Sorority Fundraiser: Bowling for Dollars!

Fraternity & Sorority Fundraiser: Bowling to Raise Money For Your Cause

Regular bowling can be a lot of fun, but a bowling night for a cause can be a blast. There are a number of things you can do to add flair to a night of bowling to promote friendly competition and provide entertainment. This flair makes for an event that will be memorable and make money for your cause.

Most fraternities and sororities like fun events that provide a little bit of competition. They also like events that allow them to let loose and be a little silly. Bowling, though a legitimate competitive sport, can morph into a fun event for the most inexperienced bowler to the pro with just some minor changes.

When having a sorority bowling night, your first concern needs to be finding a bowling alley that can handle a large crowd. Bowling tends to draw a lot of people, so you will want to be sure that your venue can handle the bowlers and spectators. Some universities will have a bowling alley on campus, but it is more likely that you will have to find a nearby bowling alley to host your event. It may be a good idea to have several dates in mind for your bowling event, as you will need to find a date that the bowling alley also has open.

Once you have your venue and date set, then you can begin planning the night of bowling. Each frame should have a different activity, or method, attached to it. For example, you can have your bowlers bowl with their feet. Or you can have them bowl through another bowler’s legs. How about bowling with their eyes closed?

Another consideration when planning your sorority bowling night is to give out prizes. Though giving to a good cause should be incentive enough, prizes enhance the competitive nature of fraternities and sororities. You can purchase sorority apparel and gifts hand out as prizes for the highest score on each frame, the highest score overall, or even the lowest score of the evening. For non-bowlers, you can have a raffle to win the sorority apparel and gifts

Once you have your venue, date, and activities, you need to advertise your event. It is good to add your bowling event to the Greek calendar. You will also need to create flyers and sign-up forms for each fraternity. Since you will only have as much space as your venue allows, you may need to limit the number of people from each fraternity and sorority that can participate. Set a deadline as to when each chapter needs to sign up their team or teams. It is a good idea to set the deadline a few weeks prior to your event, so you will be able to give final numbers to your venue.

It is also to have people pay registration fees when they turn in their registration forms. Remember to include the cost of renting out the bowling alley, shoes, and more when calculating registration costs. However, you may be able to obtain a percentage of profits from the bowling alley’s sales of food and drink, too. Take all costs into consideration before deciding on fees.

A great way to enhance your sorority bowling night is to designate some of your sisters as team captains. This allows them to develop relationships with each sorority and fraternity, too. In order to make sure your sisters are noticeable to anyone attending the event, and to designate team captains, you may want to purchase some sorority apparel and gifts to be worn that day like a uniform. Make sure you give at least four to six weeks for ordering and delivery of your sorority apparel and gifts.

Once you have your team captains and activities set up, you will then just want to communicate the schedule for your event. Let your team captains know how the evening will go, so that they can follow the schedule. It is helpful to have each frame bowled at the same time, and most bowling alleys have a sound system for you to announce the instructions for each frame.

The day of the bowling event, make sure your sisters are at the bowling alley a half hour to hour early to set up trophies along with sorority apparel and gifts that you are giving out as prizes. As people arrive, have many of your sisters greet at the door and offer assistance when needed. Then have fun with your wacky bowling night, and let the competition begin!