This page covers what a cheer booster club actually needs to fund, the constraints that shape how you can raise it, and which event formats fit. If you want the general guide first, start with fundraising by group.
What a cheer booster club is usually funding
- competition uniforms, warmups and shoes
- competition entry fees, which recur through the season
- choreography and music production
- travel and hotel for away competitions
- mats, safety equipment and gym time
What makes this group different
These are the constraints that decide whether a fundraiser works here, and they are the reason generic advice underperforms.
- Per-athlete costs are among the highest of any school activity, so families arrive at the fundraiser already stretched
- The competition calendar runs through the school year with no natural quiet window
- Squad sizes are small, so a per-athlete ask has limited reach unless each athlete's network is activated
- Choreography and music costs are due long before competition season
Why an event-based fundraiser fits
Small squads make broad reach essential — a fifteen-athlete program cannot raise a season budget from fifteen families. Individual online pages turn a small roster into a wide network, which is the only structural way a small squad closes a large gap.
What is realistic to raise
A fifteen-athlete program cannot fund a season from fifteen families, and no amount of effort changes that arithmetic. The variable that decides the outcome is how many people each athlete actually contacts. Design and measure on reach; depth is already exhausted before you start.
A working timeline
The dates that matter here are set by this group’s own calendar, not by a generic fundraising season.
- Late spring: launch, before uniform and choreography deposits
- Early summer: deposits paid from funds already raised
- Season: no fundraising, because every weekend is booked
- Year end: report costs covered per athlete, which is what parents actually want to know
What goes wrong
- Asking cheer families for more when they are already at the top of the youth-sport cost range
- Waiting until competition season, when there is no free weekend to hold anything
- Measuring the campaign in dollars per family rather than in people reached
Formats that suit a cheer booster club
You are not doing this alone
Every Get Movin' group is paired with a Personal Event Coach — a former PTO/PTA volunteer who has run this before. Get Movin's company president and all of its fundraising coaches are former PTO/PTA members, teachers and volunteers. For a cheer booster club, that means someone who has already helped other groups like yours through exactly this.
Your coach:
- strategizes your budget goal with you
- brainstorms incentives that actually motivate your participants
- advises on promotion and timing
- steers you away from the pitfalls they have already watched other groups hit
You also get the FundHub Event Toolbox — 100+ guides, templates, playlists and printables. Meet the coaches.
The platform behind a cheer booster club fundraiser
FundHub is Get Movin's online donation platform, built specifically for schools, teams and community groups by former PTO/PTA leaders. It carries 35+ tools. These are the ones that matter most here:
- Personalized student webpages. A parent sets one up in about five minutes, and each page raises an average of $140.
- One-click sharing to social, email and text, plus a sharing report showing how many parents are actually using it.
- Sponsor Showcase, with pre-built outreach templates and a section on your webpage for local sponsor names and logos.
- Instant, customizable donation reports for students, classes and the whole group.
- Automatic ACH payout after the event, straight to the group's account.
See the full platform on the FundHub page, or book a walkthrough with a coach.
How Get Movin’ runs your cheer booster club fundraiser
- Book a call or a FundHub demo and get matched with your Personal Event Coach.
- Your coach helps you set the goal, pick the date and choose incentives.
- Your group page and student pages go live; parents set theirs up in about five minutes.
- Families share by text, email and social; the coach checks in through the campaign.
- Event day, with volunteers organized through FundHub.
- Funds arrive by automatic ACH transfer after the event.
What it costs and what you keep
Get Movin’ groups keep 95-97% of every dollar raised. Donors pay however they want — cash, check, credit or debit, PayPal, Venmo, or Apple and Google Wallet. Automatic ACH payout after the event, straight to the group's account.
Full detail on the pricing page.
Next steps
See what a cheer booster club fundraiser costs on our pricing page, or browse free templates including printable pledge sheets.
Common questions
How do small squads raise enough?
Reach, not depth. Fifteen athletes with genuinely activated networks outperform fifteen families asked for more. The design question is how many people each athlete actually contacts, not how much each family gives.
When is the best time for a cheer fundraiser?
Late spring or early summer, before uniform and choreography deposits come due and before the competition calendar consumes every weekend.
Start your cheer booster club fundraiser
Get Movin’ has powered 10,000+ events and raised more than $200 million for groups like yours since 2007, with 1,300+ five-star Google reviews.
Take a FundHub tour with a coach, or book your event. Questions first? Contact us or call 248-895-0206. Also useful: the free school grant guide, the parent and donor FAQ, and our fundraising webinars.