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I am a 4-H shooting coach in a small rural community in KY and need some ideas as to fund raisers. Here IF it is a "ball" fund raiser (insert your choice in front of ball, base, foot, basket, ect) the local community store owners open their wallets wide but for shooting sports, they look at you like you sprouted horns!!!! We run on donations, trying to cut down on as much as possible for teh parents to have to shell out due to being uch a small community with a huge poverty rate.

Bottom line, any 4-H or other junior shooting organizations out there have any ideas as to fund raisers or even grants beyond the NRA. We have received one NRA grant which helped out a LOT but it can only do so much. what is really the kicker is our 22 sport rifle team has placed no lower in teh state than 3rd and 1st a couple of times for about 5 to 7 years running. One of our kids has placed no lower and as high as 1st in BP pistol 4 straight years. I am coach in 2 diciplines, trap and BP, which shows how small we really are. every coach is certified in at least 2 diciplines and some as many as 5 diciplines! We get about 15-25 kids a year but there again when any ball season hits, the parents pull the kids from shooting sports to play ball even if the kid does not want to play ball. Any ideas as to how to raise awareness of 4-H shooting sports over ball sports?

I know I am asking a lot but it is discourging to watch a kid onhis way to being a shooter that will place in teh state shoot tioll ball season hits and mom, dad, or both want him/her to play ball instead. That uis why we need fund raisers because we feel the cost of shooting sports is a factor as well being ball sports usually does not cost at all.

I appreciate any advice, ANY at all.

Well, I don't know what kind of range capabilities you have but at the gun club I shoot at, we hold Turkey Shoots (assuming you know what these are. basically a bunch of people trying to hit the center their paper turkey (target) with shotguns. A game of luck and really long barrels.). Each relay prizes are presented to the winner (usually frozen meats but sometimes monetary, hope that's not gambling) and each relays costs a set amount to shoot in. Profits go to the Junior Program.
Just an idea.
We also sell foods (hot-dogs, hamburgers) at these events for the shooters.

We have the same problem with ball sports. It amazes me how quickly parents will pay to play ball, but ask for donations to buy ammo and nothing.

I am finishing up a small raffle (5 items) main item being a rifle. I contacted a local gun shop and received the rifle at cost. The owner spent 45 min on the phone giving me ideas and opinions. He has been of great help. Can't tell you how we did yet as I am collecting tickets and money now. Drawing is next weekend. But everyone I have been in contact with have been very kind and helpful. I will keep you posted.

Look around your area and see if there are any companies that hold annual picnics, etc.

As a fundraiser for Nationals, we worked one, running the games, watching over the sandpits, setting up tables and chairs, picking up trash .... whatever needed doing. (The shooters were "yes sir", "no ma'am", and always had a smile on)

The company donated $1000 to the shooters to do this ... 5 hours of work for 11 of us.

They asked us idf we wanted to do it again next year .... heck yes.

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Losing shooters to the "ball" seasons is a fact of life. Everyone thinks their kid can be an baseball, basketball or football star ... wrestling, band, hmmmm what else could there be.

As much as I preach the opportunities of shooting, if it's not on prime time TV or the extreme channel, it can't be all that good, could it?

I loved the NCAA Nationals setup at UAF this year .... I think they may have set the stage for some extra media coverage next year

we are just starting a 4h shooting club in sparta, ga. our first fundraiser is going to be a haunted house. i know they raise alot of money and i am having the 4h parents donate all their old halloween decorations and costumes. hope this helps.

One way we raise money is similiar to the company picnic idea. We get a local buffet pizza place to let us have a weekend to wait tables. They don't have waiters, just employees who clean tables. We put out flyers and get the word out and on that weekend go to the buffet with our T-shirts on letting all the customers know why we are there. We have the kids get drink refills, new silverware, take out the trash, mop up spills, and clean tables. The last two years we have made close to $1000.00 both times, and the kids loved it. I like the kids having to actually do something to earn the money rather than "panhandling". I think it's appreciated more by the kids, and makes a better impression in the community. We also give out flyers to the customers that we printed on the computer explaining what we do, how hard it is, and it's actually an Olympic/Collegiate sport.

Many ranges hold a match as a fund raiser. If you sanction an air rifle match through CMP they do not have a per competitor fee, just a small per match fee. I am not familiar with the 4H program. Perhaps they also sanction matches within their own organisation. If you advertise in nearby areas, clubs, other 4H club, etc you can have a good turn out and do what you do best- shoot and give others the chance to compete also

IMO .... A 4-H club should always be affiliated with CMP .... it is NO COST and they are more than willing to supply you with safety material and shooter journals.
Go here: http://www.odcmp.com/Clubs/Affiliates.htm
This is really a no brainer, and all that is required is the filing (on the web) of a yearly statistical report.
You are then eligible to purchase rifles thru the club purchase program at reduced rates, and there are deals that are only for junior clubs too.

If you 4-H club does not host any matches .... go to a match and see that it really is a pretty easy thing to do, then start hosting some in your area... start small (maybe a sanctioned 3x10 just within the club) and work up (3x10+F, then maybe a 3x20, and then 3x20+F) ... once you do your first, it's not a big deal.

I would recommend that once you host a match for outside the club, charge $4-5 per shooter to recover your costs in targets, and then apply the rest to your clubs fund

We just compled our 9th annual 4-H shoulder match in Helena. The first year we had about 60 lanes of fire total, archery and air events. This year was 180 air and 170 archery. We have 3 medals for each position and age group, with an overall plaque. We break ages 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15+. We shoot 3-P, sporter standing, pistol and prone (3 targets).
no percission, no 22. We also have several divisions of archery, no 3-D due to still winter with wind and snow. All inside. We charge $10 a lane and have no problems with that.

Meet with the Rotary, Kwanis, Masons adn others if you have them. If you are real rural, you will have to go to town and do some selling. Most of the them have some $$ but low on membership, so have a parent or two join. Concessions are good, set up at an Interstate reststop if one is close (donations for donuts and coffee - check with state transportation), Superbowl tray and long sandwiches, hang christmas lights for a donation,. Can you set up a couple lanes at the fair, $1 for 5 shots? Gets a lot of exposure.

Our Scout Troop has the same kinds of problems. Here are 2 thoughts....

1. Pay or Work
We charge "up front" what it costs to do Scouts for an entire year, then we credit 100% of any funds raised back to the boy that raised those funds. In short all fees are covered in one big payment (we know what it takes because we total the previous year's costs and divide by the number of boys), THEN we give the parents the mechanism to make all the money back by participating in our fund raisers. Throughout the year we'll have several small ones in which the boys and parents can participate. In this way, if the parent has an issue with little Johnny knocking on doors, selling stuff on Sunday, or whatever, the parent is free to sell it themselves at their work place, or swallow their pride and shut up about the price. Most of our boys work off about 75% of the costs this way.

The Troop then keeps a tally of the money each boy raises throughout the year. Any overage is simply deducted from the next season's starting dues so that the slate is completely wiped clean every 12 months to avoid any accounting errors creeping in over the years.

We NEVER give refunds. If the Scout raises $500 and then quits, he looses all the money. This is a very positive inducement for the youth AND the parent to stick with the program. In shooting terms, to practice "follow through". That in itself is an important life lesson.

In hardship cases, we let the boy work off his debt by "fronting" him the annual dues and impressing on him that he has to get involved in all the fund raisers or he'll be cutting extra grass during the summer. We have never ever had a boy fail to meet their payments.

The first rule in working with teens is to NEVER give them anything. Allow them to work for it. When they have sweat equity invested they always appreciate it much more, and respect you more for it.


2. Piggyback
One of our biggest fund raisers is also the easiest because we "piggyback" on another youth program. One of our mom's pointed out that the local little league baseball season kickoff is a big parade at 8AM Saturday morning. We go set up in the parking lot with hot coffee, hot cocoa and hot dough nuts an hour before hand. Everything is $1 ea. We don't make change. You gotta $5, then you get 5 somethings. We typically sell 80 dozen KK dough nuts, 2 urns of coffee and 1 of hot cocoa. The kids want breakfast and the moms can't get enough coffee. We're done in 2 hours flat !!

We order KK dough nuts through their web site at a discounted rate. We borrow several 50-cup coffee urns from a local church. See... http://www.krispykreme.com/fund.html



If you can get a hold of a Boys Life Scouting magazine, the back is also filled with hundreds of fund raising ideas. Candy, cards, Christmas wreaths, etc. However, we've found that best things are the ones that you can give immediately (like discount coupon books), and then the boy does not have to revisit someone who may have changed their mind. And too, discount coupon books don't melt or spoil when the youth leaves them by mistake in their car trunk for a month.

Hope this helps!