Whether your team participates in AAU baseball or in another league, you want your players to look their best. Updating your baseball uniforms is a great idea to boost your teamís morale, and there are many great choices available. Once you have selected a uniform that fits your team, coming up with the funds may prove to be difficult. In some cases, the uniforms may be purchased through an available budget through the school or organization hosting the team. In other cases, you might require your team members to pay for the uniforms out of their own pocket. With either situation, you can find some effective sports fundraising activities that your team can participate in to raise money or to build team relationships. Here are several valuable ideas that can help your team to partially or fully pay for the cost of new AAU baseball uniforms.

Team Fundraising Ideas

There are two main approaches you can take to raise funds for your new uniforms. Your team can raise funds together to decrease the cost of all uniforms as a whole or your individual players can raise funds on their own through a team-sponsored fundraiser. There are many great team fundraising ideas that are available to you. Here are some examples of fundraisers you can host as a team:

• Car wash – great idea but limited based on weather and getting the right spot
• Lawn and gardening services – Must have the right connections and equipment for this
• Perform tasks for a reduced fee to the community – Another connections based fundraiser
• Bake sale – †Cookies! Fun but limited revenue generating
• Sell t-shirts – †Another good one that parents and grand parents can’t resist but limited revenue opportunities
• Get sponsors who will pay for advertising space on your jerseys or team t-shirts – †This is great if you can find it!
• Work in a concession stand – †lemonade stands at local fairs are always a winner

There are so many more way to earn the funds for uniforms for teams that are willing to take initiative and look for opportunities to work.

Individual Player Fundraising Ideas

Individual players can also raise funds on their own through team-sponsored events. If the team parents and the neighborhood allow, team members can simply go door-to-door and ask for monetary donations to support the team. Another idea is for members to sell merchandise that ranges from candy bars to candles and wrapping paper or other items. Teams can also choose from numerous fundraising organizations and companies to work with. That way, each player can choose to participate as much or as little as they would like. This may be a more ideal solution for those teams that have players who need to raise funds to offset costs as well as players who do not want to participate in fundraising and are willing to pay for the uniform out of their own pockets.For us the ESPN fundraiser is by far the best. I have had multiple coaches over the years thank me for hooking them up with this Fundraiser. Here’s a list of the advantages:

• Great brand name recognition
• Team keeps 75% of the profit!
• No minimum orders and no upfront costs
• Available online
• No time frame, so the fundraiser can go on all season long

The website is www.coaches.espn.com and setting up a fundraiser is simple and fast:

1. Set up a team account
2. Send the link to the players
3. Talk to friends and relatives and have them get online and order
4. Make lots of money for the team so you can buy amazing uniforms and win the Championship!

If your team is working with a tight budget, you may consider opting for generic uniforms rather than customized options. However, the cost of a fully customized uniform may be more affordable than you might think. When you employ one or even several of these fundraising ideas for your baseball uniforms, you may discover that your team can more easily afford to purchase uniforms that will give your team the confidence to play their best.