Fundraising Incentives — Part 1

So you’ve found yourself in the middle of another fundraiser, huh? I certainly hope that you’re taking full advantage of the incredible Flex Fundraising team–they’ll bring you your highest return in fundraising while doing the least amount of work. Fundraising doesn’t need to be sucky, and with Flex Fundraising, they’ll make you and your team excited to be doing a fundraiser. I know, that sounds weird, but trust me. They’re your guys.

While doing your fundraiser, you’re gonna want to have some incentives to increase the competitive nature for your team while also rewarding them for their hard work. An excellent time to do this incentive would be during practice. I know, I know, practice is a sacred time to prepare for the next game, but believe me when I tell you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a straight up fun practice that has little to nothing to do with the sport.

Below will be some tips on what you can do for your team. Regardless of age or the sport itself, you’ll be surprised when you find that even high school seniors get absolutely stoked out of their minds for a water balloon fight or capture the flag. Do not doubt these awesome team-bonding activities!

Awesome “recess” like games to reward your kids with

Dodgeball, capture the flag, freeze tag, water balloon fight, kickball

  • Dodgeball. This one should be pretty easy to set up and execute–talk with your buddy who runs the gym and see if you can borrow some dodgeballs. This doesn’t need to take place in the gym! Take advantage of whatever your practice field is, set up some loose boundaries, and get a tournament going. Athletes are always motivated by competition, so let the winners get something cool at the end!
  • Capture the flag. This might honestly be one of the most underrated games to do with a group of athletes. I’m sure you remember the rules: have each side hide a flag, draw a halfway point where you can be captured if you cross into enemy territory, bring the flag back to your side, etc. You can make up whatever other rules you see fit! I’ve seen people play this where they take pantyhose material, put flour in the end, and swing or throw it at people to get them out instead of tagging. You can have both sides hide the flag in plain sight where both teams know where it is, or you can go the classic route and have them hide it. This WILL lead to hurt feelings, but it’s all part of the game!
  • Water balloon fight. This one is a perfect reward for a hot summer day. Imagine the look on your team’s face when, instead of gearing up for another hot day of brutal practice, you reveal some coolers filled with colored balloons. Put some clothing-friendly dyes in the water and split people into however many teams. From here, you can go the capture the flag route or play any sport, with the added element of water balloons! Nowadays they’ve invented some little tools that make filling up hundreds of water balloons much easier, so it won’t be that annoying to set up…
  • Kickball. Kickball is such an easy and good time. You can get most if not all of the equipment needed from the gym or baseball shed. You can split the teams up easily and have the team just go nuts. It’s pretty self explanatory, naturally. If you want to add some craziness to it, check out what some people have been doing in the summer to make kickball a little more fun! This takes a little more effort to put together and may be tougher for your larger teams (football, namely) but will be an awesome and memorable time for your team!