A magnet fundraiser works like this. Your booster club orders custom magnets at a volume price, sells them to supporters for more than they cost, and keeps the difference. There is no perishable stock, no weather risk, and no volunteer labor after the sale is made. Most programs run one per season.
That model is genuinely one of the better options available to a booster club. What the guides selling magnets leave out is the part that decides whether yours works: the approval you need before you order, and the arithmetic you should run before you pick a quantity.
Why do magnets work better than most booster fundraisers?
Magnets remove the three things that sink most booster fundraisers: spoilage, weather, and repeat volunteer hours.
A bake sale needs parents on a Saturday. A car wash needs sun. Cookie dough needs a freezer and a delivery window. A magnet sits in a box until someone buys it, and it stays sellable at the next home game, or next season if the design carries no year.
The sale is also a single transaction. Once a supporter buys, nothing else is required of your volunteers. Compare that to a discount card, where somebody has to recruit businesses and track expiration dates before a single card sells.
And the item keeps working after the money is collected. A magnet on a supporter's tailgate stays visible in traffic and parking lots for as long as they leave it there. No candy bar does that.
One honest limit. A magnet is a one-time purchase per supporter per season, so it does not compound the way a year-round online spirit store does. Run both if you can, alongside these other fundraising options.
What has to be approved before you order?
Get the approvals first. A booster club is a 501(c)(3) organization operating under school district rules, and ordering merchandise before clearing it is the most common way a fundraiser gets stopped after the money is spent.
Requirements vary by district, so treat this as an example rather than a national standard. Broward County Public Schools, to take one published set of rules, requires booster clubs to:
- Complete a letter of agreement before the fundraiser runs
- Get approval from the coach or sponsor, the athletic director, and a school designee
- State on any flyer or advertisement that the booster club is the sponsor
- Avoid ordering merchandise in the school's name
That last one catches people out. The booster club orders as the booster club, not as the school.
There is a second approval unrelated to your district paperwork. School logos and wordmarks are usually district property, and you need written permission before a vendor can print them. Ask before you send artwork.
How do you work out whether it's actually high margin?
Divide your total order cost by your sale price. That number is how many magnets you must sell to break even, and everything past it is profit.
Say you spend $400 on an order and price each magnet at $8.
Break even at 50 units. Sell 200 and you raise $1,200 above cost. Sell 40 and you lose money.
Three inputs decide the result:
- Order quantity. Per-unit cost drops as volume rises, so a bigger order is cheaper per magnet but raises your break-even number.
- Sale price. Set by what your community will pay, not by what the magnet costs. Ask what other programs at your school charge.
- Units you can realistically sell. Count your actual supporter base, not your enrollment.
The mistake to avoid is ordering to the best per-unit price rather than to the number you can sell. A lower cost per magnet is worthless if a third of the box is still in a closet in December.
Per-unit pricing depends on quantity, size, and design, so the only figure worth planning against is a real one for the quantity you actually intend to order.
Which type of magnet fits which job?
There are two different jobs here, and they call for different products. Volume selling reaches many supporters at a low price. Recognition selling reaches fewer families at a higher price. Most programs should run both, at different points in the season.
| Car magnets | Schedule magnets | Locker magnets | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job | Volume revenue | Volume revenue plus sponsor value | Recognition revenue |
| Who buys | Any supporter | Parents and fans | Player families |
| Where it lives | Vehicle | Refrigerator | Locker or car |
| Typical order | Large | Large | Small |
| Price tolerance | Low | Low | High |
Car magnets
- Job
- Volume revenue
- Who buys
- Any supporter
- Where it lives
- Vehicle
- Typical order
- Large
- Price tolerance
- Low
Schedule magnets
- Job
- Volume revenue plus sponsor value
- Who buys
- Parents and fans
- Where it lives
- Refrigerator
- Typical order
- Large
- Price tolerance
- Low
Locker magnets
- Job
- Recognition revenue
- Who buys
- Player families
- Where it lives
- Locker or car
- Typical order
- Small
- Price tolerance
- High
Car magnets for reach
Fundraising car magnets are the volume play. You are selling a low-priced item to as many people as possible, so the goal is units rather than margin per unit.
Cut-to-Shape Magnets give you the die-cut mascot or oval shape supporters expect, printed on 20-mil magnet stock in unlimited colors. A cut-to-shape magnet is exactly what it sounds like: the magnet is trimmed to the outline of your design rather than to a rectangle.
Keep the design simple. A car magnet fundraiser lives or dies on whether the thing reads from another lane at 30 mph, which means one mascot, your team name, and nothing else.
Schedule magnets for the season ahead
Custom football schedule magnets are the same cut-to-shape product printed with your season slate instead of a mascot alone. They behave differently from a spirit magnet. They go on a refrigerator, not a car, and a parent looks at one all season, which is what makes them the strongest sponsor-funded option you have.
A local business will often cover the entire print cost in exchange for its logo along the bottom. That turns a fundraiser with a break-even point into one with no cost at all.
Timing is unforgiving. A schedule magnet that arrives in week three is worth very little, so this is the item to order earliest.
Locker magnets for recognition
Locker magnets are the margin play. Custom magnetic name tags carrying a player's name and number sell to a much smaller group at a much higher price, because a family is buying their own kid's name rather than a generic team logo.
Senior night, team welcome packs, and end-of-season keepsakes are where these land. Name and Number Magnets and Classic Locker Magnets both handle personalization, and Locker Magnets come in a range of shapes and sizes.
The economics run opposite to car magnets: fewer units, higher price each, and a much lower break-even count.
When should you run a magnet fundraiser?
Order in the offseason, sell at the start of the season. Enthusiasm peaks before the first game and declines from there, and a magnet sold in week one gets displayed for the whole year.
For fall sports, that means ordering over the summer rather than in mid-September. Schedule magnets need to arrive before the schedule starts. Locker magnets sell best around senior night and the end-of-season banquet, so they run on a separate clock from everything else.
Two operational notes. Artwork approval starts the production clock, not the date you place the order, so build in time for a proof. And a folding table at a home game outsells order forms sent home in backpacks, because people buy when their wallet is already out.
Take Your Fundraiser Online
Want to make the fundraiser even easier? Consider turning it into an online team store. Instead of collecting order forms, payments, and individual orders yourself, supporters can shop online and place their orders directly.
An online store can help take the middleman out of the process for booster clubs and volunteers. Families, alumni, and fans can shop when it’s convenient for them, while your organization spends less time managing paperwork and collecting payments.
You can also expand beyond magnets by adding team apparel and other spirit items, giving supporters more ways to show their team pride while helping your organization raise funds. Ask Sportdecals about setting up an online store for your team or booster club.
Frequently asked questions about magnet fundraisers
How many magnets should a booster club order the first time?
Order to the number you can realistically sell, not to the cheapest per-unit tier. Count your actual supporter base, halve it, and use that as a starting figure for your first run. You can reorder.
What should we charge for a fundraising car magnet?
Whatever your community will pay without hesitating. Ask what other programs at your school charge, since that sets local expectations more than your cost does.
Do we need school approval to sell magnets with the school logo?
Usually yes, and in two separate ways. Most districts require fundraiser approval before you order, and school logos are typically district property requiring written permission to print. Check both with your athletic director first.
Will a car magnet damage my vehicle's paint?
Clean both the magnet and the paint before applying, and remove it periodically to wipe underneath, since trapped dirt and moisture is what causes problems rather than the magnet itself. Don't apply one over a curved or textured panel where it can't sit flat.
What is the difference between a car magnet and a locker magnet?
Job and audience. Car magnets are low-priced items sold in volume to any supporter. Locker magnets are personalized items sold at a higher price to a smaller group, usually player families.
