Here’s a way for your team to “clean up” and everybody wins. Check out this interview with Lamar Slay on how he raised $40,000 in individual fundraisers for youth groups.
Q: Would you please provide a brief bio of yourself?
Lamar: I am a consultant who works with churches in several different capacities, one of which is fundraising. For 25 years, I served as a youth pastor at large churches and did annual fundraisers. I also served on a Christian school board and chaired the student fundraising. I have five children and they all played youth sports!
Q: What fundraising programs have you implemented in the past?
Lamar: Magazine sales, carwashes, inflatable games.
Q: Which fundraising program/s would you recommend for other youth teams?
Lamar: The car wash.
Q: Can you provide a brief overview of the suggested program? (How to implement, time per family, other details).
Lamar: The most successful fundraiser I have ever done was one I repeated at multiple places. It was a car wash. The last one we conducted raised more than $40,000 with about 140 kids participating. We conducted the car wash like you would a jog-a-thon, with kids getting pledges for each car we would wash. The car wash was free and we actually got a local full service carwash to wash our cars for us.
Q: What is an average number of dollars per family that other teams should expect to receive from implementing this program?
Lamar: We asked each kid to raise $3 total per car we washed. We told those who pledged that we would cap their donation at the first 100 cars. (If they pledge 30 cents per car, 100 cars would equal $30) If 100 kids raise a total of $3 each per car, you will raise $30,000.00.
Q: Do you have any other suggestions for other teams and their fundraising programs?
Lamar: The key to getting kids to work hard is to reward them. The best reward is cash. We ran the car wash for four weeks and each week we would give away several hundred dollars in rewards to the kids who brought in the most money for that week. We would go to local businesses and give them coupons worth $50. If a kid came in and asked for a donation, the business owner would give them the coupon and when we had our meeting, that kid would get $50. This got the kids out knocking on doors. The grand prize for the top 10 kids was a road trip in a RV (donated) where we paid for everything, including a $100 each for a shopping spree at an outlet mall.
Q: What advice do you have for parents involved in youth sports?
Lamar: Remember that you are teaching your kids about life, not just sports. As a Youth Pastor, it was easy to tell a lot about a kid’s relationship with his/her parents by attending one of their games. The interaction through eye contact while on the field or court or after the game told me a lot and often was a real clue about the kid’s self-esteem. Parents, kids don’t miss much. If they think you are not pleased with their performance, they assume you are not pleased with them as a person. That can be very damaging to their self-esteem. On the other hand, if a kid feels your love and affirmation regardless of how they performed, their self-esteem will get a great boost based on your unconditional love.
