Our club desperately needed new nets and court repairs last season. Couldn’t just rely on membership fees anymore, so I spent two weeks researching and testing fundraiser ideas specifically for small tennis clubs like ours. Here’s what actually delivered results after trial and error.
The Awful First Attempt: Pizza Night Flop
Tried partnering with a local pizza joint where they’d donate 20% of sales if people mentioned our club. Sounds okay on paper, right? Total disaster. Only showed up on flyers at the club entrance – big mistake. Forgot most players don’t check bulletin boards. Ended up with $37 raised after three weeks. Felt ridiculous printing that cheque photo for Instagram. Learned fast: passive fundraisers don’t work unless you shove them in people’s faces.
Three Winners That Saved Our Season
After that mess, I pitched these at our board meeting:
- Pro-Am Hit-a-Thon: Members got sponsors per ball hit over net in 5 minutes. Crazy how competitive folks got chasing personal records!
- Used Gear Swap: Collected dusty racquets from basements, cleaned them up, sold for $5-$40 each. Almost zero cost.
- “Ace” Sponsor Boards: Local businesses paid $150 to paint their logo near courts. Key was making the boards removable so we reuse them.
Nuts and Bolts Execution
For the Hit-a-Thon, I nagged everyone for weeks via text blasts showing my own pledge sheet. Posted daily leaderboards – Karen from mixed doubles went viral when she smashed 327 balls! Made signup idiot-proof with QR codes on every court fence.
Gear swap needed hustle: I hauled a kiddie pool filled with racquets to every tournament weekend. Surprise hit? Old tennis ball cans became $1 coin banks. That alone funded new balls for juniors.
Sponsor boards were tougher. Cold-called 12 bike shops/coffee spots near our club. Only 3 bit until I added “free group lessons for employees” sweetener. Used waterproof vinyl stickers instead of paint – cost half as much.
Actual Results & Ugly Truths
We cleared $8,100 total. Breakdown shocks people:
- Hit-a-Thon: $3,200 (even with Tommy cheating using ball machine)
- Gear Swap: $1,100 (mostly from 90s Wilson racquets “collectors” fought over)
- Sponsorships: $3,800 (renewed 2/3 businesses this year)
Biggest lesson? Don’t do any fundraiser that relies on members remembering things. Every dollar came from making participation stupid-easy in the moment. Also, beer > pizza. Next time’s doing nacho sales courtside – 300% markup easy.