Basketball Tournament Fundraiser

A basketball tournament fundraiser will work well for many different groups...

As long as basketball is a sport that is enjoyed by the people in your area!

The bottom line is that people love sport and love getting involved in sport.

So if basketball is a sport enjoyed by your members, supporters, and competitors than a basketball fundraiser will work very well.

But like all events it's going to take work to organize it properly! So be prepared to put in effort to make it successful.

My biggest advice for when running an event is to be completely organized and prepared far in advance. The last thing you want is to be running around trying to organize things on the actual day!

Let's get going...

First we'll look at the fundraising ideas you will use at the event and then we will look at how to organize your Basketball tournament fundraiser ...

Fundraising Ideas For Your
Basketball Tournament:

With any event there are many ways of fundraising and you should be using as many of them as you can (within reason of course), to raise your needed funds!

Here are the ideas I'd recommend you use for your Basketball Tournament Fundraiser...

• Team Entries - Each team should have to pay an entry fee to enter. Just make sure that it is affordable! You must fill your playing field and if it is too expensive then teams just simply won't enter.
  
  A good idea would be to have a team package that comes with the fee, like a tournament shirt (not a playing shirt but a, "I was part of" shirt; have the tournament sponsors on that shirt as well), etc.
• Possibly Have Spectator Entry Fees - This you really need to be careful about using but it might just work for specific tournament.
  
  I'd suggest you don't use it for your first year and judge the demand and attraction your tournament has to decide if you'll use it the following year/s.
  
  Or you may just want to ask for donations as an entrance fee!

• Sponsorships And Advertising - Companies will get brilliant exposure at a tournament like this and will be more than likely very keen to sponsor and advertise at it.
  
  Find local businesses and pitch them about advertising at your tournament giving details of what exposure they will get. Make sure that it will be worth it for them!
  
  And remember that you will also need to find prize sponsors.

• Event Sponsor Wall On Your Website - This will go with the above idea and is really simple to set up!
  
  What you do is set up a sponsor wall on your website for your Basketball event, where people and companies can sponsor blocks in support of the event. They will then obviously get exposure through the wall and the link from their block.
  

• Food & Beverage Sales - This should be an obvious addition. You have to have refreshments and food available for you players and spectators. And it's a great way of raising funds as well!
  
  I would highly recommend you include Custom Water Bottles with this part of your event. Learn more here...
  
• A Raffle - This is the fundraising idea that will always work exceptionally well at any event and you should be using it at your basketball tournament fundraiser as well!
  
  Read the Fundraiser Raffle Ideas page to make your raffle a success.
• Apparel - Your basketball tournament fundraiser will be a great place to promote your Online Apparel Fundraising Store. Have samples and take orders from people.You could also consider stocking and selling some of your Apparel like stadium seat cushions at your tournament.
  
  Haven't set an Online Apparel Store up yet? Well SSA Custom Apparel Stores is the place to do it... But just make sure you read the entire Online Apparel Fundraising page to get the most out of your store!
  
  

• Sell Other Fundraising Products - Your basketball tournament will be the perfect place to sell other fundraising products like discount fundraiser cards.
  
  So grab a free fundraising product guide, look through the different fundraising products and pick the ones that would be most effective at your basketball tournament.
• Fundraise With The Events' Photos - You could also consider using the photos from your Basketball Tournament Fundraiser in your Calendar Fundraiser, or to create a fundraising photo book.
  
  Or use it in the style of a continuous photo fundraiser.
  

Running Your Basketball
Tournament Fundraiser:

The first thing you need to do is find a venue...

A Venue:

Without one you simply can't hold your tournament!

Your organization might be lucky enough to have a venue itself, but if not, you will need to look around and find a suitable location.

Make sure that it has the full facilities to hold your event effectively. Namely toilets, electricity, stands, and basketball courts of course!

Try your best to get the venue for free. You are having a fundraiser after all!

Get Team Entries:

This might be harder than it sounds and will also be a part of the promoting section down below.

You need to start advertising and contacting people to enter teams' months in advance of the tournament. Make sure that you have filled your playing field and received team entry fees at least a month before your tournament is due.

Obviously if you are for example a school you should get away with just inviting schools to participate, but if not contact friends, family, members, supporters, local schools, and sports clubs etc. to find teams.

If you make an annual event start the next year by inviting the previous year's teams back again.

Organize The Different Elements:

There are loads of things that you will need to organize, plan and set up.

So have a to-do list, hand out jobs to helpers, and make sure you are fully prepared and organized way in advance.

Here are some things you will need to organize before, during and after (With repeats of some of the above)...

• Find and book a Venue.
• Fill your playing field with teams.
• Find sponsorships, advertisers, and prizes.
• Full and effective promoting of your basketball tournament fundraiser.
• Set up fixtures, check results, calculate who plays in the finals etc.
• Design and make your event banners and signs.
• Organizing the refreshments and food. And cash change needed etc.
• Delegating jobs to helpers/volunteers for setting up.
• Setting up and organizing the different fundraising ideas!
• Registrations on the day.
• Refereeing and/or officiating.
• Audio system and then announcements.
• Prize Giving.
• Thanks.
• Cleaning after the tournament.
• And then... Adding up funds raised!!!

I would highly recommend you read this book "The Instant Fundraising Event System," to help you set up a system to run your fundraiser smoothly.

Promoting:

Obviously the first bit of promoting will be done when you're finding teams.

Then you'll want to promote your basketball tournament fundraiser to get spectators there...

And the best place to start is with the teams that have entered! Encourage them to get all their supporters, members, friends and family to come support them at your tournament.

Then you'll obviously post about it on your website and through your newsletters. Use social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Google + to promote.

I'd recommend that you set up an event on Facebook and invite all your contacts and encourage the teams entered to do the same. Also post about it on your Facebook Organization Page giving different details in different posts!

Get a local newspaper to do a write up about it and send out press releases to all local media.

Post posters up all around town and hand out flyers where possible. Just watch the cost of this and don't go overboard!

Importantly, encourage everyone involved or already attending to tell everyone they know and to spread the word as much as possible. Word of mouth promotion is unbelievably powerful!

For more great ideas on Promoting a Fundraiser read here.

Thank Everyone Properly:

I highly recommend that you thank everyone involved.

It is something that you should do naturally, but by making sure that everyone feels appreciated, you will also be making your job so much easier for your next basketball tournament fundraiser.

It's your first step to making your next tournament a success!!!

So thank all sponsors, teams, helpers, and spectators. Don't forget anyone!

Make It Annual:

Use the experience you gain from your first or previous basketball tournaments to make it into a successful annual fundraising event!

Make it a date that people look forward to. Where I come from we have an annual rugby touch tournament fundraiser that I can't wait for each year.

If you can make your tournament like that you are going to be raising some serious funds every year!

Good luck with your Basketball tournament Fundraiser!

And remember to come back and tell us about its success on the Success Stories from Successful Fundraising Ideas page.

Other Sports Fundraising Ideas:

Golf Fundraising Ideas For A Golf Day

Soccer Fundraiser Tournament

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