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Soccer fundraising ideas are simple activities youth teams use to raise money for expenses like field upkeep, uniforms, travel costs, events, and equipment. There are a lot of expenses that come with successfully running a youth soccer team, but often the only revenue they receive is through registration.
Enter sports fundraising.
Many soccer teams have to do at least one fundraising event per season, so we’ve put together some easy fundraising ideas to help your team generate more money for field upkeep, uniforms, travel costs, and more.
Quick comparison of soccer fundraising ideas
Use this table to pick a fundraiser that fits your time, volunteers, and season schedule. The effort and cost levels are simple planning guides, not revenue estimates.
Fundraising idea | Best for | Effort level | Cost level |
Training camp | Skill-building and community outreach | Medium | Low |
Team merch | Team spirit | Medium | Medium |
Parent donations | Quick online support | Low | Low |
Kick-a-thon | Player involvement | Low | Low |
Local sponsors | Community business support | Medium | Low |
Product sales | Family and neighbor outreach | Medium | Low |
Raffle | Game-night excitement | Low | Low |
Concessions | Busy game days | Medium | Medium |
Vendor space | Tournaments and large events | Medium | Low |
Silent auction | Donated prizes | Medium | Low |
Car wash | High-energy team events | Medium | Low |
Rent-an-Athlete | Older players helping neighbors | Medium | Low |
Tournament tickets | Special league events | High | Medium |
Bake sale | Simple parent support | Low | Low |
Concert | Large community events | High | Medium |
Junk sale | Community yard-sale traffic | Medium | Low |
Community clean-up | Service-minded teams | Medium | Low |
Walk/run | Fitness-focused families | Medium | Low |
1. Host a training camp
A training camp raises money by charging players for extra soccer instruction while helping more kids in the community learn the game. It can also boost the popularity of your soccer league while still generating revenue: a win-win in the end.
Share information about the training camp throughout the community via flyers and in local social media groups.
Decide how long you want it to be. You can host:
- A jam-packed day filled with training and soccer drills
- A weekend
- A week-long summer camp
- A month of Saturdays or Sundays (four days total)
Charge for entrance into the training camp and use the community/league fields that are already at your disposal and aren’t being used to keep expenses low.
2. Sell team merch
Team merch works well because families can support the team and show their soccer pride at the same time. Get branded merchandise with your team name and colors and sell it at games to help raise more funds.
Some options include:
- T-shirts or sweatshirts
- Water bottles
- Hats
- Sports bags
- Jerseys
Family members will likely buy merchandise to support their kids, making this an easy fundraiser to repeat each season. New to team apparel sales? Take a look at How to Build an Online Store for Sports Teams.
3. Ask for parent donations
Parent donations are one of the simplest soccer fundraising ideas because families already understand that youth sports depend on community support.
To make collecting donations a breeze, consider adding a donation page right on your website. With sports website builders like Jersey Watch, you can build a soccer website to increase youth sports donations from families and community members.
Another great option is asking parents to donate during registration. You can include a section in your soccer registration form, as seen below.
4. Hold a kick-a-thon
A kick-a-thon raises money by having supporters pledge a donation for each goal a player scores. The event goes something like this:
- Parents pledge a dollar amount for the number of goals their child gets
- Team members line up in front of the goal
- Each player gets 20 penalty kicks
- Parents donate based on the number of goals their child makes out of those 20 kicks
So, for example, if a child makes ten goals and their parents pledge $10 per goal, they’ll donate $100. Team members can bring home a sign-up sheet to share with other family members to get additional pledges.
Create a page on your soccer website to display events and include fundraising opportunities to help website visitors participate.
5. Find local sponsors
Local sponsorships help soccer teams raise money by giving nearby businesses a simple way to support the community and get their name in front of families. For example, you can connect with owners of local businesses to see if they’re interested in sponsoring your team or buying advertisements at the sports complex.
Keep the sponsor ask clear and easy to understand. A simple package can explain exactly what the business gets in return. Packages typically include items such as:
- Local business names on team jerseys
- Banners promoting the business on the complex
- Mention on the league website
- Mention on schedules and other paperwork handed out to team parents
- Mention in email blasts
Youth sports sponsorship packages can range greatly in price, so it’s important to have a strong variety of tier amounts. An individual team sponsorship might only be a couple of hundred dollars, but if you keep adding perks, you can sell sponsorship packages for thousands of dollars.
Add a sponsorship page to your soccer website to display current sponsors for the season. You can use this as a benefit when creating your sponsorship tiers!
6. Sell products for proceeds
Product sales raise money when players sell items to friends, neighbors, and family and the team receives part of the proceeds. This is one of the most common sports fundraising ideas.
Many fundraising companies partner with businesses to help sports teams sell items like:
- Gift certificates
- Discount cards
- Cookies/cookie dough
- Popcorn
7. Have a raffle
A raffle is an easy game-night fundraiser because families can buy tickets, cheer on the team, and stay for the winner announcement. To maximize the amount of participants, start selling tickets during practices leading up to the big night.
To keep setup simple, choose one busy game night, collect donated prizes early, and announce the winner before families leave the field.
Here are some methods to use to collect prizes:
- Use past funds to buy a prize (make sure it’s not too expensive so you can recoup funds and then some)
- Ask local businesses to donate prizes (i.e., gift cards, free appetizer gift certificates, BOGO coupons)
- Ask parents to donate items you can put into a gift basket
8. Sell concessions
Selling food and drinks at a concession stand is a great way to generate funds for your youth sports teams. Concessions work best because players, parents, and siblings are already at the field and looking for snacks.
To make it easier for parents to say yes, ask for them to cover short shifts so no one has to miss the whole game.
Using concessions as a revenue channel will work best if you can get parents to donate items instead of purchasing them yourself. If this isn’t feasible, look to bulk purchases. Buying concessions in bulk and reselling is still a great way to make sure players and parents can get snacks at soccer games, and you can bring in a profit.
9. Rent out vendor space
Vendor space can raise money when your soccer complex has room for local businesses to set up tables during games or tournaments. At their tables, vendors can hang branded banners and sell products to attendees.
Keep the setup simple for yourself by sharing where vendors should park, when they can arrive, and what size table or canopy space they can use. To make pricing run smoothly, you can offer game-by-game spots or rent out all-season spots for a discount.
10. Host a silent auction
A silent auction works well when parents and local businesses can donate useful prizes for families to bid on. Similar to a raffle, consider setting up part of the soccer facility with auction items during a big game or holding a separate event for the auction.
Popular auction items include:
- Gift baskets
- Sporting equipment
- Fitness classes
- Tickets to local events
- Gift certificates
To make this work, set up each auction item on tables during the night of the event with a sheet of paper underneath each item. Provide estimated value and other details about each auction item.
Auction-goers will then write their names and bids under each item they’re interested in. At the end of the night, the person with the highest bid makes a payment and gets the item!
11. Run a car wash
A car wash is a classic soccer fundraiser because it gives players a hands-on way to help the team.
When planning a car wash, start promoting it early to gain some traction before the event. In addition, you can also create poster board signs for players to hold by the road and entice passersby to come by and get their cars washed.
It’s a simple fundraiser because the only upfront costs are soap, buckets, sponges, and a hose.
12. Rent your athletes
A “Rent-an-Athlete” fundraiser lets older soccer players help neighbors with small jobs in exchange for donations. This is a great event for high school-aged players.
Send out a flyer sharing when your “Rent-an-Athlete” event will run and the types of jobs the team can do. This could include things like:
- Mowing the lawn
- Picking up groceries
- Walking the dog
- Cleaning out gutters
Be sure to also have an adult volunteer or team parent close by. That adult supervision will keep players safe and your event running smoothly.
13. Sell tickets to a tournament
A special tournament can raise money by turning a normal soccer day into a larger community event with tickets. While most youth sports never sell tickets to their games, you could host a special, all-day, knock-out tournament with every team in the league and sell tickets for people to watch.
Consider getting volunteers to provide additional entertainment as well, like having a local singer perform or asking the school marching band to put on a show.
14. Hold a bake sale
A bake sale is a simple fundraiser because parents can bring individually packaged treats to sell during a game. Have parents decide what they’re bringing ahead of time so you have a variety of items to sell during the game.
If your fields don’t have a concession stand and your games are scheduled around meal-times, you might also consider holding a potluck. This is where parents bring other food items like buffalo chicken dip for game-watchers to buy.
15. Put on a concert
A concert or small music festival can work as a larger community fundraiser when your team has enough volunteers and time to plan ahead. This kind of event works best when you give yourself enough time to line up vendors, performers, and food.
Rent out vendor space, find local musicians to volunteer, and contact local restaurants or food trucks to sell food and drinks at the event.
You can then sell tickets to the concert to meet your fundraising goals. If you plan on hosting a large-scale event like this, start planning early.
Promote the event on all league materials, like the website and team handouts. Create a Facebook event and share it in local Facebook groups. Put up signs around the area to build further awareness.
Start selling tickets early so you can gauge its success beforehand.
16. Hold a yard sale
A yard sale helps your soccer team raise money from household items families are ready to donate. Ask families ahead of time to look through their household items like dishware, books and clothing items to see if there is anything they’d like to donate.
Host the sale at the same soccer facility you play at and put up signs around the area, like a typical yard sale.
Or you could consider hosting a community yard sale or mini-flea market where interested community members can buy a space in the sporting complex and bring their own yard sale items. This opens the event up to more people and allows them to keep the proceeds from their own sales.
17. Do a community clean-up
A community clean-up raises money through pledges while giving players a chance to help the neighborhood. To implement this, first have each player collect pledges for how much trash they collect. This can be in increments of bags, pounds or another measurement.
Then, spread teams out in various areas of the community and have players pick up litter, pull weeds, and do some general upkeep around the neighborhood. Those who have pledged will then donate based on the number of bags of trash (or other metric) collected.
It’s an easy-to-organize event, plus the community gets a little cleaner in the process.
18. Organize a walk/run
A walk/run fundraiser gives soccer families and community members a fitness-focused way to support the team. This type of fundraising event can be held in a couple of different ways.
First, you can set up a 5K that collects entry fees from interested participants. You’ll set up the race course and host a typical 5K.
You could also host a walk-a-thon. Similar to a kick-a-thon, those participating in the walk-a-thon make a pledge based on how many laps they plan to walk. For example, you could price it at $2 per lap. If the person walks ten laps, they donate $20.
How can your youth soccer team start fundraising?
Start by choosing a few soccer fundraising ideas that match your volunteers, schedule, and community support. Your efforts don’t have to resort to the same youth sports fundraising ideas year after year. Get creative by using one of these 18 youth soccer fundraising ideas.
Try to stick to a few different ideas per season. Then pay attention to which are the most successful fundraisers so you can replicate their success. Track which fundraiser was easiest to run, which had the best turnout, and which volunteers would be happy to run again next season.
Use a platform like Jersey Watch to build your soccer website to host fundraisers and other important events. Create an account to test out all of the features for free.
FAQs
What are the easiest soccer fundraising ideas for a youth team?
The easiest soccer fundraising ideas are usually the ones that use what your team already has, like game days, parents, players, and your field space. Parent donations, bake sales, raffles, kick-a-thons, and car washes are simple options because they do not require a large event plan. Pick one idea that fits your next practice or game, then give families clear details about how they can help.
What type of soccer fundraiser can raise the most money?
Fundraisers with more community reach, like local sponsorships, tournaments, silent auctions, and concerts, may have more fundraising potential because they involve more supporters. They also take more planning, so they work best when you have enough volunteers to handle promotion, setup, and follow-up. For many youth soccer teams, the best approach is to pair one larger fundraiser with one or two easier ideas during the season.
What are creative raffle ideas for a soccer team?
Creative raffle ideas for a soccer team can include local restaurant gift cards, sporting goods, family activity baskets, free appetizer certificates, and parent-donated themed baskets. Ask local businesses for prizes early, and make it easy for parents to contribute one item if they can. A raffle works best when the prize is easy to explain and the winner is announced while families are still at the game.
How can a youth soccer team raise money with local sponsors?
A youth soccer team can raise money with local sponsors by offering clear perks in exchange for a sponsorship donation. Common perks include a business name on jerseys, a banner at the complex, a mention on the league website, a mention on printed schedules, or a mention in team emails. Make the sponsor package simple so business owners can quickly understand how their support helps the team and how their business will be recognized.
Tim GusweilerCo-Founder / CEO
Tim is the Co-Founder of Jersey Watch, where he works with the product, marketing, and customer support teams to build software for youth sports organizations. He writes about youth sports management based on years of experience working with league administrators, coaches, and volunteers, along with a lifelong passion for sports.
