Cheerleading is one of those sports that is often referred to as a "tween." It's between a club and a sport. Consequently many school districts treat cheerleading as a step child and don't provide the funding that they would if it were basketball or softball. On top of that, more and more groups are "getting competitive" with their routines and often require that cheerleaders attend formal "out of school" cheerleading training or some sort of tumbling or even formal gymnastics training.

For a parent it would seem that the sole purpose of all this is to drive the cost of cheerleading up. However, if you ask the cheerleaders themselves, they are all for it. Hey, if you were a teenager, wouldn't you be too?

What that leaves many kids and their parents is a near $1,000 or more bill that has to be paid out of pocket over the course of a few months shortly after tryouts. Which brings us to the point of this article. If you want to help your squad the most, do your fundraiser right after tryouts. If you really want to help more students who normally wouldn't be able to afford to be on the squad to "make it" then do one little thing for them during tryout week. It will make the biggest difference for them on their fundraising results.

Here goes, you ready? During tryouts, hand each student a paper with 50-75 blanks on it with a heading that says "My Success List" across the top. Their assignment is to go home that night and sit down with their parents and come up with 50-75 names of adults that they and their parents know. Have them turn the list in the following day at tryouts and keep them until you start your fundraiser right after tryouts.

What This Does For Your Team

Because cheerleading is usually the most expensive sport on a school campus, your squad usually has more money to raise than these students have ever raised before on a fundraiser. Now in most fundraising situations, students take their brochure home and show it around and come back with 5-15 items that they have sold and think that they have done a major good thing. Only now they need to sell 40-90 things to make a good dent in their cheerleading expenses. By making a list ahead of time, you'll give you team members a whole lot more confidence and a major resource to come closer to paying their own way than you would if you just hand it out like every other fundraiser they have ever done in their life.

One other thing... If you have them get phone numbers of the adults on their list and sell cookie dough for your fundraiser, most of them can sell 40-60 things over the phone on the first night of their sale. Because grandma, anunt Sue and mom's best friend don't have to actually see the brochure to know that they want oatmeal raisin and white chocolate mac flavored cookie dough. So most of it can be sold over the phone! Extra Cool!

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If you are searching for fresh, innovative and profitable cheerleading fundraising ideas, go to the AimFundraising.com website.