One way to raise a lot of funds is to charge a large entry fee for each foursome, for example, $60 each. Obviously, if you're going to charge that much to play, you'd better make it a lot of fun.
Another way to fundraise is to do a bowling marathon and get as many participants as possible to come in and bowl, in exchange for a reasonable donation, of course.
To help cover expenses, you can also charge a small admission fee for spectators. Encourage families to attend by offering free tokens for the game room.
Publicity
Invite lots of people and seek out plenty of publicity. Contact local radio and television stations well ahead of your event. Make sure non-bowlers know that there will be plenty of fun things to do besides bowl.
Maintain a contact list of potential participants and put a calling tree to work to raise the the number of participants to the maximum level.
Prizes
Bowlers can also compete for prizes such as most strikes, most gutter balls, highest game, lowest score, best team, etc.
You can offer comical, hand-made trophies or the more traditional mantle-ready versions. Just make sure that the focus remains on having fun.
Costumes
Some groups make their bowling fundraiser a costume event and award prizes for different costume categories like funniest, worst, most original, best team costume, etc.
Give your event a theme that inspires the participants to wear outrageous costumes such as 'Hollywood Bowl' (movie stars) or 'Space Bowl' (Star Wars and Star Trek characters).
Profit Boosters
Add extra fundraising capabilities to your bowling event such as silent auctions, raffle tickets for donated prizes, selling food items, running a cash bar, offering discount bowling passes, etc.
With raffle tickets and silent auctions, be sure to publicize these well ahead of time. Offer raffle tickets for sale ahead of time to people who can't make it. You can also start your silent auctions ahead of time to increase bids.
At the end of the night, run a live auction for the best donated items and announce the winners of all the various prizes, raffles, costume awards and bowling trophies.
Emphasize that it's all about having fun for a good cause and your bowling fundraiser will be a big success!
