Most local pizza chains will run a fundraiser night for a youth team. The team picks a Tuesday or Wednesday. The team promotes it. The pizza place donates a percentage of that night’s sales (usually fifteen to twenty percent) back to the team.
It is the simplest fundraiser on the list and one of the only ones that does not feel awkward.
Why it works
The families on the team would have eaten dinner that night anyway. Now they eat dinner at the pizza place. The team gets a check. Nobody is asking anyone for money.
The kids see their teammates and their families show up. They feel like they belong to something. That is part of the work too.
Who to call
Mountain Mike’s. Round Table. MOD Pizza. Pieology. Blaze Pizza. Local independent pizza places almost always have a community fundraiser program too. Domino’s and Papa John’s do not run these as consistently.
Call the manager and ask for the fundraiser application. They will email a one-page form. Fill it out, return it. Most chains require two to four weeks lead time.
What to specify
Pick a Tuesday or Wednesday. Weekends are too busy at the restaurant for the percentage to work in your favor.
Pick a two-hour or three-hour window, typically 5 to 8 pm. The team has to physically be there or families have to mention the team’s name at checkout.
Confirm the percentage. Most are fifteen percent of food sales. Some are twenty percent. Some include drinks, some do not.
Get a flyer. The chain provides a PDF flyer with the team’s information and the date. Send it to the team group chat. Post it in the parent Facebook group. Send it to the league.
How to promote it
Two messages. The first message goes out two weeks before. The second goes out the day of, in the morning.
The first message: “Team fundraiser at Mountain Mike’s on Cedar Avenue, Tuesday March 12, 5-8 pm. Twenty percent of food sales come back to the team. Mention the team at checkout. Bring grandparents. Flyer attached.”
The day-of: “Reminder, tonight is our team pizza fundraiser. Mountain Mike’s Cedar Avenue, 5-8 pm. Mention the team at checkout. See you there.”
That is the entire promotion. Two messages. Done.
What to expect
A typical youth team raises $150 to $400 from one pizza-night fundraiser. That money comes from twenty to thirty families who would have spent dinner money anyway.
If you run two or three of these per season, you have funded the end-of-season pizza party, the assistant-coach gift, and a portion of the trophy budget without ever asking a parent for money.
What not to do
Do not do this on the same night as a game. Families are tired. Sales are lower than the chain expects, the percentage is not great, and the kids do not show up to eat.
Do not pick a chain the team’s families do not actually eat at. The fundraiser is the activity, not the only reason to go.
Do not skip the flyer. The flyer is what the cashier asks about. No flyer, no fundraiser.
The trade-off
The pizza-night fundraiser raises smaller dollars than a Snap Raise campaign. It also takes a tenth of the work. For most rec teams running on a small budget, two pizza nights a season is more than enough.
For travel teams that need real money for tournaments and uniforms, look at our piece on Snap Raise and corporate sponsorship.