Hi! I am a member of my college’s club eventing team and we are brainstorming ideas for fundraising.
We had considered asking our local tack shop and food vendors at events to include a “round up to donate” option at checkout- is this something that you yourself would participate in?
I would also love to hear any additional ideas that you may have! Thanks!
I suggest following other college eventing teams’ social media accounts for ideas. They often post fundraising events/programs and I bet you could get a lot of ideas that way!
If this would happen at events, it seems like quite a bit of hassle for vendors to deal with in a location where they likely do not have their full computer check-out system.
Try a trailer wash / trailer clean out at the very beginning of the season.
Offer to strip stalls at a local event or show. This fundraiser really works because nobody wants to stick around and strip and they want their stall deposit back.
OR…offer to go to people’s homes - or wherever trailer is parked - and offer this as a service. I wanted to wash and wax my friend’s trailer as a thank you and had a very hard time finding someone to go to her home. I finally found a car detail guy - he did a 2 horse BP for $250.00.
A pony club near me takes donations of used tack and barn supplies and has an ongoing sale at their home base barn. I know several people who don’t have a horse anymore that just donated everything except their saddles to them. They usually have a good selection of blankets and bits for this reason. And stuff like bell boots and splint boots and extra sets of reins and stirrup leathers that everyone needs. A worn but serviceable blanket for $20, a girth for $5 or $10. It adds up for them. They also offer blanket washing and re-waterproofing, which has been VERY lucrative for them. And a lot more people need this than need a trailer wash, although that is also a good idea. If your team has access to a nice quiet pony that likes kids you could offer pony parties, or just lead line rides once a month. Of course if you do that you have to have a good plan for signed liability releases.
Not a fundraiser per se, but if your team is in need of show apparel, it may be worthwhile to reach out to Georgina Bloomberg’s The Rider’s Closet. They donate new and gently used show clothes to various orgs throughout the country and will usually help out school programs.
The coach of my adult eq program got a donation from her and I think all the women on our team got at least one article of clothing out of it (I got super nice ariat breeches and a show shirt, others got show coats). The couple of guys on our team had slim pickings, but we also had a lot of items that didn’t fit anyone or too many items in one size and our coach wound up selling the excess items and putting the money into the pot for our finale show so it didn’t cost didn’t cost quite as much.
If you do that you need to be properly insured. Releases alone are not enough.
I’m on the board of our local therapeutic riding center and we looked into doing a “round up” fundraiser. After investigating and modeling out the potential income, it really came to very small dollars, IF you could get vendors to participate. It requires extra accounting and software capabilities for them - and again, for not very much money.
I second washing/repairing/waterproofing blankets. Stripping stalls. Washing trailers. All things I would gratefully spend money for someone else to do.
I know a team that offers night check at shows and it is their biggest fundraiser of the year! They happen to do dressage shows but you could offer that as an option.
Check some local chain restaurants - they often will help do fundraisers thru their restaurants to help make money but not sure if it’s an effective way to raise funds.
We did a spaghetti dinner w/silent auction which was great fun. Menu was very simple. We had meat sauce and marina sauce for vegetarians, salad and garlic bread. Cookies/brownies for dessert. Beer/wine and sodas/water. The main thing is making sure you have a community center/church where you can do it for low cost.
A competition venue nearby uses a pony clubs, scout troops etc. to help with their parking. People donate whatever they want as they pull into the grounds. Could check if there are any sporting events that need parking assistance and if they do a similar type thing
As a spin-off on this, also offer to pre-bed stalls before arrival. I’ve seen some people advertising these services for multi-shows where you order bedding ahead of time. I would not pay HITs to pre-bed for me, but I would totally pay a college team!
I saw a post earlier from the Midlothian Virginia area. They’re looking for folks that want to earn money for their club to support their mounted shooting event by cleaning up and setting up targets. They were paying very well $300 to $500 per day and it’s up to $1,000 for the weekend per volunteer. This seemed like a really good opportunity.
Host a schooling show. These can be very lucrative if you can find a venue that won’t charge you (or will rent to you at a discount) as well as a judge who supports your cause and will charge a discounted daily rate. It can be a lot to organize, but that can be very team building, and there are a variety of jobs for the team members to take on according to their own preferences and abilities.
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