Rally behind your team, bolster school pride
and be ready for spirit week with a Spirit Gear fundraiser. For decades, school fundraisers have involved a lot of knocking on doors, making deliveries and keeping track of payments. Now Spirit Gear offers a unique, online way to raise funds for your school while offering products that students, faculty and their families will actually want to own.
Inspire School Pride
Rather than simply selling gifts, stationery or food items, Spirit Gear provides school spirit wear that your boosters, pep squad and others will line up to buy. Create your own t-shirts and apparel using your school’s logo and mascot. A wide range of items are available beyond simple t-shirts. Jackets, hats, signs and mugs are among the items that you can emblazon with school pride. There are also fan sleeves and other fun items to wear to a big game. Rather than dealing with placing a big order all at once, design fashionable spirit wear in the online store that will increase your school pride and create unity among the student population.
Raise Funds
In addition to the spirit that this gear cultivates, your school or booster organization will collect 20% of the overall purchases. When your whole school or sports team purchases certain items, you can really raise money to fill in the gaps at your school. Schools are constantly in the search of funding for arts programs, after-school activities, athletics and field trips. Raise this money while providing your students and their families with clothing that they really want.
The Ease of Online
Instead of going door-to-door, send your neighbors, family and friends to the link for your school’s Spirit Gear store. There, they can make their selections on their own time, process their payment and wait for their order in the mail. Instead of keeping track of orders, sorting deliveries and managing payments, Spirit Gear absorbs much of the hassle of holding and running a fundraiser. After you set up your shop, you can send people online and watch the money roll in. Save yourself countless amounts of trouble by fundraising online.
Creating Your Design
Whether you are looking for specialty t-shirts for a rally or a big game, want to outfit your band with jackets for a big trip or simply want the whole school to have the option of a t-shirt for spirit week, Spirit Gear will help you customize the items in your shop. Bring in your mascot, logo and other artwork and come up with designs that are true to your school’s colors and insignia. With the range of techniques available, you can choose to have some items embroidered while another line is screen-printed. Choose a few standard items or go full out with a diverse selection of products that will entice a wider selection of buyers.
Engaging Children
Fundraising is proven to be an effective learning tool for children of all ages. Bake sales, Girl Scout cookies and other fundraisers have become staples in children’s development. While the online sale system does simplify some aspects of the shopping process, it still encourages children to embrace many of the helpful and informative aspects of sales. From approaching potential customers to following up with orders to calculating how much commission the school will receive, children benefit most from these fundraising platforms when they are given ownership of it. If you hold a Spirit Gear fundraiser, empower your students to feel responsible for approaching their neighbors and friends about making a purchase. You can also devise ways to help them better understand the commission process and help them to develop an understanding of exactly how much money is raised and what it will then be used for. Over the course of this process, children will develop sales, communication and money management skills.
Individual Results
Aside from the obvious benefit of bringing money in, holding a school fundraiser can also greatly benefit the children involved. On top of the financial and communication skills that they will receive, children who engage in fundraisers gain confidence in speaking and working with adults and people that they do not know. While your school or sports team will see major benefits from the revenue, each child will also be empowered on an individual level. That alone makes the prospect of holding a Spirit Gear fundraiser a great idea.
How to Use the Funds
Once the commission starts rolling in, you can look at how to spend it for your school or you can designate the funds from the beginning. Create an after-school arts program, get new jerseys for the soccer team, begin a tutoring program or renovate the gym. Whatever your school’s needs are, your potential buyers will be happy to know that their funds are going towards a worthy cause. They will also probably be even more motivated to purchase if they can see the effects of where their money will be going. Make sure that anyone involved in the fundraising itself has a clear message about how the funds are being distributed to help make your fundraiser as successful as possible.
Engage Your Community
Another major benefit of hosting an online fundraiser is the increased awareness it provides about your school’s needs. With a carefully devised campaign, you can inform your neighbors and community about the school’s funding needs and highlight important events and artistic opportunities that they might otherwise miss. With t-shirts, hats and mugs depicting your school’s logo and mascot, you will also increase branding for your school’s place in the town. Increased community awareness may also benefit the turnout at a Friday night game, orchestra concert or school play. Use this fundraiser as an opportunity to really engage with your community and inform them about the activities and special events at the school while also letting them in on some of your needs.
With all of the benefits of hosting a school fundraiser and the ease of creating an online store with Spirit Gear, it is worth it to build a shop for your school. Start a fundraiser in your community to raise money for necessary programs, empower children with sales and communication skills and create awareness in your community. On top of all of that, you will get great gear to sport your school pride!
