, they were poorly staffed and slow at rush times, etc. and I always think about how they are losing money.

So true! We make great money from our concessions and people that come to our meets each year often look for a certain food item or are told by other parents from their gym - “you have to try the ___!”

I’m in charge of our concessions and take pride in running a delicious and profitable food stand!

 

[flippin out]

I would opt for no fundraising hands down.....it cost me more money than I’ve ever earned. We have forced fundraisers, very few family that would buy (and quickly get sick of being asked to buy stuff they don’t need) so that leaves me to buy **** I don’t need at whole price in order to “earn 1/2 if the 10% profit.....gym always takes 1/2 if that. And then for things I don’t have to buy I have to “donate my time”........5 hours or more plus travel time (another 3 hours sometimes) and gas money and the profit on those is non existent most times. Don’t forget that if you are 501c3 that all profits must be equally divided....so whether your parents participate or not they will get an equal profit

I would gladly BUY OUT of fundraising and all obligations that go with it—-it would actually save more money for me.

 

[gasrgoose]

A few thoughts,

1. since you are willing to spend the time to organize, recruit, etc. it would probably be easier and more cost effective to get a part time job to cover the expenses.
2. As others have stated many people (myself included) will not participate in fundraisers. The assumption that others will want to participate is likely not accurate.
3. If your gym doesn't already do fundraisers you should check with the owners (if you haven't already). If you are going to use the gym's name and it's a private business you need their permission.
4. If there was easy money to be made by using the gym's name, why wouldn't the gym already be doing it?

Good luck

 

[Gymmastmom9]

Thank you all for your feedback and advice!

The gym I am apart of is a YMCA gym, so it is non profit. The coaches do not get involved in the fundraising, parents do it. We do not have a parents booster.
The way the fundraising worked in the past, anyone that contributed, brought stuff in etc, whatever funds were raised would be be split evenly. That would be for the fun meets, car wash etc. They also would do selling fundraisers, pies in the fall, cookies in the spring.
The gym only had 4 fundraisers a year. There is not a lot of parent involvement at all.

I'm trying to come in and bridge the gap of parent involvement, fun outings for the girls ,fundraisers, etc. Parents don't want the responsibility to run something.
Seems like parents rather just pay the tuition and move on. Previous years, you could use your fundraising money toward tuition. This year they are changing it, you can only use your fundraising money for meet fees and apparel.

I've only recently took it upon myself to become more involved. I like planning and organizing things. I would like the girls to bond more like a team.

Any suggestions for fundraisers, events, outings that you have done with your team's?

 

[Gymmastmom9]

Are you doing these fundraisers through a 501c3 booster club??

no it's not a booster club. just events organized by parents

 

[Flyaway]

I've only recently took it upon myself to become more involved. I like planning and organizing things. I would like the girls to bond more like a team.

Any suggestions for fundraisers, events, outings that you have done with your team's?

It's great that you want to be involved. Gym can be tricky since so many parents just drop and run. But I do think that it's fair to offer up fundraisers and see who bites. I personally always jump on an opportunity to raise some extra $$.

Our gym does a rummage sale twice a year. This is usually very successful - but it really is going to depend on your area and if people are used to going to garage sales or the like. Our gym families love it because they can just bring their junk and dump it. Parents and gymnasts sign up for times to come help price (bulk pricing makes it go much faster - for example everything on one table is $1, another table $5, etc.) and sessions to work the sale. We also do a bake sale at the same time and that is a huge hit. The girls have so much fun working the sale (they stand at the corner with signs and do backhandsprings in the grass to get attention). The tricky part is figuring out how to distribute the funds. Does everyone who donates get a cut? Or only those that actually work? At our gym it profits the whole team.

 

[Texasmomof3]

If you are not doing it through a 501c3, then you need to be aware that any money you earn is taxable income to you. You are basically running a side business to earn money and using that money for gymnastics. Your profits are your taxable income, and after paying taxes on the proceeds, you are free to spend that money however you want. You are also free to partner with anyone you want and split the money however you guys determine is fair.

I refuse to participate in any fundraisers that are not IRS compliant. I've been audited before and simply want no part of the IRS or any risk of non-compliance there.

 

[mls529]

I personally hate selling things and will always opt-out of those types fundraisers. We live in an areas with many restaurants and stores that will do fundraisers for us, similar to what someone mentioned above with Kroger. But even more specific on a date -- like Lou Malnati's (pizza chain) will give the group 20% of sales on a specific night. So your job is just to advertise the event and get as many people as possible ordering from that restaurant on that day. Chipotle actually gives 50% so that tends to be a very lucrative fundraiser for us. We have raised $300 - $1000 per event when they are well-advertised. Some organizations do this ~once a month, so it can add up.

Many people who dislike fundraising are more than happy to eat out on a weeknight to get out of cooking and support a gymnastics team. Our fundraisers always have to benefit the whole team, such as paying for a specific meet or buying everyone's warm-ups. But I agree that offsetting this expensive sport is a good thing! Good luck!

 

[Texasmomof3]

One thing you can do that has worked well with both of our previous gyms -- a used leo sale. We set a week every year where everyone bring in their used leos to sell. You can set your own prices, and the money collected goes straight into your competition fund account instead of cash back to you. Each leo is tagged with a price and the seller's name, and each time one sells, the tag goes into the till with the money to be clear who gets credit for what sale. It is usually pretty popular and the rec families love it, too.

 

[tucktwisttumble]

One thing you can do that has worked well with both of our previous gyms -- a used leo sale. We set a week every year where everyone bring in their used leos to sell. You can set your own prices, and the money collected goes straight into your competition fund account instead of cash back to you. Each leo is tagged with a price and the seller's name, and each time one sells, the tag goes into the till with the money to be clear who gets credit for what sale. It is usually pretty popular and the rec families love it, too.

We used to do suit swaps as well. Great way to get cheap leos that are in great condition (often just out-grown).

 

[gymisforeveryone]

We have done numerous different sales and events and I have seen other clubs do some innovative stuff as well. We are in Europe so keep in mind that something that is allowed here might be illegal in the US and vice versa.

- A table in a second hand store / flea market, where everyone donates used but good condition clothes, books, toys etc for sale. Everything is sold on very affordable prices and the parents and gymnasts clean up the table when they drop in new stuff. This is very easy, and the table costs are not huge around here so it's easy to make money out of it

- A lottery at club events like practice competitions and Christmas recitals that the rec families attend. Everyone donated one or two small prizes and every lottery ticket won

- Open gym and different fun activities for rec kids. The gymnasts can "work" as instructors there

- Christmas presents wrapping in a shopping center. We got paid by the shopping center for holding our stand for the Christmas season and wrapping up presents that people bought. The shopping center didn't have a service like this on its own of course. The service was free for the customers but they were free to donate some cash if they wanted, and most people did because it went for a good purpose. This was really fun and most people liked it because it cheered everyone up and made them feel the Christmas spirit

- Home made cakes sales at shopping centers

- We have sold many things including toilet paper, candy, cookies, detergents, spices, canned reindeer meet, socks, jewels, magazines, calendars and pins. I dislike sales like this because I hate hawking

- Skyrocket sales around new year at shopping centres

- Garbage collections around the city. The city governments paid for us for doing this

- Setting up and taking down the gymnastics equipment in the sports center where we train in when there is an event that requires it. The sports center pays for us for doing this

- Gym related stuff sales at meets. This includes note books, mugs, socks, wall art, T-shirts etc that have fun or inspiring pictures or quotes on them. You can order them from a printing company and their prices are pretty affordable. Then just add a great margin of profit and sell them during themeet or other event. These are super popular! Especially the ones that have the text "Gymnastics Mom" included in the quote

 

[raenndrops]

If you are not doing it through a 501c3, then you need to be aware that any money you earn is taxable income to you. You are basically running a side business to earn money and using that money for gymnastics. Your profits are your taxable income, and after paying taxes on the proceeds, you are free to spend that money however you want. You are also free to partner with anyone you want and split the money however you guys determine is fair.

I refuse to participate in any fundraisers that are not IRS compliant. I've been audited before and simply want no part of the IRS or any risk of non-compliance there.

Actually, the YMCA is a 501(c)3, so as long as the money goes through the gymnastics program (and therefore, the Y), they are NOT taxable... especially since the profits will be split evenly among everyone.

 

[flippin out]

Actually, the YMCA is a 501(c)3, so as long as the money goes through the gymnastics program (and therefore, the Y), they are NOT taxable... especially since the profits will be split evenly among everyone.

then we are back to -- all profits must be distributed equally regardless of whether they participate. I am not a fan of this. Unless rules have changed (or been clarified better) it was explained to us, both at our own gym and multiple friends gyms, that all team members must share the profit regardless of participation. The only way around not sharing equally is that it may be split by level (as higher levels incur more fees) but it may not be based on any other factors (such as participation in said fundraiser). So a few do all the work and all get to share the profits.......and if you make it mandatory to work then that is unfair to working parents who may not be able to get off work or would have to burn a vacation day to earn $10 instead of a paycheck. There is just no "fair" way to do fundraisers and be in compliance with 501c3 and NCAA rules

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

I feel so lucky to be at the gym we are at, we have a booster club and this year we raised over $100,000. And we have no problems with getting ALL parents to participate. I think it really helps that they are all able to see the benefits of all of their hard work. Our goal is to double our profits in the next couple of years. We just started working on getting corporate sponsors this year, we got our first one right away for $10,000.