7 Easy Cheer Fundraising Ideas

Cheerleading Squad with Hands Raised

Cheer squads are among the busiest programs on any high school campus. It’s not easy providing spirited support to every team at school for the entire year, all while managing a full slate of cheer competitions and tournaments.

Here are 7 easy cheer fundraising ideas to help your program raise more in less time so you can get back to cheering!

Cheer fundraising is an important part of any successful cheerleading season.

New equipment and uniforms aren’t cheap. Choreography classes and overnight cheer camps don’t pay for themselves. If your cheer team competes, competition and travel expenses can be sky-high.

With so many costs, it’s no surprise that competitive cheer, now one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, is also among the most expensive.

Cheerleaders are athletes—anyone who tells you otherwise has no idea what they’re talking about—and any high school athlete who performs year-round has a full plate.

That’s why you need a cheer fundraiser idea that gets the job done fast.

WATCH this testimonial and hear how Stratford Cheer raised more than $20k for their program during COVID-19

7 proven cheer fundraising ideas so your cheerleading squad can kick the competition this season!

1) Youth Cheer Clinic

Connect with your community while fundraising for those new uniforms!

Invite elementary or middle school kids to spend a day on your home turf. Enlist your cheerleaders to teach the campers some basics, like toe touches or your school’s fight song.

One idea to make the clinic even more enticing to prospective cheerleaders, you can even give them the opportunity to perform at halftime of a home football game!

Charge a small fee per camper and give parents the offer to order youth cheer t-shirts or spirit gear for extra cash. Cheer camps can be a great way to raise a little money while also inspiring future generations of cheerleaders!

2) Cheer Squad Football Game

Rather than sticking to the sidelines, have your cheer team take the field for a change!

Here’s the cheer fundraising idea: Split your squad up into teams or partner up with another girls’ sports team for a game of tag football. Enlist a couple of members of the football team to act as coaches. Spectators can pay a small fee for admission. Sell food and drink at concessions to maximize your profits.

To make the game more intriguing, recruit some more football players to act as cheerleaders for a day. Perhaps you could convince them to perform at halftime!

3) Spirit Gear Sales

As cheerleaders, it’s essentially up to you to keep school spirit high. What better way to do that than to outfit the student body and greater school community in your school colors?

Sell school t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other accessories to classmates during lunch. Take your business to Friday night football games, and sell seat cushions and blankets with your school logo to chilly parents and rally poms to younger fans. This cheer fundraising idea is one of the most popular.
No matter the fundraising idea,
check out these 5 keys to team fundraising success

4) Car Wash

Car washes are a fun cheer fundraiser idea to throw together that everyone from students and their parents, to teachers and their families, can support.

Grab soap, sponges, a hose, and a couple of buckets, and find an empty parking lot near campus to set up shop. Make posters to hang around your school leading up to the big day as well as larger signs to do some roadside advertising the day of.

Don’t forget to bring some speakers because you’re—come on, sing it with me—workin’ at the car wash!

5) Bake Sale

A bona fide classic, bake sales are another tried and true way to make a little extra cash for your program. Best of all, this fundraising idea makes it easy to get squad parents involved!

Cheer parents can be just as passionate about cheer as their cheerleaders are and are generally, happy to help.

Ask cheerleaders and their families to donate a pan of brownies or a batch of cookies. Set up your stand of goodies outside of a school sporting event. Devoted fans are sure to get hungry!

6) Restaurant Fundraiser

Team up with a local restaurant and host a night out for your school!

Agree on a time and date with the selected restaurant and invite members of your school community to dine with you. A percentage of the restaurant’s earnings will go toward your program.

If you want to raise the percentage of earnings you get to take home, offer to have your cheerleaders wait on customers who came to support your program.

7) Virtual Fundraising

Stick to back tucks and toe touches and let technology take care of the rest!

Online fundraisers greatly reduce the hassle of cheer fundraising, while maximizing your donations. When everything is online, it’s easy to raise awareness of your fundraiser and even easier to collect your earnings.

Best of all, there’s no need to spend time planning and managing fundraising events and no need to devote excess time to other cheer fundraiser ideas.

With an online cheer fundraiser like Snap! Raise, your team can quickly reach your fundraising goal without cutting practice time to wash cars, bake cookies, or go door-to-door selling wrapping paper. You’ll get your time back and more funds, to boot.

Do less. Raise more. Cheer even louder than before.

Cheer Fundraising with Snap! Raise

By trading in cookie dough for efficient, effective online fundraising, cheer programs across the country have raised over $14 million using Snap! Raise.

$14 million raised by cheer teams
3,500 programs served nationwide
100,000 cheer athletes supported