Some dance teams are lucky enough to have adequate funds from their school to cover the cost of a coach, competitions, costumes, travel expenses and other costs. Others may have some of these costs covered and then have to pay a modest fee on their own. Many dance teams, however, must pay for all of these things out of pocket, unless they are able to cover some of the expenses through fundraising.
There are unlimited ways a dance team can fundraise to cover costs, but some fundraisers are more effective than others. And there are some great fundraisers that can be put on by college and high school dance teams that relate much closer than the thing they truly are passionate about-dance. Here are some great fundraisers that your dance team might want to try to help defray costs.
T-shirts
If your dance team is popular at your school, a t-shirt fundraiser is a great way to raise a little money and let your fans show their spirit. Design a logo that will be appealing to the dance team’s fans. This should be something that anybody can wear: friends, boyfriends, parents, grandparents, siblings, coworkers, etc. Keep it gender-neutral, because, believe it or not, given a decent looking shirt, plenty of guys will be more than happy to purchase one and give you a hand with the fundraiser. Have the shirts manufactured somewhere inexpensive, preferably a place that will give a heavy discount for mass orders. My dance team had the shirts made for $5.00 a piece and then sold them for $10.00 which we felt was a reasonable asking price. This way, each t-shirt we sold, we made $5.00. I asked everyone I knew to buy one and sent out emails and made a ton of phone calls, asking friends and family to support our fundraiser. I even created an event on Facebook for the t-shirt fundraiser. You can’t be afraid to contact anyone if you really want to raise money.
Having a dance team car wash fundraiser seems to work well with the high school and college guys, as well as with the middle-aged pervs. But hey, as long as they make a donation and leave you alone, no big deal. Do this fundraiser on a hot summer day, and find a location where a lot of people will be passing and you’ll be very visible. It helps to make large, colorful signs that announce the car wash and point in the direction of the event. Have a few dance team members stand and wave the signs near busy intersections. If you dare, wear skimpy bikinis while you wash the cars. You can either charge for each car wash, or do them for free and ask for a donation.
Dance Clinic and/or Competition
This is by far my dance team’s most lucrative fundraiser. Last year, we made enough during this fundraiser to pay each dancer’s competition and hotel fees for the UDA college dance team nationals (which was a little over $300 per dancer) plus covered the cost of our rhinestones (most likely another $100 per dancer). You can teach younger dancers short dances in a variety of styles, such as hip hop, jazz, lyrical, musical theater, etc. Give the dancers advice and critiques as they practice, and then allow them to perform the dances for each other. You can also hold a competition or invitational for other dance teams and then have judges available to score and comment on the dancers. This fundraiser works especially well with strong college dance teams, which can invite local high school teams and less competitive college dance teams or clubs. These groups of dancers will find your dance team to be a trustworthy source, and a great authority on dancing. Don’t break the trust these dancers have in your dance team, because if you do, they will not come back and pay clinic and competition fees next year. There are other ways to fundraise in the midst of the clinic fundraiser. You can sell concessions to dancers who will probably be very hungry after several hours of dance class or a long competition. Another idea is to charge a small fee for programs, or even have an admission fee. Also, your team could sell t-shirts, sweats, or other attire to the clinic or competition participants.
My dance team also contacted local businesses and asked them to sponsor us for our clinic and competition. We put the sponsors in our program and on a large sign that everyone passed as they entered the event. It was a win-win situation, since the dance team got a little more money from each sponsor, and the businesses got relatively cheap advertising.
Dance Day Camp
This fundraiser is a variation on the dance team clinic idea. During the summer, if you are able to find studio space or a gym, you can hold classes every day for a week or two weeks. You could work with dancers on technique, teach them new and exciting choreography and have them perform for each other as in the clinic. This would give the dancers a chance to improve their skills and meet others, while the dance team could potentially make a rather large profit off the camp. This only works if enough dance team members are willing to make the time commitment necessary for organizing and holding a day camp.
Choreography
Many coaches of weaker dance teams are happy to pay talented choreographers to make up a dance and teach it to the students. My college dance team charged $400 to choreograph a competition dance for a high school team-this is a very cheap asking rate when compared with professional choreographers, but it’s enough to help us pay for essentials, such as shoes or costume supplies. Many local high school dance team coaches contacted us, and we ended up choreographing for several varsity and junior varsity teams. All the dances we choreographed for high school dancers added up quickly, and helped the dancers on my team pay for all kinds of expenses associated with dance team. It was an effective fundraiser, but it didn’t really feel like a fundraiser.
Other possible fundraisers:
Bake Sale
Wreath Sale
Send out letters to local businesses and ask for donations
Give a recital or some other performance and charge audience members
Perform at venues willing to pay for entertainment (some shows and county or state fairs are willing to pay dance teams to come and perform)
Choreograph for solos or duets (high school dance team, or students from studios)
