Marching Band fundraising ideas

lula · Post by **lula** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 8:17 pm

As of now my marching band doesn't get to go to any away games for lack of money in the bands funds. Does anyone have any fundraising ideas? Please help; the band has worked too hard to have half of our games taken away!

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 8:44 pm

Car Washes!

cflutist · Post by **cflutist** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:02 pm

I remember selling candy bars to raise money for band uniforms.

MissyHPhoenix · Post by **MissyHPhoenix** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:57 am

We used to get permission to stand at road intersections with signs and cans asking for donations. We were able to raise enough money that way to go to Disney World.

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:37 am

My private band program had a $460 bake sale in a VERY small town. The key was advertising and a lot of great treats to sell!

lula · Post by **lula** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 3:21 pm

We ABSOLUTELY CANNOT NOT sell candy bars or anything like that. You see, the football team and cheerleaders usually do stuff like that. The school refuses to let us do anything food related. The car wash is a great suggestion. They might let us do a bake sell, but I'm doubting it. Any more suggestions? Please help!

CE Winds · Post by **CE Winds** » Fri Aug 06, 2010 12:36 pm

How much does it cost to go to away games per game/year?

lula · Post by **lula** » Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:35 pm

I'm not really sure but from what I gather a few hundred dollars each game because we have to pay for a driver and gas and entry fees for competitions. No one wants to drive the band bus so it's really hard to find a driver. The band has about $3,000 in the savings account now. The football players keep all the money from the games and homecoming and gate money at the games. The band doesn't get anything. Our numbers are down to 41 I think so it's gonna be a rough year I think. If you have any fundraising ideas, please let me know.

-Lula

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:45 pm

This is a bit unusual and your school or Band Director may not go for it, but how about approaching local businesses and selling them a sponsorship with advertisements that you put on the sousaphone bells? Sort of like a marching billboard...

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:44 am

Another thing we did when I was in college (which I just remembered) was a practice-a-thon. We got sponsors and recorded how long we practiced for a period of time. It was a great way to challenge one another to play better and get some community involvement.

snowstripedmoose · Post by **snowstripedmoose** » Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:25 am

how about raffling off something, when I was at high school we had a lot of raffles.

A few other suggestions

* arrange a short show and ask for a small admittance fee and donations.

* ask for community involvement (but don't badger the community) i've seen a few signs like help send our choir to Sydney.

CE Winds · Post by **CE Winds** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:01 pm

I know it's tough on band programs now, and you gotta wonder what are the most critical needs of band programs... really, paying to do events to gain more interest in your specific band program is the way to go.

I like all the ideas, especially the sponsorship idea... here are a few things floating through my head (as a business person) right now, and I will probably write a blog about this soon... it is one of those topics you never really think about (unless you are of course a student, teacher, parent, or alumni of band).

Sponsorship - I was thinking at some point, us as a company may be able to sponsor some bands, perhaps we can do some contests to do so, but make a public plea to help local bands gain finds to do something like this.

I know that a car dealership may be hip to this idea, because this is the age where kids buy their first cars, and there is no better way for them to look for new business than to sponsor a band, and have a banner made that the band marches out with. ("SoandSo High School Band" Sponsored by Joe Mans Car Dealership). It really has to be a win win for the dealership to do it, but if your school goes to 'away' games, that is moving advertising for them.

Donation/raffle - if one of these car dealerships can donate a car, that would be sweet. Or the community can do a donation drive and the items can be sold on eBay or something.

Not a promotion for our program, but I guess it is because this is the point of the program, we have a School Rewards program that pays a school back cash or instruments when the students buy from our company. We are trying ourselves to find ways to help band programs...

Anyway, thank you for posing the question, hopefully we can come back to a place where funds aren't so tight and this isn't even an issue. I never remember money being a reason we didn't travel to an away game, but that was another time....

Brian
CE Winds

virginiak · Post by **virginiak** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 12:11 pm

I know you said no food, but our band booster club ran a citrus sale each winter. It was very popular, and people would order oranges and/or grapefruits by the case, and we raised a lot of money that way. This might have a different food feel than a bake sale or candy bar sale that the other groups in school have.

lula · Post by **lula** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:12 pm

Can't sell fruit; the Ag department does that. My sister was in Ag all 4 years and that was the biggest money-maker I've ever seen. Wish we could do that, but it wouldn't be fair to them or us. Keep the suggestions coming though!

Yukon Cornelius · Post by **Yukon Cornelius** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 5:58 pm

We used to raise money by having a Tag Day. Band members (wearing their uniform) would go door-to-door or stand outside local businesses seeking donations. When a person gave a donation they would receive a tag that stated they were a band supporter. A local business would pay to have the tags printed. These tags would have the store's name on the other side. That way they get some publicity. The tags (measured about 3 in x 3 in.) were on little strings that could be hung in windows or door knobs to show that you supported the band. We used to raise lots of money this way.