Most of your dance studio’s revenue comes from class tuition payments and other student fees. But fundraising dollars can also be a welcome boon to your business, allowing you to level up your class offerings and offer additional opportunities for your students, like competition teams, scholarships, performance trips, and more.
Even though there are a number of benefits to fundraising for your dance studio, it can be challenging to plan campaigns that are simple to organize, fun and engaging for your dancers and their families, and profitable for your studio. Many dance studio owners struggle to know where to begin.
The good news is, that with a little research, you’re sure to find a fundraising idea that resonates with your studio and your community. From there, you’ll have no problem pulling in the dollars you need while also strengthening your studio’s culture as you work together with your community to meet your fundraising goals.
In this post, we’ll help you get started by walking you through seven fresh and effective dance studio fundraising ideas and the steps you’ll need to take to get each one up and running:
As you explore each of these potential fundraising ideas, consider what you know about your dancers, their families, and other community members who support your business. Choose a campaign that will capture their interest and give them plenty of opportunities to volunteer and donate—this will put you on the road to success!
Dance-a-thons are popular fundraisers for many causes, but for a dance studio, it just makes sense! Plus, this unique and relevant campaign lends itself to a peer-to-peer fundraising approach. With peer-to-peer fundraising, your dancers (and other advocates for your studio) are put in the spotlight, sharing their own donation pages and reaching out to their family and friends on your studio’s behalf. This fundraising method has the potential to expand your reach and bring in significantly more funding for your studio.
Dance-a-thons and other event-a-thon-style fundraisers (walk-a-thons, read-a-thons, etc.) get your entire studio’s community involved in raising money for your studio. Plus, dance-a-thons give you the chance to market your studio and its offerings to a wide variety of people, potentially increasing your class enrollments and performance ticket sales down the road!
Product fundraisers are tried-and-true campaigns that can benefit all sorts of organizations, including dance studios. After all, the beauty of a product fundraiser is that everyone who donates to your campaign gets a little something in return for their generosity—whether that’s a cool branded baseball hat or a delicious bag of popcorn.
A product fundraiser presents a unique opportunity to get your dancers involved in the fundraising process. When each dancer has their own order-taking flier or link to your fundraising web store, they can be empowered to go out and speak to family and friends about your dance studio and ask for donations. This can make your product fundraiser an especially rewarding experience when you all work together to meet your goal.
Shoe drive fundraisers are a unique type of fundraiser for teams, clubs, businesses, or any other type of organization looking to bring in extra funding without asking their community for money. These can be especially successful because some supporters might be more willing to donate goods (like used and gently worn shoes) than make a financial contribution.
This fundraising idea can be especially effective if your dance studio is filled with parents and their young children, as they likely have several pairs of shoes lying around the house that don’t fit anymore. A shoe drive allows people to declutter their closets and contribute to a good cause.
For this fundraiser, you’ll leverage what your dance studio has to offer the community—high-quality dance instruction! This fundraising event will encourage aspiring dancers to take to the floor and may even result in new enrollments for your dance classes, all while helping you raise money.
You can boost your community dance class fundraiser’s profits in a number of ways. For example, you could sell branded studio merchandise, old costumes and uniforms, and gently used dance shoes. You could even raffle off a discounted class or a series of private lessons, tying your campaign to your studio’s work and mission.
A virtual showcase is another fun, dance-specific fundraising event that can get your studio great results. Plus, this campaign can give your students a chance to sharpen their dance skills and practice performing. And, better yet, the virtual format can give your studio the chance to reach more people than just your immediate community members.
Not only does this fundraiser allow parents to attend their dancer’s performance from the couch and donate to your business, it can also be a great opportunity to gently introduce younger students to the sometimes nerve-wracking experience of performing. Alternatively, it can be a good chance for more experienced teams to polish dance numbers before a competition.
With this fundraiser, your studio’s supporters will love the chance to get two things done at once—getting their car washed and donating to your fundraising campaign. Note that for this type of fundraiser, you’ll need a dedicated team of volunteers and plenty of supplies (soap, sponges, hoses and a water source).
As you train your volunteer car washers before the event, emphasize the importance of interacting with each driver that comes through the car wash. Dancing along to music or waving and spreading smiles can go a long way in establishing a strong impression with your studio’s supporters, old and new.
Bake sales are so effective because everyone loves the chance to indulge their sweet tooth in the name of a worthy cause. With a hybrid bake sale, you’ll be putting a twist on a classic, offering both an in-person and online selling option. This will accommodate supporters who live far away or prefer to participate from home, as well as those who want to attend your event in person.
Here’s one last tip for a great hybrid bake sale: make sure to include pictures of the goodies you’re selling on your online order form! This will give your bake sale customers the chance to visualize each treat they can order and make their pick based on what looks the most delicious.
No matter how many classes you offer or how much branded merchandise you sell, sometimes fundraising is the answer to earning money for your dance studio and keeping business booming.
Great dance studio fundraising starts with a great fundraising idea. Use the ideas outlined above to determine what campaign will be the most exciting and effective for your studio’s specific audience. Our steps will help you get started and raise the money your studio needs!