Any Grapes got any good fundraising ideas?

[Incy]

Local council cut backs have meant that the football club my son attends will no longer have any funding from the council. For the last 6 months the council has paid the coach for around 6-8 hrs a week and funded the venue costs twice a week. As of the end of the month this finishes and there is no more money available from that route.
This means that to continue running these training sessions the coach will have to find around £100 a week for venue hire alone.
This club caters for a wide range of youngsters from all backgrounds and abilities and has provided a really positive outlet for them. It covers a pretty deprived area so the kids might well be out up to no good on the streets if they didn't have the football.
If they can't afford the venue hire than at the very least some of the sessions will go.
So I thought maybe some of the parents could do some fundraising but as I don't have much experience in this area I was hoping some of you creative folk might have suggestions.
Any input will be very gratefully received.

BTW. The coach and club secretary are trying to find grants to apply for but these take time to process so would probably not help in the short term.

[Capsid]

Ask any premier league football player, surely they have enough money spare? Seriously though, isn't it crazy that there is so much money in football and yet very little for the grass roots stuff.

My son belongs to a swimming club and they raised money by doing bag packing at the local Sainsbury's. They raised over £1000 over 2 weekends.

[scarey55]

You might try running a 100 club where 100 people (or however many you want) buy a ticket for say £1 every week/month or whatever you decide and are given a number.
Once a month/quarter a lottery is drawn and the holder of the winning number gets a cash prize - say 25% of the total takings, leaving the club with 75%.
There are some rules about running a 100 club but they are not too difficult as long as you only sell tickets to "members"
There is a lot of information about fundraising in general and about 100 clubs on THIS PAGE (look for the section on Private lottery - 100 club, or similar
Good luck with whatever you do, I'm afraid too many little clubs go by the wayside leaving kids with nothing to do but hang around street corners (and worse )
I wish you well

[di]

Have you tried writing to one of your big football clubs?
You never know your luck,they might just be prepared to sponsor it....whether because they're feeling charitable or because it looks good that they're supporting a small grass roots team

Good Luck.

[Seahorse]

In a similar vein, you could try approaching local buisnesses and see if they would be prepared to help. Maybe emphasise the bit about keeping kids off the streets, so that it sounds directly beneficial to them?

[Two_Sheds]

Write to your MP and ask for sponsorship (also local businesses. Mr TS and his mates put a wodge each into our local boxing club to keep it running. They may never get their investment back, but they did it for the kids)

Do a charity bike ride or run?

Charge a nominal fee per child. The kids may well be hard up, but many will happily pay a quid for a Coke & sweets - so a quid donation for footy seems reasonable

[SarzWix]

You need to find shirt sponsors if you don't have them already.

Every match, sell raffle tickets, get local businesses to donate a prize if you can.

Car treasure hunts usually go down well round here.

If there's a half decent local pub, find out if they will support you and allow you to run fund-raisers such as race nights, bingo nights, disco etc. They usually will if you do it on their 'quiet night' as it gets them money in the till too.

Do a sponsored 'local clean-up' of the park, nearby beauty spot or similar and see if any local businesses will donate rubber gloves and rubbish bags.

'Pack a shopping bag' in the local supermarket, as someone else mentioned, is often used by the local scouts to raise money. But make sure they know not to put squishy stuff in the bottom of the bag and tins on top

[Jono]

You could write to the big clubs and ask for a signed shirt to auction.

Or join Twitter and ask some of the players on there nicely. Loads of the big players now have accounts.

[SarzWix]

Plant sale?

[Incy]

Thank you so much grapes! Loads of good ideas here.
TS the kids were already paying £2 each training session and the coach has just had to put it up to £3 in the hope that this might cover the venue hire for now. Unfortunately that means some kids will attend less as their families can't afford the extra cost.
The club means the world to my son as being disabled there are very few opportunities for him to participate in normal local activities for kids his age.
TBH if I hadn't lost my job last year I would have happily paid the venue costs for at least one session a week myself.

[northepaul]

Man U? One of their players? Man City, similar....worth an ask surely?

[Incy]

Ok so now I've joined twitter. I am afraid I haven't the first idea on how to use it though

[bramble]

My son owns a barbers shop and he sponsors the local ids team football shirts. I am sure some local businesses would be glad to do this to keep the kids off the streets.
The 100 hundred club also sounds like a great idea.

[Capsid]

What a crazy world we live in. Torres is transferred for £50m and Incy is looking for a £100 per week. Shakes head.

[shirlthegirl43]

I am no good at fundraising ideas but if you decide to do a raffle I will donate a handknitted shawl as a prize