AFL Footie Trivia NightAn AFL trivia night is a simple fundraiser which will appeal to your entire Aussie rules community (players and supporters alike). It can either be hosted in a physical venue or online, on a meeting platform such as Zoom, if you are looking for virtual fundraising ideas. Charge participants a set price (per team or per person) and consider running a raffle and selling tickets when you collect entry fees, to give you the opportunity to raise even more for your club. Host a successful trivia night by choosing a spread of questions, moving between AFL history and queries about specific teams, from Crows to Brisbane. Showing that your team can put on a fun evening like this will attract more attention to your club, giving you a head start when you need to drum up interest in future fundraisers. Outdoor Movie Night Outdoor Movie NightYou’ve likely already got a massive playing field and this idea makes good use of that. Outdoor movie nights have only become more popular in recent years and there are many reasons why this fundraising idea could be an extremely profitable one for your Aussie rules club. Firstly, it is low-cost, with only a projector and surface to project onto being the essential equipment. Secondly, it’s a large-scale event, allowing you to sell many tickets and create substantial returns for your fundraising efforts. Lastly, it provides an opportunity to run other profitable fundraisers simultaneously, such as food stalls, raffles and small-scale competitions. ’Rent-an-Athlete’ EventThe best thing about fundraising events like this one is that they can be run in two different ways. The first method would be to consider employing the services of a locally or nationally famous AFL player for a practice session, to boost your team’s morale. To fund this, ask your team and community for donations to help them secure the privilege of a star player to coach a session. You can sell tickets to the entire community, so that interested parties can watch the famous athlete put the team through its paces. Alternatively, you can rent out your own team. Offer your players out to the highest bidders in the community to help with their day-to-day tasks, from helping carry groceries to a bit of basic DIY that’s needed doing. Running this event as an auction rather than asking for set donations in return for ‘renting’ your athletes gives you the scope to make this a more successful fundraiser. Sausage SizzleIf a sausage sizzle can help motivate people to vote, it can definitely motivate people to sponsor your Aussie rules team. Treat a sausage sizzle as a fun community event; a casual barbie for which your team happens to be centre-stage. You could even host one on your playing field to keep costs down, but you might want the grass cleaned up before practice the next day! To ensure this is a profitable fundraiser, sell tickets to the event, as well as charging for the food. Your profit margins should be exceptional, as a sausage sizzler is a cheap food item to assemble. Apply for a grant from your local or state governmentAs Aussie rules football is something of a heritage sport, there are certain bonuses that your team receives by continuing to keep the game alive. These grants can vary depending on your team’s situation, and the local facilities available, but are always worth pursuing. Your local government can assist you at a club level, providing you with a place to practice or necessary facilities, whilst state government can help majorly supercharge your budget. It’s important to know that with state assistance, you will potentially need help from the AFL to help push your application. Aussie Rules Taster DayA solid place to start for this event is to treat it as a school fundraising idea. You’ll find a lot of kids who exclusively play rugby or soccer, and have never thought of how fun combining the two could be. Offer them a taster day on your playing field for a small fee. Maximise your profits - and the fun to be had - by not only hosting a friendly game of Aussie rules but also a wide variety of other fun games, which will give everyone a taste of how rewarding team sports can be. This kind of event can earn you new players and new potential sponsors in the form of your new club members' parents and other members of the wider community. Don’t think of this exclusively as a school event, as you can just as easily host this taster day for the whole community. Australian Football League Season SweepstakeA sweepstake for the season is a hilarious bit of fun for your team, especially when you allocate prizes for things other than ‘overall winner’. To host an AFL Sweepstake, offer tickets for entry into a draw to allocate every ticket-buyer a team in the league. This team will represent them throughout the season, allowing for great fun and friendly competition in the build-up to the prizes at the end. Categories like ‘worst performing team’ and ‘most send-offs’ add a lot of amusement to the final results. For the prizes, choose punishments for the losers and cost-free rewards for the winners to ensure you’ve created a truly profitable fundraiser. Match Day Collections and RafflesMatch days are great not only for your team, but for your fundraising efforts. Fundraising event ideas like this will attract large audiences from the community if you promote them enthusiastically, so be prepared to take advantage of that and run lots of simple, add-on fundraisers (such as raffles, competitions and sales) on the day too. A collection bucket passed through the stands is free and easy to organise, taking small amounts of loose change from attendees but potentially accruing massive income for your team. Be mindful that match days get the attention of potential sponsors too, as they demonstrate the popularity of your team. Sell Branded MerchSelling your own branded merchandise is always a successful fundraising idea - there’s a reason every major team does it! Setting up a shop for this may be simpler than you may expect, especially if you decide to host it online. When it comes to what you decide to brand, think beyond guernseys and boots, and consider splashing your logo on coffee mugs, bunting and dog-collars, as these products are cheaper to produce and are readily available online for printing/branding. Before you begin selling your branded merchandise, take the opportunity to approach local businesses to see if they would like to sponsor the team and get their logo printed on some of your merchandise too. Coach Punishment FundraiserIf there’s anything your players would be willing to donate money to, it’s this fundraiser. Coach punishments are a classic fundraising initiative, and also a great way to attract new attention from the community. They work through an incentive scheme that has a tiered list of punishments, with incrementing donations reaching a higher tier of punishment. These punishments can range from donning embarrassing fancy dress to facing the prospect of a dunk-tank, or even taking on something crazy like a marathon! Open this fundraising event to the community for additional profits and to increase the profile of your Aussie rules football club.