Fundraising is essential to the survival of cheerleading and dance groups across the nation. To pump up the donations, cheerleading teams and dance squads need to choose a motivating, profitable dance or cheer fundraising idea. One of the best fundraising ideas for cheerleading and dancing is a photo contest fundraiser.
Dance and Cheerleading Fundraising Ideas
- Jumps and Flips
- Formations
- Pom Poms and Ballet Shoes
- Uniforms and Costumes
- Flexibility
- Games, Competitions, and Performances
- Team Spirit
- Creative Poses
Cheer and dance hold a special place in the hearts of many people. Being part of a cheerleading squad or dance team fosters teamwork, physical fitness, creativity, and spirit. Oftentimes, the friendships formed within a dance or cheer team are priceless to those who may not have them anywhere else.
For these reasons, it is critical for a dance or cheer squad to have a source of steady funding. From the cost of dance or cheerleading uniforms to dance or cheer competition fees and travel expenses, participating in a cheer or dance team can be pricey. Without dance and cheer fundraisers, it would be impossible for many passionate dancers and cheerleaders to do what they love most.
How to Raise Money for a Dance Team or Cheer Squad
So, how do you raise money for a dance team? How can you raise money for cheerleading?
While there are many tried and true dance and cheerleading fundraising ideas out there, many require start-up costs, hands-on management, and lots of time and energy. Many cheer or dance team fundraising ideas involve selling fundraising products—like a candy bar or cookie dough fundraiser. The drawback of these types of dance or cheerleader fundraising ideas is the amount of management, time, and money needed for the fundraising effort to pay off.
Other fundraising ideas for cheerleading squads or dance teams suggest you sell tickets to a fundraising event, like a silent auction, talent show, bingo night, or raffle ticket fundraiser. However, you will need to actively set up, manage, and host the sale event on a specific day where you can get the most turnout.
When it comes to fundraising for cheerleading or dancing, you need to think outside the box. What unique cheerleading fundraisers make the most money?
Photo Contests are a Creative, Easy Way to Raise Money
A truly unique fundraising idea that can raise a sizable sum of money for your dance studio or cheerleading team is 360PhotoContest.com’s online photo contest fundraisers.
Not only do dance and cheerleading fundraiser photo contests on 360PhotoContest.com raise a lot of money (the average sports fundraising photo contest raises $8,225!), they are also one of the easiest fundraiser ideas you can host. The photo contest fundraising platform takes all the hard work out of running a successful cheerleading and dance team fundraiser. It keeps track of all photo submissions, votes, and donations so you don’t have to.
Because it all takes place over the internet, a cheerleading or dance team fundraising photo contest allows for much wider participation than a traditional fundraising event at an in-person venue. There are no location or date restrictions, so more donors can contribute to your fundraising efforts.
360PhotoContest.com’s fundraisers work by charging a small fee (usually $1 per vote entry) for supporters to vote on their favorite photo submitted to the contest. Anyone can participate by voting or submitting a photo to the contest. Once a photo has been submitted to your contest, the entrant can share a link with friends and family members to encourage them to vote for their photo in the contest. Once the contest ends, your dance or cheerleading group keeps the funds raised.
The only things you will need to set up for your dance or cheerleading fundraising photo contest are the contest rules, contest theme, the date range for the contest to run, and prizes for the winners. Prizes can include everything from a gift card to a discount card at the concession stand to a sporting event or even a cash prize. You can input all these things online using 360 Photo Contest’s easy-to-use platform.
Another important aspect that you will need to handle in order to pull off a successful fundraiser is promotion of your contest. Advertise your cheerleading or dance fundraiser everywhere you can. Display flyers at the school and local businesses. Put an ad in the newspaper or on a local radio station. And, of course, announce your photo contest to attendees at any sporting event your team cheers at or any dance competitions you participate in. Make sure you post your dance or cheer fundraiser all over social media and encourage followers to share it like crazy!
Top 8 Dance and Cheerleading Fundraising Ideas
To pull off a successful cheerleading fundraiser or dance fundraiser, you will also need to decide on an outstanding contest theme that will inspire community members to participate. To help you brainstorm, here are several creative cheer and dance fundraising ideas we came up with:
1. Jumps and Flips
Cheer squads and dance teams are both known to pull off jumps, flips, and stunts the rest of us can only marvel at. Not only can jumps and flips be impressive, but they can also be a great photo opportunity.
Ask your supporters to capture your dance or cheer group’s finest flips and jumps on camera. With jumps and flips as your cheer or dance team fundraiser theme, you’ll be sure to get some fun, action-filled shots.
Ideas for photos submitted under this contest theme include pictures of a cheer or dance team member in the middle of a flip, team members landing incredible jumps, or the whole team showing off their incredible jumping and flipping skills.
2. Formations
Anyone who has ever been a dancer or cheerleader knows that formations aren’t as effortless as they may seem. To master a formation, it takes hard work and a mastery of teamwork, but once you nail a formation, it’s totally worth it.
Ideas for a formation themed dance or cheer photos include snapshots of your cheer or dance team displaying on-point choreography, the group posing in an original formation, or your team members proudly showcasing synchronicity at a competition.
3. Pom Poms and Ballet Shoes
Another great dance or cheer fundraising idea is to center your photo contest around iconic equipment used by dancers and cheerleaders, like pom poms or ballet shoes.
A few examples of a pom poms theme for a cheerleader fundraiser include artistic portrayals of pom poms set up against sporting equipment or creative background, close-up shots of pom poms waving during a cheerleading routine, or a cheer team member showing off their pom poms in an impressive pose.
Some ideas for a ballet shoe theme for a dance team fundraiser include zoomed-in photos of a ballet dancer’s shoes during a performance, a still life photo of ballet shoes propped against a tutu, or ballet shoes lined up inside a dance studio.
4. Uniforms and Costumes
One perk of being a dancer or cheerleader are the gorgeous uniforms and costumes you get to wear. After all, when you look your best, you perform your best.
Entry ideas for this theme include pictures of custom dance costumes or cheer uniforms, team members proudly wearing their uniforms or costumes, or even photo collages of different costumes worn by the team throughout the years.
5. Flexibility
Dancers and cheerleaders are known to display awe-inspiring feats of flexibility! Showcase all the training your team has worked hard on by making flexibility the theme of your dance or cheer fundraising photo contest.
Several examples of flexibility themed photo contest submissions are a picture of a cheer or dance team member doing the splits, team members bending their bodies into crazy shapes, or cheer or dance group routines that focus on flexibility.
6. Games, Competitions, and Performances
All those grueling hours of cheer and dance practice culminate in performances. Showcase your cheer or dance group’s hard work by making performances at games and competitions the center of your photo contest fundraiser.
Submissions can include great shots of your dance group or cheer squad performing at these dance or cheer competitions. And if your team wins, photos could also include your team being presented with a well-deserved trophy.
If your dance group or cheerleading squad performs at sports team games, you could ask supporters to take snapshots of sporting event cheer or dance routines. This theme would also make a great football fundraising idea or basketball fundraising idea for a sports team photo contest fundraiser.
7. Team Spirit
Team spirit is the heart and soul of cheerleading and dancing. The entire purpose of cheerleading starts with pumping up the team spirit of a sports team or crowd. While dance routines would be impossible to get right without every individual dancer putting their team first.
A team spirit theme could include some very fun contest submissions, like cheerleaders showing off at cheer camp, dancers displaying teamwork during a performance, or your cheer group posing together at a sporting event to show off their pride in the team. This theme could also double as a school fundraising photo contest.
8. Creative Poses
If your dance team or cheer group has any unique, original poses, now is the time to show them off! With creative poses as your dance or cheer fundraising photo contest theme, you’re sure to get exciting submissions.
Ask supporters to snap photos of creative cheer and dance poses. Poses could be performed by an individual team member or your cheer or dance group as a whole.
Photo Contests Make Dance Team and Cheerleading Fundraising Easy!
Whether you’re looking for fundraising ideas for cheerleading uniforms or dance team competition expenses, hosting a photo contest is a great fundraising idea. A virtual photo contest isn’t subject to the same limitations that an in-person fundraising event has. Photo contests for cheer or dance fundraisers are unique, easy to manage, high profit, and allow for wide participation.
A photo contest is an easy fundraising idea that lets you focus on the fun aspects of running a dance or cheerleader fundraiser, like choosing a creative contest theme! Some exceptional fundraising ideas for dance team or cheer squad include Jumps and Flips, Formations, Pom Poms and Ballet Shoes, Uniforms and Costumes, Flexibility, Games, Competitions, and Performances, Team Spirit, and Creative Poses.
No matter what contest theme you choose, 360PhotoContest.com offers a simple, easy-to-use platform that can help you surpass your fundraising goal. So, schedule a demo with 360PhotoContest.com to learn more today!