Each year cheerleaders lead their schools in raising the school spirit. The cheerleaders are seen at football and basketball games, performing gymnastic-like turns and flips, all with a great big smile! Cheerleading, like any school sport, has funding needs.

Many cheerleaders sell spirit items for their fundraiser. Now you may have heard of a few of school spirit ideas, but I bet there are some that are new. Take a look:

Traditional Spirit Items

The best way to raise funds for your cheerleaders is to create a fundraiser that centers on what they do best: cheering for the school’s team! There are several tried and true spirit items that fans always love:

• Team apparel - t-shirts, baseball caps
• Noisemakers - cow bells and whistles
• Waveables - spirit sticks and signs
• Game gear - stadium seats, coolers, blankets

Cheerleaders can sell spirit or mascot items before, during and/or after the games.

Special Homecoming Items

Many school sports have a homecoming game. Many alumni return to the school for this special night, and the school elects the homecoming king and queen. Your cheerleading squad can hold special events and sales for the homecoming day or week.

• Raffle off the honor of riding in the car in the parade with the homecoming queen
• Some high school girls wear “mums” on homecoming day, this could be a good fundraiser for your squad if your squad takes orders and the cheer boosters or a hobby store or florist creates the mums
• Special t-shirts just for homecoming. These can be sold to students, parents and alums.

Mascot Related Items

Your cheerleading team can sell an item that is somehow related to your school mascot. If your mascot is the tiger, the cheerleaders could sell stuffed animal tigers. Grizzly Bears? How about a build-a-bear type workshop?

• Mascot stuffed animals
• Mascot antenna balls for students’ cars

Events & Contests

• Greatest Roar Contest. Students each pay $5 for the chance to be the “King Tiger” and get a cool prize. (Of course names can be changed depending on what your mascot is! Do this in several rounds, a few during lunchtime each day and on the day of the pep rally is the finals.
• Raffle off the privilege of running onto the field with the football team or presiding over a coin toss.
• There are many half-time contests that you could do.

So you can see spirit fundraisers for your cheerleading squad is more than just a lot of noise! Take one of these ideas and see where your cheerleading squad can go with it.