A rundown of the most popular sports team fundraisers, so you can find the right fit for your program.
Here’s the hard truth: Not all fundraisers are worth the effort.
If it takes weeks to play and barely breaks even, it’s more trouble than its worth.
But a fundraiser you can set and forget while you count on it to bring in revenue all season? That’s money in the bank. It ensures your budget is balanced and your coaching time chasing player development, not donations.
Here's a breakdown of the most effective fundraising ideas for sports teams, what each one actually takes to run, and how to choose the right fit for your program.
What Makes a Good Sports Team Fundraiser?
Every team, department and community is different. But the best sports team fundraisers keep a few
considerations in mind:
- Effort vs. return. Some high-effort events raise less than a well-run digital campaign. A car wash may bring in a lot of revenue — but is it worth the time it takes to coordinate volunteers and promotion? And what if a rainy day washes that effort out? Meanwhile, some simpler campaigns — often hosted on digital platforms your families already use — can quietly do the heavy lifting, with less required from the coach.
- Athlete participation. Fundraisers with athletes personally involved in outreach consistently outperform coach-only pushes. An athlete’s own network, from grandparents to family friends, is primed to support their journey.
- Administrative lift. If running the fundraiser adds 10 hours to your week, it's already working against you. The best fundraisers for are ones that can largely run themselves once they're set up.
In-Person Fundraising Ideas for Sports Teams
While many fundraisers are now all-online, an in-person event can help produce more support by putting names and faces with the athletes and teams that need support. They work well in tight-knit communities where your team's jerseys are a recognized part of the neighborhood. They're also great for team bonding. There's something about tackling a fundraising goal together that carries over into how a team competes.
The tradeoff is logistics. Every in-person event needs a location, volunteers, promotion and usually a cooperative weather forecast. For programs with engaged parents and booster clubs, that's manageable. For time-strapped ADs managing 20-plus sports, it's a heavier lift.
Car wash.
The classic for a reason. Low cost, high visibility, and easy to set up in a school or community center parking lot. Saturdays in warm weather with high-traffic signage will maximize turnout. Best for: smaller programs that need a quick, low-cost win.
Concession stand or bake sale.
If your team already hosts home games, you have built-in foot traffic. A well-run concession stand can generate ongoing revenue across an entire season — not just a single event. Best for: programs with consistent game-day crowds.
Restaurant night.
Partner with a local restaurant that donates a percentage of sales on a designated night to your team. Low planning, drives community turnout, and gives families a reason to show up. Many national chains offer formal programs for this — it's worth a call.
For programs that want to raise meaningful funds like $5,000 to $10,000+ in a focused push, managed events and galas are worth the planning investment. These formats combine multiple revenue streams and generate the biggest single-event returns.
Online and Digital Fundraising Ideas for Sports Teams
Online campaigns have lower logistical overhead than in-person events and can reach donors well beyond your immediate community — alumni, extended family, former coaches — people who want to support your program but can't always show up in person.
Crowdfunding campaign.
Create a campaign page, set a clear goal, and share it across text and social. Platforms like Snap! Raise automate outreach to athlete networks and make it easy for participants to collect donations online. These work especially well when athletes are personally sharing — not just coaches blasting a link to a parent email list.
Social media challenge.
A specific hashtag, a team-wide participation push, and a clear donation link. The best versions tie the challenge to something sport-specific — a skills video, a team milestone — so it travels naturally through your community's feeds.
Spirit wear store.
Custom team gear sold online through a dedicated store. Set it up once and let it run. Families, alumni, and fans buy when they want — no single event, no logistics. Best as a complement to other fundraisers rather than a standalone.
Gamified fundraising events.
Athletes are competitive. And everyone loves a scoreboard. So gamified events can really bring teams and their communities together and produce serious results. A win-win.
In these events, athletes contact their networks — family, alumni, local businesses — and compete in real time to raise the most money. The format is gamified: live leaderboards, prizes, team energy. Hudl's team manages everything — the format, timing, and platform. Coaches show up. Athletes compete. Programs walk away with an average of $8,000 per event. Hudl Fundraising runs programs like this, right alongside the rest of the Hudl tools many teams already use for ticketing, registration and more.
There are two ways to run it:
- In-person managed event: Hudl's team runs it on-site. Best for programs that want the highest return with the least lift on coaching staff.
- Self-led digital campaign: Run the same campaign on your own timeline, over days or weeks. Coaches stay in control of the schedule; the platform handles outreach and tracking.
Fundraising can be a marathon (or a dance-a-thon). But these gamified events are a sprint. A fun, high-energy hour that brings the team together for a purpose. The limited time frame and shared goals create urgency and momentum that can yield big results with not a lot of time and not a lot of prep. And on Hudl, the fundraising work lives inside the same platform your program already uses. So revenue from a fundraising campaign shows up alongside ticketing and registration in one financial view. No reconciling across three platforms at the end of the season.
Ready to run a fundraiser that doesn't add to your workload? See how Hudl Fundraising helps high school and club programs raise more in less time, without adding another tool to manage.
Learn more about Hudl Fundraising →
