Booster club treasurer. It's a job nobody campaigns for and everybody needs. You inherit a list of past fundraisers, a spreadsheet from three years ago, and the pressure of making sure the varsity baseball team can afford uniforms before May. Spring comes fast, and figuring out which spring sports fundraiser ideas actually work when football isn't the hook can feel like starting from scratch.
Good news: spring is actually one of the better fundraising seasons if you pick the right format. The calendar is packed at every level (NBA postseason, MLB opening month, NHL playoffs, plus high school regionals and state championships), families are already in the stands, and the energy around those games gives you a natural hook to sell around. Here are some options that can move the needle without burning out your volunteers.
Run a Sports Squares Board for Spring Playoffs
If you've only ever seen squares boards used for the Super Bowl, you're leaving money on the table. A 10x10 grid works for any game with a score, and spring is loaded with them: NBA playoffs, MLB opening month, NHL postseason, college baseball and softball regionals, and high school championship games all make solid hosts.
The mechanics are simple. Sell 100 squares at whatever price point fits your community. Rows and columns get assigned digits 0-9 at random. Winners are paid out based on the last digit of each team's score at the end of each quarter (or period or inning, depending on the sport). Your booster club keeps the margin.
What makes it work for fundraising is the low barrier to entry. Parents don't need to follow the sport closely to play. They buy a square, get a number assigned, and then they actually care about the game. That's the hidden value here: it turns a routine Tuesday night game into something people are checking their phones about.
Running it online also removes the cash-handling headache. You don't need to print anything or track down who still owes you money after the game. Tools like PickMySquare let you set it up for free, share a link, and the board fills itself.
Check out the easy sports fundraiser ideas guide for more on how squares fit into a broader fundraising calendar, or if you want the full breakdown on how the game works, the beginner's guide to football squares covers it step by step.
March Madness Bracket Pools
If your spring fundraising window opens in March (and ideally it does), a bracket pool is probably the single easiest way to pull in small amounts from a large number of people in a short time. The NCAA tournament runs for three weeks, and you've got a built-in hook: everyone already knows what a bracket is.
The pitch is simple: charge a small entry fee, let everyone fill out their picks, and the top finishers get a payout while the pool keeps a percentage. Even people who don't watch college basketball will fill out a bracket because the format is inherently fun. It's a viral mechanism that basically markets itself.
PickMySquare has a free bracket pool product built specifically for March Madness, both men's and women's tournaments. You can run it alongside a squares board during tournament games for double the engagement. The March Madness bracket pool guide walks through setup if you want to see what that looks like in practice.
Car Washes and Food Drives
These feel old-school but they're old-school because they work. A car wash with a predictable location (school parking lot, weekend morning) and a clear ask ($10 suggested donation) can pull in $500-$1,000 in a single morning if the weather cooperates and you've got enough student-athletes showing up to work.
The key is pairing the event with a story. "We're raising money for travel to the state tournament" hits different than "we're raising money for the team." Specificity makes people feel like their $10 is going somewhere real.
Food drives are lower ceiling but nearly zero effort overhead. Partner with a local grocery store for a Sunday morning and let parents and community members donate directly. Some stores will match a portion of what's raised, especially if you've got an existing relationship.
Skill Contest Fundraisers
Spring is also a good time to run a skills-based event tied to whichever sport your booster club supports. A free-throw shooting contest, a batting cage home run derby, or a soccer shootout charges entry fees and draws in both players and their families.
These work best when you keep the format tight: set brackets, run it in a few hours, don't let it drag. A bloated four-hour event on a Saturday will make people question whether they'll show up next time. Get in, raise money, celebrate winners, go home.
You can sweeten the pot by running a squares board on a playoff game happening the same weekend and having it visible on a screen at the event. Now people are playing two games at once and they're more likely to stick around.
Sponsorship from Local Businesses
This one takes more lead time but can be the biggest line item on your fundraising sheet. Local businesses often have community budgets they're trying to deploy, and a booster club sponsorship gives them name visibility at games, in programs, or on team gear.
The pitch works best in spring because businesses are thinking about summer and fall marketing, and you can offer them exposure across multiple seasons if you structure the sponsorship right. A banner at the baseball field that runs through fall football season is a better value than a one-game placement.
Give them a clear menu: banner only, banner plus program ad, banner plus social media mentions. Make it easy to say yes.
Combine Multiple Ideas Into a Single Event
The strongest spring fundraisers usually aren't one thing, they're a combination. A Saturday car wash that wraps up with a free-throw contest while a squares board runs on the gym TV and a signup sheet for the next bracket pool sits at the entry table, that's four revenue streams from one Saturday morning.
The people who show up are already bought in. They're there because their kid plays for the team. Make it easy for them to contribute to multiple things at once and most of them will.
Spring Sports Fundraiser Ideas FAQ
What spring sports can you run a squares board for?
Any sport that ends with a numerical score works. NBA and NHL playoffs, MLB games, high school baseball, softball, lacrosse championships, and soccer are all solid options. You assign the last digit of each team's score as the winner for each quarter, period, or half depending on the sport.
How much can a booster club make from a squares board?
It depends on your price per square and how many boards you run. If your community supports $10 squares, a single 10x10 board raises $1,000 gross. Smaller pools at $5 per square work too if that's a better fit for your group. Run three boards across a playoff weekend and the numbers add up fast. Clubs typically keep 40-60% after paying out winners, so the net is real money for relatively little overhead.
Do participants need to understand the sport to play?
No, and that's one of the reasons squares boards are so good for fundraising. People buy a square, get assigned a number, and then just check the score. You don't need to understand basketball strategy to care whether the last digit of the score matches your box.
When should we run a March Madness bracket pool?
Start the week before Selection Sunday so people have time to fill out their brackets before tip-off. Once the tournament starts, brackets lock and no new entries. Running sign-ups for two or three weeks before gives you the best shot at maximum participation.
Is it legal to run a sports squares fundraiser?
Laws around charitable gaming vary by state. Most states allow fundraising pools run by nonprofits and booster clubs under specific conditions (no house profit beyond the fundraising purpose, certain limits on prize amounts, etc.). Check your state's charitable gaming regulations and your school district's policy before running any paid game. Many booster clubs run them without issue, but it's worth a quick confirm upfront.
How do we get more people to participate in an online squares board?
Share the link in the team group chat, the school's parent newsletter, and on whatever social media your booster club uses. Post a reminder the day before the game and again at kickoff. A personal ask from a coach or parent leader converts much better than a generic announcement. The easier you make it to find the board and buy a square, the higher your fill rate.
Set Up Your Spring Fundraiser Board for Free
PickMySquare makes it easy to run a squares board for any spring playoff game, NBA, NHL, MLB, high school championships, you name it. Free to create, free to share, and the board fills itself. Give it a try before your next big game.
Create Free Board →