Fundraising plays a key role in the survival of all sporting clubs of all codes. But with the weather heating up and the ashes heading down under this summer, cricket lovers across Australia are dusting off the pads and wickets are being rolled in preparation for the upcoming cricket season. Although there are funding schemes and ideas for fundraising in place, these are very limited in numbers, so it is vital cricket clubs find other ways of sustaining themselves and develop for the future.
Fundraising events, such as a fun social poker night, can help create camaraderie among cricket club members and their families as they come together to enjoy a fun night of cards as a group. It’s also a great way to get the parents of junior players and the senior players at the club and helps give a greater sense of community, all while having a great time and raising valuable funds for the club.
So, your grass roots cricket club needs to raise money for new equipment or perhaps work around the clubhouse and grounds, but your sick and tired of the same old trivia nights, meat raffles or not sure how to organise a successful fundraising event. Then here are some pointers to help you organise a successful fundraiser that everyone will enjoy, but most importantly raise money for the club:
• Decide what event you want to hold. Look at previous fundraising events you have held or what other clubs in your community have done to see what works best. Poker is not only a fun, social and team building night that has risen in popularity since Aussie Joe Hachem won the World Series of Poker. Men, women, young and old can all participate on a level playing field, all while raising money for the club. Visit Poker Deluxe on facebook to see images of recent fundraisers.
• Choose a reliable group of people to help you organise and run the event. It’s admirable that you might not want to burden others with organising the fundraiser, but this is where the team building begins and can only help the end cause. Poker Deluxe’s experienced team will be right there with you in the lead up to the event. We’ve done this plenty of times, so not only do we provide everything you need to run a successful poker tournament, we also provide you with:
- Posters to promote the night
- Tickets for pre-sale
- Electronic invitation to email guests
- Poker game rules cheat sheet
- Learn to play session at your event
- Help you with social media promotion
- And over $2,000 worth of prizes!
• Lean on EVERYONE at the club to tell friends, family and work colleagues to attend the night. The more people, means more $’s for the cricket club.
• Make a list of all the people you know (family, friends, colleagues, retired players and club members, local businesses) and work out how they can help you tell more people in the broader community, as well as participating in the poker fundraiser itself.
• Consider local businesses or club members with small businesses in the community and ask for possible donations/sponsorship for the cricket club. Ask for ‘in kind’ contributions or free use of equipment rather than cash as you’re more likely to get a positive response. These prizes or business services can then be auctioned, raffled or added to the poker prizes at the fundraiser to give attendees more things to win for their donations to the club.
• Approach smaller and local businesses first as they are likely to appreciate the opportunity of advertising locally and supporting their own community more than larger big name corporations. Always offer face to face meetings rather than just sending out letters with no follow up.
• Always invite any businesses or individuals who have donated to the night and let them share in the fun social aspect of poker fundraiser, while providing a great chance to network for future events.
• Try to allow yourself a good 4 or more weeks, preferably 6, so you have as much time to promote the fundraiser as well as giving possible guests the best chance to mark the night in their calendar.
• Pre-selling tickets is a must. No matter how many people say they are coming, they aren’t actually coming until they have made a donation to purchase a ticket. Pre-selling the ticket, not only locks people in and gives you every chance of raising more funds. It also means your guests will have more expendable cash on the night to spend on other things to help the club, since they haven’t just had to pay for their ticket on arrival.
• Consider your budget for the event and set yourself and the fundraising team a target. By considering the capacity of your venue and the predicted number of guests you can set an admission price. Be careful – if the price is too high it will put some people off, too low and it will severely reduce the amount you raise. Consider:
- What are your break even costs?
- What is your fundraising goal?
- How many guests do you need to cover costs?
- How many guests do you need to start making money for the cricket club?
This is just some of the things we can do to help your cricket club hold that memorable and successful fundraiser event this season, so drop us a message. As always – May the flop be with you!
