Fundraising

We understand the financial hurdle can be a big factor in your decision to travel with AIST. We have provided some information and ideas below to help you make the opportunity possible.

Many of our athletes have found success with these options over our 20 years of business. It is each players responsibility to make sure they stay within the NCAA guidelines. AIST is not responsible for illegal fundraising efforts.

Personalized Fundraising Letter

We have a fundraising letter you can use for free. We recommend using this letter along with a personal note and a stamped envelope to raise funds quickly with many of your family members, friends, and local businesses. You can download the letter here!

Old School – Hand Delivered Letters (or emailed):

  • One of the easiest ways we have found for a player to raise money is with our fundraiser letter that you can download here. It’s best to make a list of as many friends, family, and businesses in your community and anyone else you can think of that would be willing to support you. Remember, with this list you are only trying to get small donations of $20-$50 per person. The bigger your list the better your response will be. We recommend putting a cover letter with it and including a stamped envelope with the AIST address on it. This way you will make it convenient for them to make a donation. On-line donation options are available as well.  In your cover letter be sure to ask them to respond within two weeks so you can have a better idea of the response these letters will have for you. This process can be done in just a few hours and be very helpful financing your trip. We will send you a statement every time a donation is received so you can see who has supported you. It will also have their mailing addresses (if available) so you can send thank you letters if you would like.

Camps:

  • Host a sports camp for younger kids. We suggest asking the Athletic Director or Coach at your school if you can rent the sports facility to run a small camp. Advertise in the local paper, social media and talk to as many local schools as you can. Charge the kids $30-$40 for a 2-3 hour camp or host a weekend camp for $25 per day. Several of our players in the past have raised thousands of dollars by doing camps throughout the winter. Kids will jump at the opportunity to work with college athletes. You can also ask local businesses to sponsor a tournament and provide T-shirts for your own personal camps.

On-line Options:

  • Many players have had success raising 50-100% of their cost with online options such as Rally Me and GoFundMe.  Please check with your compliance to make sure any options you use will be legal for eligibility reasons.

Other options athletes have used in the past:

  • Concerts – Have a local band sponsor you by playing at a party that you charge admission for. All proceeds go to you.
  • Bake Sale – A player in the past had several families in her church bake pies and then they auctioned them off at church.
  • Poker Tournament – check your state for gaming rules on money tournaments.
  • Golf tournament – Talk to a local golf club about running a tournament for you. Local sports stores sometimes donate gift cards or apparel for prizes. Charge $100 per person. Generally your profit will be 60%. Maximum for a golf tournament is 144 people (8 persons per hole). Possibility of raising over $8000.
  • 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament – Put together a tournament using your school’s gym as the facility.
  • Spaghetti Dinner/Pancake Breakfast – Check with a local restaurant or school cafeteria to see if they will sponsor a dinner for you.
  • Auction/Raffle – Have local business donate gifts that you can sell at an auction.