How to Run a Baseball Hit-a-Thon Fundraiser
Baseball hit-a-thons make great fundraisers. They’re fun and effective, allowing participants to raise money for their school, extra-curricular program, or club.
Here, we’ll show you the A-Z of baseball hit-a-thons, including planning, tracking donations, and ideas on how to organize and promote it.
Baseball Hit-a-Thon Guide
Table of Contents
1
Baseball Hit-a-Thon 101
A quick introduction to what a baseball hit-a-thon is and how it works.
2
What is an "A-Thon" & How Does it Work?
Thon’s can be a powerful fundraising tool.
3
What do you need to run a Baseball Hit-a-Thon?
The tools, support, and volunteers you’ll need for a successful Baseball Hit-a-Thon.
4
Using a Baseball Hit-a-Thon to Fundraise
How to raise money with baseball hit-a-thons.
5
Templates, Ideas, Tools, & Resources
Kickstart your baseball hit-a-thon using curated templates and tools.
6
Baseball Hit-a-Thon Theme Ideas
Feel inspired with our baseball hit-a-thon theme examples.
Baseball Hit-a-Thon 101
What is a Baseball Hit-a-Thon?
A baseball hit-a-thon is essentially turning a baseball tournament into a fundraiser. Similar to other a-thons, like read-a-thons or walk-a-thons, baseball hit-a-thons use a peer-to-peer fundraising model.
People sign up as baseball teams and then ask their friends, family, and coworkers to support them through pledges. This allows you to reach a much larger donor pool.
Baseball Hit-a-Thon Goals & Rules
Treat these as a base and feel free to tailor these to suit your specific event.
Length
A baseball hit-a-thon is made up of 2 main parts: the pledge collection and the tournament. The pledge collection should be at least 2 to 4 weeks before the baseball hit-a-thon to allow teams to register and fundraise.
The baseball hit-a-thon tournament portion usually lasts 1 day, with teams playing each other on Saturday or Sunday. Depending on how many teams you have, it might need to be a 2-day event. Plan for around 2 hours per game.
Hit goals
The main goal for participants is to win the hit-a-thon. However, it’s also helpful to set a fundraising goal so teams have a number to keep in mind when gathering donations.
Other considerations
Because baseball is a team sport, you should set some rules to keep everything fair. Some example rules include having a certain amount of child players, a certain amount of female players, or a certain amount of playtime for every team member.
Recommended starting rules
When creating your baseball hit-a-thon, make sure you include the following in your planning:
- Before you start advertising your baseball hit-a-thon, you should know the following:
- The venue
- The date
- The fundraising goal
- The team restrictions
- The theme
- Start telling families about the baseball hit-a-thon at least 2 to 4 weeks days before the event.
- Participants should be signed up in your fundraising system and gathering donations for at least 2 weeks before the baseball hit-a-thon.
- On the day of the baseball hit-a-thon, be sure to re-explain the rules and encourage participants to continue fundraising.
- At the end of the fundraiser, give an update on the fundraising goal and thank all of the participants.
Frequently Asked Questions About Baseball Hit-a-Thons
How does a baseball hit-a-thon work?
Participants register as teams, anywhere from 9 to 26 players. Each team pays a registration fee, which helps cover the costs of the tournament. Then, the teams collect pledges from family, friends, and coworkers.
After each team has a few weeks to fundraise, the baseball tournament is held. The teams play one another until there is a winner. Typically, there is a prize for the winners to help inspire some friendly competition.
Where should you host your baseball hit-a-thon?
Baseball hit-a-thons are fairly easy to plan. The main thing you’ll have to plan is finding a baseball diamond.
Any community field should work, ideally close to your school. Just make sure you book it well in advance, so you’re not struggling to find a venue come baseball season.
How should participants form teams?
Before players make teams, you should create some ground rules around the following:
- Number of players
- Age
- Gender
For example, if students are participating, you’ll want to make sure each team has a similar number of children. So you could make a rule saying each team needs at least 3 kids under 12.
Are baseball hit-a-thons good fundraisers?
Baseball hit-a-thons are tons of fun, especially if families in your area are big baseball fans. They’re easy to participate in, plus participants get the support of their teammates when fundraising.
What is a “Thon”?
Thon’s Are Fun & Effective Event-Based Fundraisers
An “a-thon” is a peer-to-peer style fundraiser that involves participating in a certain activity and gathering donations for participating in said activity.
The activity can be almost anything, from reading to running to bowling. No matter what activity you choose, the premise is the same. Participants commit to doing the activity (reading a certain amount of books, running a certain distance) and ask their friends, family, and coworkers to support them.
A-thons work great because you reach a huge donor pool through peer-to-peer fundraising. People are also more likely to donate since participants are “working” in return for the donations.
What Do You Need to Run a Baseball Hit-a-Thon?
Power it With FutureFund
FutureFund’s built-in pledge campaigns allow you to easily collect money and keep donations/pledges organized. Since parents cover payment processing fees, 100% of the funds raised go to your school!
FutureFund is easy to use - for everyone
FutureFund makes running a baseball hit-a-thon easy for everyone. Easier for PTAs to run, for students and parents to participate, and for donors to donate.
Accept online donations
Instead of dealing with paper pledge forms and cash and cheques, FutureFund takes the process online. Donors can donate instantly online with their credit or debit cards.
A single tool to power your entire Thon!
FutureFund makes it easy to track how the fundraiser is going. Easily view how much money has been raised and more with detailed reporting.
Using a Baseball Hit-a-Thon for Fundraising
Consider the below when organizing your baseball hit-a-thon. Spending a bit of time up front getting organized from an admin and donation perspective will save a lot of time and potential frustration later.
Managing and organizing pledges
Each student will sign up as a participant in the fundraiser. Then, they can collect pledges individually by credit or debit card. You can also accept cash pledges, but be mindful of properly storing and tracking cash you collect.
If you are using FutureFund, you can record these pledges and they will automatically count towards the student’s total and the grand total for the fundraiser.
Donor information and donation management
Before launching your fundraiser, confirm what records you need to collect from donors.
If you are using FutureFund, it’s easy for students to sign up, especially if their information is already in the system. You can bulk sign up entire grades or classes. All donor payments are automatically entered into the system, so you can instantly see each student’s total and the grand total.
Make sure you accept online donations
Fundraising campaigns that accept online donations perform much better than fundraisers that only accept cash or check.
If you are using FutureFund, you can accept payments online. Donors are given a donation link and can pay by credit or debit card. Any cash donations can also be noted in the system to be collected later.
Baseball Hit-a-Thon Templates & Resources
Sample baseball hit-a-thon rules
These rules are a great starting point for organizing your baseball hit-a-thon.
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o participate in the baseball hit-a-thon, you must register your team by [date]. Then, the baseball hit-a-thon is on [date], which means you should start fundraising right away! Make sure to tell your friends, family, and coworkers that you’re fundraising, so they can donate.
All donations will be collected through FutureFund through this link: [link].
Sample baseball hit-a-thon event description
Unsure of where to start? Use this sample student and parent messaging to get the ball rolling!
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Hit, run, score! On [date], [school name] will be hosting a baseball hit-a-thon to help fundraise for [cause]. You can help by registering a baseball team and participating!
Each team will be collecting pledges online through FutureFund: [link], so even if you can’t participate, you can still donate!
Set up online pledges with FutureFund
Let parents and supporters donate online with FutureFund’s online pledges. Try it out for free!
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Make your donation easily and instantly! Click this [link] to make your donation through secure credit or debit card payment.
If you prefer to donate by cash or check, just donate directly to the student you’re supporting. Thank you for your support!
Baseball Hit-a-Thon Theme Ideas
Olympic
In this theme, teams can represent a country, just like in the Olympics. Encourage them to wear the uniforms and flags of their chosen country.
Movie
There are so many famous baseball movies, from The Sandlot to Angels in the Outfield. For this team, get teams to dress up as the characters from their favorite baseball movie.
Vintage
Baseball brings back thoughts of the good old days, with stars like Babe Ruth. Have your teams dress up in vintage baseball uniforms to honor baseball’s roots.
Holiday
A holiday theme works for almost any a-thon, including baseball hit-a-thons. A baseball hit-a-thon in honor of Mother’s Day or Father’s Day are two spring holidays to build your event around.
Group Costume
Because baseball is a team sport, the best outfits are coordinated ones! Encourage participants to dress in group costumes like superheroes, minions, crayon packs, animals, and more.
Rainbow
You can’t go wrong with simple colors of the rainbow. Let each team choose a color, so every color of the rainbow is represented in the baseball tournament.
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