Fundraiser Pins

Fundraising pins to the extreme:  This is a $5,000+ fundraiser idea for your team using fundraiser pins.  How well does it work? Pretty darn well for some teams each year.  Metro Pins has several teams that order early from us each year, and they do this or something very similar.

Here's an example of how one ball team that orders with us uses this as their primary fundraiser.  They ordered 500 extra pins for fundraising.  The coach told us that his players raised well over $5,000 doing this - $7,800 to be exact.  They placed their order for 1,000 pins, 500 of which were for fundraising.  The other 500 were for pin trading at the World Series.  This had the added benefit of lowering their unit price per pin.

He asks each of his players and families to be responsible for selling 25 of the fundraiser pins, or buying the pins themselves if they don't want to bother with selling them.  Some people don't want to mess with it.  Either way, each family contributes at least $250 to the fundraising effort, and selling or buying the pins is up to them.  This keeps the fundraising effort and contribution semi-fair among the families.  The coach does not limit how many team fundraiser pins they can sell, either.

He offers great prizes - like a new bat of their choice, a glove of their choice, a bucket of balls, etc. - to reward his "high fundraising" players.  He made a simple prize sheet with pictures of the six prizes for the top six "pin sellers."  He paid for the prizes after all the pins had been sold with the money that was raised.  He offered about $1,000 in prizes.  He still cleared over $6,000 for the team account this way, even after the cost of the 500 extra pins.  This pays for everything this coach's team does all year.  If you choose not to offer prizes, you can keep more money in your account - but of course, prizes do help get the kids motivated and competitive.

WHAT?  You're probably wondering how this team raised $7,800 with just 500 fundraising pins at $10 each.  Some of the kids wanted the prizes so badly that they sold their World Series trading pins too.  Kind of comical, huh?  He had to call back and order more pins so those kids had enough for pin trading.  Three things to take away from that good "problem."

A few players wanted to "win the free bat or glove" so badly that they sold their World Series pins as fundraiser pins and simply planned to order replacements later.  The coach also told us that once someone said "yes" and agreed to buy a fundraiser pin, his more successful kids would ask, "How many would you like?"  Often, the person would buy more than one.

Fundraiser Pin Questions

What are fundraiser pins?

Fundraiser pins are extra team trading pins sold to family, neighbors, and local businesses. The same design used for World Series or nationals trading is the item you sell.

How many extra pins should we order?

Start with 50 or 100 extras on the same order as your trading pins. If it works this season, order a larger fundraising run next year. A bigger combined quantity can also drop the unit price.

What selling price do teams use?

Many teams ask $10 per fundraiser pin. That is a team decision. Keep trading pins separate until after the fundraiser so players do not sell the pins meant for the event.

Do fundraiser pins need a different design?

No. Use the team trading pin. One design, one mold, one order. That is why the fundraiser takes little extra work.

How do we start?

Send artwork, quantity, and the date you need pins through our baseball and softball design request. Note how many pins are for trading and how many are extras for fundraising.