Anyone who has ever played or had a family member play a team sport like baseball knows how pricey it can be, from the cost of uniforms and equipment to field maintenance and travel expenses. Whether you’re a parent, coach, or baseball player looking for ways to raise money for your baseball team, you should seriously consider hosting a photo contest baseball fundraiser.
7 Baseball Fundraising Ideas
- Team Spirit
- Home Runs
- At the Bat
- Mascot Antics
- Bats and Balls
- Hot Dogs
- Wins and Celebrations
Baseball is an American tradition that goes all the way back to 1869. Millions of baseball fans come together to cheer on their team at stadiums across the country every year. For many families, baseball is more than just a sport—it’s a way to get closer and spend more time together.
For adults and kids alike, baseball has a lot of value. Playing on a baseball team develops coordination, social skills, sportsmanship, and self-confidence. However, the benefits of playing on a baseball team can come at a high cost to the player’s (or player’s parent’s) wallet.
How Do Baseball Teams Raise Money?
Expensive uniforms and equipment—which often need to be replaced on an annual basis—baseball field updates, and the fees associated with traveling for away games (gas, hotels, food, etc.) can all add up to make being a member of a baseball team unfeasible for some, without financial help. Many young athletes are deterred from playing on a youth sports team because it costs too much. That’s why baseball fundraising has become such an important part of the team sport’s season, especially for youth teams.
If you’re in charge of coming up with fundraising ideas for baseball teams, you might be wondering, how do baseball teams raise money and what are my fundraising options?
There are lots of different baseball team fundraising ideas that can be utilized to solicit donations. You could raise money through a traditional fundraiser like selling candy bars, raffle tickets, or scratch cards, to name a few old-school sports fundraising ideas.
Or, you could try a new, innovative way to raise money for your sports team‑one of the easiest fundraising ideas ever: a photo contest online fundraiser.
Photo contests make great fundraisers for sports teams for many reasons. Unlike a physical, in-person sports fundraiser event, which requires a lot of coordination, an online photo contest is a low cost, low effort, high profit fundraising opportunity.
A photo contest baseball fundraiser is truly one of the easiest baseball fundraising ideas. It’s virtual, so you don’t need to worry about finding a location to host the baseball fundraiser, and anyone can participate—even if they are not a local community member.
Photo contests are one of the best youth baseball fundraising ideas because anyone of any age can take an active role in raising money for the youth baseball team. Plus, baseball fundraising photo contests are easy to set up on 360PhotoContest.com.
How 360PhotoContest.com Hosts Baseball Fundraisers
360PhotoContest.com is a photo contest platform that takes all the work out of managing a baseball fundraiser. Many organizations and sports teams use the platform to help them meet their fundraising goal. On average, photo contests on 360PhotoContests.com raise $8,225!
Money is raised by charging a donor (usually $1 per vote entry) to vote on submissions to your photo contest. Once you set up your baseball fundraiser on 360PhotoContest.com, anyone can submit and vote on photos.
A participant who submits a photo to your contest can share a custom link with friends and family members to encourage them to vote for their submission. After the contest ends, your baseball team keeps the funds raised through vote entries.
360PhotoContest.com keeps track of the money raised, and hosts the entire contest on its simple-to-use platform. All you have to do is fill out a form to schedule a time to set up your photo contest baseball fundraiser with a 360PhotoContest.com representative.
Before you start, you will need to work out the contest details, including your baseball fundraising contest theme, contest rules, a date range, and prizes
After you set up your photo contest baseball fundraiser, you will want to let everyone know about it. Remember: the more participants you have, the closer you get to your fundraising goal.
Advertise your contest using local media, like newspapers, radios, and flyers at businesses or schools. Promote your baseball fundraising contest using social media, and get players and supporters to share it with their followers. Announce the baseball fundraising contest at team practices and baseball games.
7 Baseball Fundraising Ideas Using a Photo Contest
While 360PhotoContest.com takes care of the hardest aspects of running a successful baseball fundraiser, you will need to spread the word and come up with a truly inspiring photo contest theme that all your supporters can rally around to reach your fundraising goal. To help you pick an engaging theme, here seven of the best baseball fundraising ideas we have come up with:
1. Team Spirit
Team spirit encompasses the meaning of what baseball is truly all about. If you’ve ever played, watched, or coached baseball, you know that team spirit can really make or break a team—in more ways than one.
During a baseball game, it’s crucial that every team member has a mindset that puts the team first, and a baseball crowd is no fun without team spirit. The cheers of baseball supporters in the stands can really boost the team’s drive to win.
Because it is so important to have team spirit, this theme is one of the best baseball fundraiser ideas for a photo contest!
A few ideas for team spirit photo submissions include snapshots of baseball players exemplifying comradery on the field, baseball fans dressed in team colors, or impressive signs made by your team’s biggest, most creative supporters.
2. Home Runs
What’s more inspiring than a home run? Whenever a baseball player hits a home run, the crowd goes wild, and as anyone knows, home runs can be a major game-changer.
Home runs are probably the most exciting part of a baseball game, so why not make it the theme of your baseball fundraiser photo contest?
Pictures of your team’s most awe-inspiring home run hits, the crowd cheering on a baseball player who has hit a home run, or players sliding into home after a great home run hit would all make awesome submissions for this theme.
3. At the Bat
Another inspirational baseball themed photo contest idea is At the Bat. If you’ve ever watched a baseball player step up to the plate to bat, you’ll have noticed their own distinct stance and focused facial expression as they prepare to take their swing. If this doesn’t make a great picture, we don’t know what does!
If you choose At the Bat as the theme for your baseball fundraiser photo contest, some examples of submissions could include any rituals players do just before stepping up to bat, players preparing to take a swing, and action shots of players hitting the ball.
4. Mascot Antics
If there’s anything team mascots are known for, it’s their wacky antics. Mascots give the baseball game itself a run for its money when it comes to entertaining the crowd.
With Mascot Antics as the theme for your baseball fundraising photo contest, you’re sure to get some very amusing submissions! This is a fun, interesting theme that is among the top middle school or high school baseball fundraising ideas for a photo contest theme. A mascot-centered photo contest could also double as a school fundraiser.
Some ideas for Mascot Antics photo submissions include pictures of mascots dancing, playing pranks, posing with the baseball team, or any other shenanigans your baseball team mascot gets into!
5. Bats and Balls
Baseball bats and baseballs are some of the most iconic, recognizable sports equipment around. To most baseball fans, balls and bats are not just things; they’re symbols. If you’ve ever seen someone catch a home run ball at a game, you’ll understand.
Baseballs and bats bring to mind images of All-American fun and hold a lot of meaning. In our book, baseballs and baseball bats are synonymous with American tradition. If you’re as inspired by baseball bats and balls as we are, you should consider making this the theme for your baseball fundraiser photo contest.
Ideas for photo entries within this theme include pictures of signed baseballs and bats, baseball player custom bats, and artistic photographs of bats and balls set up on a baseball field.
6. Hot Dogs
Who doesn’t love a good hot dog at a baseball game? No matter which team they’re rooting for, all baseball fans agree that a hot dog is the perfect baseball game snack.
Because everyone loves them (and has very serious opinions about how they should be made—we’re looking at you Chicago!), why not make hot dogs the theme of your baseball fundraising photo contest?
Submission ideas for a hot dog themed photo contest baseball fundraiser include photos that show off the photographer’s favorite hot dog toppings, players and fans biting into baseball’s favorite food, or even the cooks grilling up franks at the concession stand on a sunny day!
7. Wins and Celebrations
Winning a baseball game or tournament is one of the most out-of-this-world experiences a baseball player can have.
After long, hard days of practicing and playing against other teams—possibly even traveling to other towns or states to compete, baseball game victories are well-deserved and satisfying. Because of this, a Wins and Celebrations theme is one of the best travel baseball fundraising ideas for a photo contest.
Some examples of photos that could be submitted under this theme include the team gathered together cheering their win, after-game celebration parties, or trophy presentations for tournament winners.
Set Up Your Baseball Photo Contest Fundraiser Today!
Using 360PhotoContest.com to host a baseball fundraiser photo contest is one of the easiest, most unique baseball fundraising ideas around. A photo contest fundraiser is low cost, high profit, and allows for wide participation. It’s an all-around fun, creative way to raise money for your baseball team.
While 360PhotoContest.com does all the heavy lifting, like tallying donations and hosting the contest, your job is to choose a theme that inspires great photo submissions for your contest. After all, the best photograph submissions will get the most votes, and the most money for your baseball fundraiser.
Some of the best baseball team fundraising ideas for photo contests include team spirit, home runs, at the bat, mascot antics, bats and balls, hot dogs, and wins and celebrations.
So, get your creative juices flowing and brainstorm with your team before making a final decision on for your baseball fundraiser. No matter which theme you choose, we’re confident your team will do well and reach its fundraising goal with a photo contest on 360PhotoContest.com.
So, what are you waiting for? Learn more or request a demo at 360PhotoContest.com today!