How to Run a Hoop-a-Thon Fundraiser
- Choose the date of your Hoop-A-Thon two months before the event. Hoop-A-Thons usually take place on a single day, so choose one that doesn't conflict with other important events and plan for a time of year when people are unlikely to be away
- Make sure to coordinate with the school ahead of time to make sure the gym will be available, or hold the event outside if you have an appropriate space and can expect good weather.
- Consider a theme for your Hoop-a-Thon, involving colors or costumes (see the "Themes" section of this page for ideas)..
- Put out a call for volunteers two months before the event. Use FutureFund's built-in messaging system to reach the parents and volunteers most likely to participate.
- Make sure your call for volunteers clearly states what cause or project the Hoop-A-Thon will support.
- Perform background checks for any volunteers who need to be on campus during the event (if required by your school).
- Event Coordinator: Oversees the entire Hoop-A-Thon, including planning, coordination, and post-event activities. Liaises with the school, sports clubs, and other stakeholders.
- Registration Team: Manages participant sign-ups, and distributes information and materials.
- Basketball Coaches/Instructors: Experienced coaches or players who provide guidance on serving techniques, rules of the game, and safety practices.
- Scorekeepers and Statisticians: Keeps track of shots, scores, and other relevant statistics during the event.
- Set-Up and Tear-Down Crew: Responsible for setting up basketball courts, nets, and equipment before the event and dismantling them afterward.
- Snack and Hydration Station Volunteers: Manages stations providing water, snacks, and possibly light meals to participants and volunteers.
- Photographers/Videographers: Captures moments from the event for future promotion and participant keepsakes.
- First Aid and Safety Officers: Provide basic first aid and ensure the safety of all participants.
- Incentives motivate players to register for your Hoop-A-Thon and collect pledges. Each player should have a specific fundraising goal-usually between $200-$400.
- It's better to offer incentives to the class or group that makes the most baskets collectively than to individual players, as this is a more cost-effective way to motivate groups and can also discourage unhealthy competition. Try an ice cream social or a pizza party for the best results.
Use FutureFund to create a Pledge-A-Thon campaign and provide your campaign details.
Make sure your campaign has the following elements:
- A clear and compelling event description and rules, including what the money raised will go towards and what the incentives will be for participating players.
- A leaderboard that shows the grades and teachers for each participating class, along with how much each has raised. These are fully customizable in FutureFund, so you can create custom categories for each Hoop-A-Thon.
- A template players can use to collect pledges from members of the school community. FutureFund provides a sample template for this in all A-Thon campaigns, which you can modify to include the specific details of your event.
- Send out an announcement of your Hoop-A-Thon to the school community two weeks before the event begins and request that players sign up to participate.
- Share the news in as many places as possible-use the school newsletter, morning announcements, and FutureFund's messaging system to tell everyone why the event is important and how they can be part of it.
- Use FutureFund to send follow-up messages every other day leading up to the event to encourage participation.
- On the morning of the event, send out a final announcement to get the school community excited about the event and encourage them to keep offering support.
Subject: Your Support Boosts Our Spirits - [School Name] Basketball Hoop-A-Thon Update!
Dear [Donor's Name],
As our Basketball Hoop-A-Thon progresses, we want to express our immense gratitude for your support. Your contribution is not just about funding an event; it's about encouraging our players to stay active and engaged, and helping us achieve our goal of [insert specific goal or cause].
Here's the latest scoop:
- [Number of players] have stepped up to participate!
- We've reached [percentage] of our fundraising target.
Remember, you can still support and promote our event through FutureFund at [insert link]. Your generosity is vital to our success and greatly appreciated by our school community.
Subject: Final Call for the [School Name] Basketball Hoop-A-Thon!
Hello [Name of School] Players & Families!,
We're entering the final week of our Basketball Hoop-A-Thon, and the excitement is through the roof! It's been amazing to see our players practicing their shots and getting ready.
Here's what you need to know:
- Just one week left to gather your pledges! Don't miss out on last-minute donations, warmly welcomed via FutureFund at [insert link].
- Be sure to join us on [Date] at [Location] for the big day, and stay for our closing ceremony where we'll celebrate our achievements and recognize our top servers!
Let's make this final stretch a slam dunk. Your support and enthusiasm are making a big difference in our team and for each of our players. Let's end strong!
Subject: Final Call for the [School Name] Basketball Hoop-A-Thon!
Hello [Name of School] Players & Families!
We're just a day away from our Basketball Hoop-A-Thon, and excitement is at its peak! Our players are set to show their skills in a day filled with shots, spikes, and lots of fun.
Here's what you need to know:
- Just one week left to gather your pledges! Don’t miss out on last-minute donations, warmly welcomed via FutureFund at [insert link].
- Be sure to join us on [Date] at [Location] for the big day, and stay for our closing ceremony where we’ll celebrate our achievements and recognize our top servers!
Let’s make this final stretch a smashing success. Your support and enthusiasm are making a big difference in our school and for each of our players. Let’s end strong!
Ask local businesses to sponsor the Hoop-A-Thon. This can help your PTA reach your fundraising targets while business owners get exposure and positive PR.
Make sure to explain how each sponsor's contribution will be recognized. For example, you could:
- Hang a banner in the gym with sponsor logos during the event.
- Offer branded water bottles or other materials to participants.
- Add sponsors to your school's online store using FutureFund.
Here are some examples of sponsorships you can offer:
- Direct donations-either towards your fundraising goal or to help cover the costs of supplies.
- Corporate matching is where a business makes a donation equal to all or a portion of the funds you raise from the community.
- Selling sponsorships on FutureFund via advertising on your campaign page.
Finally, the day of the event will arrive-and if you've followed all the steps above, you should have everything you need to make it a success. Here's a sample schedule:
- Official welcome and launch announcement to all participants.
- Gathering of players, volunteers, and teachers in the school's gymnasium or outdoor basketball area.
- Brief overview of the Hoop-A-Thon rules, scoring system, and the day's schedule.
- Players start their attempts, either three-point-attempts, free-throws, layups, etc.
- Volunteers stationed at court for guidance, scoring, and ensuring fair play.
- Announcement of the total number of baskets achieved and funds raised.
- Recognition of top participants and distribution of awards.
- Distribution of thank-you notes to participants, volunteers, and donors.
- Cleanup of the event area with the help of volunteers.
- Debrief session with organizers and volunteers to gather immediate feedback.
- Announcement of the event's success and special acknowledgments via school communications.
- Survey distributed for feedback from players, teachers, and parents.
- Compilation and review of financial outcomes and pledges using FutureFund.
Hoop-A-Thons are a type of A-Thon fundraiser. Just like Read-A-Thons and Walk-A-Thons, players commit to making a certain number of baskets and raise money by collecting pledges to support their efforts.
Hoop-A-Thons are great because they give players a fun way to exercise and develop hand-eye coordination. They can also be exciting events to watch!
Treat these as a base and feel free to tailor these to suit your specific event.
A basketball hoop-a-thon is made up of 2 main parts: the pledge collection and the shoot around. Give teams at least 2 weeks before the tournament to register and collect donations.
The tournament should be at least 1 day.
Players will compete by seeing who can make the most shots - but you can tie this to fundraising by providing a specific number of balls based on the number of pledges raised by each group. This motivates players to fundraise while also encouraging a healthy competitive spirit during the event.
Start telling players about the Hoop-A-Thon at least two weeks before it starts.
Players should be signed up in your fundraising system so they can gather donations for at least seven days before the fundraiser starts (although it's still okay to take last-minute sign-ups).
Basketball is a team sport, so you should create some ground rules to keep the teams as fair as possible.
On the day the fundraiser starts, be sure to re-explain the rules and encourage players to continue fundraising.
Players register online and spend two weeks collecting donations in the form of pledges from friends and family before the event.
During the event, each player is awarded a number of shots to make based on pledges raised. Once all shots have been taken, the final number of points is recorded and a winner is announced. Points are awarded for correctly making a shot, and bonus points may be awarded for hitting special targets.
You'll need a basketball court to host your Hoop-A-Thon.
Basketball Hoop-A-Thons are usually held indoors, so you can host them any time of the year. That said, you probably want to save the warmer months for outdoor activities, making fall or winter the ideal time for a Hoop-A-Thon.
To make the tournament as fair as possible, you should create some general rules for teams. Some factors to consider include:
- Number of players
- Age
- Gender
For example, if the teams are open to all ages, you should make sure every team has a similar amount of children. So you can make a rule saying each team needs at least 2 players age 12 or under.
Hoop-A-Thons promote physical fitness, are broadly accessible to most players, and require few startup expenses.
FutureFund gives you the ability to generate financial reports for fundraising campaigns in just a few clicks. To do this, navigate to Store and click the Reports tab near the top of your screen. Then choose Campaign Summary from the drop-down menu and click Generate Report.
Yes - FutureFund lets you create a list of the volunteer positions you'll need to fill, then add a volunteer page to your registration portal so parents can sign up in just a few simple clicks. See the steps for signing up volunteers here.
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.
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 makes running a Move-a-Thon easy for everyone. Easier for PTAs and PTOs to run, for players and parents to participate, and for donors to donate.
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.
FutureFund makes it easy to track how the fundraiser is going. Easily view how much money has been raised and more with detailed reporting.
Each player 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 player's total and the grand total for the fundraiser.
Before launching your fundraiser, confirm what records you need to collect from donors.
If you are using FutureFund, it's easy for players 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 player's total and the grand total.
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.
Teams can get into the competitive spirit with an Olympic theme. Each team represents a country and competes for the gold medal.
Basketball is a team sport, which means pretty much any team costume goes! Encourage each team to coordinate a costume like superheroes, flower patches, mimes, and more.
Celebrate the holidays and fundraise with a holiday-themed hoop-a-thon. Plan a Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's, or even a St. Patrick's Day tournament.
Color coordinating is a classic theme. Let each team choose a color and get creative, including neon, glitter, and patterns to make each team stand out.
A movie or TV-inspired theme gives teams tons of options to choose from. Teams can dress up as anything from The Avengers to Care Bears.