This is my area dedicated to the art of fundraising. Everyone knows in order to go to competitions and other aspects of cheerleading you need money. I am including activities that worked for me, and anyone who has any good ideas please e-mail them.
This is an idea that my squad came up with when I was a junior in high school. We decided to hold a little girls cheer clinic. We got participants by sending home a letter to parents of the elementary school children describing the clinic. (see the letter section to obtain a copy of this letter)
The clinic was run in the following manner. First of all, we picked a Saturday during basketball season, when the gym was available for the whole day. The entire elementary school would be too big to teach at once, so we split them up. In the morning we taught the 1,2,3 graders and then later in the day we did the 4,5,6 graders. We had everyone meet in the gym and began with stretching exercises. Then we split into groups of even numbers. Previous to the clinic we divided the Varsity and Junior Varsity squads to man the different areas, according to each girls strengths. In addition to the dividing up of the squads we made sure that there was enough time to concentrate on each section.
There were 4 stations that we concentrated on, in order to give the girls the whole effect of cheerleading in the shortened time span. This way they would rotate from station to station. These stations were: Motions and Jumps, Dance, Chant, and Cheers. We taught a mini dance (probably 5-6 eight-counts) a mini cheer, and a chant.
Now, not only did these little girls get a half day of cheerleading we arranged to have the girls (and cheerleaders) perform at half time of a varsity basketball game. One year we had the girls wear the school colors, and another year, the dance song was from Grease, so the girls were to wear white T-shirts and jeans. Then we dressed up in 60's style clothing. (see the misc. file and you may see some pictures)!
Now you may be wondering how this makes money. Well, we charged $5.00 for each child to attend and then they would get free admission to the basketball game. The parents then had to pay the admission to the basketball game. This not only makes money for the cheerleading squad, but also for the school. This experience is not only fun for the little girls who enjoy the day, but the entire crowd seems to love the routine, even though very few of the girls can remember the routine to do it right!