Fire Up Supporters With a New Mascot

Big head bobbing and kilt a-flutter, Hank the Highlander made his debut in January at a New Jersey high school, the first mascot to grace the court in Governor Livingston High history. The much-anticipated mascot was purchased by the Highlander Booster Club after much careful research, some creative brainstorming, and some good old fashioned democracy. Booster Club executive board members, parents, teachers, students, and school administrators worked together to design the costume, and students … [Read more...]

YouTube for Booster Clubs

YouTube makes sharing video easy. Creating a YouTube account for your club, you can help showcase the work of participants, benefactors, and volunteers. Filming, editing, and posting videos takes time and energy but there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit -- simple videos that booster clubs can make. What’s great about YouTube is what’s great about online video in general. Ditto for what’s not  so great. PROs Easy to digest. Videos grab attention in a way that an 800 word blog post with … [Read more...]

Everything Booster Clubs Need to Know About the Fiscal Year

What is a fiscal year, in a nutshell? A fiscal year defines the start and end dates for an organization’s accounting. Annual and quarterly reports to donors, as well as tax filings, all flow from the fiscal year. So do budgeting and revenue goals. While the majority of U.S. companies’ fiscal year perfectly overlaps the calendar year (Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st), deviating from those dates is more common than you’d think. For example, check out the fiscal years for these organizations: Feb. 1st … [Read more...]

11 Sports Fundraising Ideas for Booster Clubs

Looking to engage supporters in experiences instead of purchases? Sports fundraisers let supporters participate, and they’re not just for sports-related clubs. This list offers ideas on how to bring donors together to compete against their friends, neighbors, and family members. Any type of booster club can take advantage of the community feel that comes from these great games. Bocce tournament: probably the last fundraiser you’d think of. But it’s the best game for entire families to … [Read more...]

Booster News: Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3rd) Could Raise Funds for Your Booster Club

Harness the holidays for your booster club this year by publicizing “Giving Tuesday.” Unlike shopping focused Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is all about charity in the local community. It’s a great opportunity to raise awareness about your booster club’s needs, and make a year’s-end ask of your supporters. How can your club associate itself with Giving Tuesday (December 3rd) and raise funds effectively? There’s still time to issue a press-release (or simply make a phone call) … [Read more...]

Making Traditions (Whether You Mean To Or Not)

We are the makers of memories! What are your best memories from high school? What stories do you retell when you go to a reunion or get together with your old classmates? Arguably, most booster clubs aim to make great memories, so I think it’s crucial that we try to put a finger on what made our own experiences stick with us over time. Sometimes experiences are memorable because of random events--spontaneous downpours, chance encounters, or the serendipity that sparks both romantic and … [Read more...]

What Happened to Multi-sport Athletes? (Part 2)

In part one of this post, I questioned the role of specialization in sports. I mentioned that many American parents encourage specialization over well-rounded development in the classroom and on the field. In other parts of the world, it’s not like this. Cedar Attanasio, who helps edit many of the posts on the Boosterland blog, shared this anecdote from his time studying in Hong Kong with Chinese and Cantonese students. “In Cantonese, there’s this term, quan cai, which means ‘well-rounded … [Read more...]

What Happened to Multi-sport Athletes? (Part 1)

Should students play a single sport, or diversify? In this post I discuss the decline of the multi-sport athlete, and the implications for a 21st century workforce. I use sports as an example--but this post applies to other activities as well: theater, orchestra, debate, etc.  I list a few of the assumptions that fuel the single-sport phenomenon, including some that booster clubs may take for granted. In my next post I’ll talk about multi-sport athletes in the past, and how their 20th century … [Read more...]

31 Life Lessons of Sports

This summer I went to my college reunion and noted that 100% of the classmates I spoke with had participated in one or more extracurricular activities in high school. Every single person I spoke to credited those experiences with playing a role in their success, whether they were a magazine editor, an economist, or a stay-at-home home dad. Most of Boosterland’s readers will have a few reasons why they think extracurriculars are crucial for development. I’d like to compile them here as food for … [Read more...]

Why Women Give

I recently came across this study on Women’s Philanthropy. Despite the title, it talks about men as well. There’s a lot in it to synthesize into one blog post, but I encourage all of you to take a look at it. It has useful facts, figures, and graphics about how donors give. Technically, it’s about really big donors, but I think a lot of it is relevant in the world of booster club supporters. Female donors are more likely to support an organization that will make a difference, while male … [Read more...]