guide
How to Start a Team Store Fundraiser (No Inventory)
Quick answer: A no-inventory team store is a pre-order shop. You pick a short product list, set a margin on each item, open for one to three weeks, and share one link. Each buyer pays at checkout, and nothing is made until the store closes, so the program never fronts money or sits on leftover boxes. The two things that decide how much you raise are the close date and how hard you push the last three days.
Every booster president inherits the same closet: hoodies from three seasons ago, all in sizes nobody wears. That closet is why so many programs are nervous about selling gear at all.
The fix comes up again and again when parents compare notes online. A new booster president on r/SCREENPRINTING asked how to sell merch as a fundraiser for each sport. In an r/Softball thread on running a high school booster club, the advice was blunt: "pre-orders, not inventory" with a two-week window. On r/PTO, a parent who has run several spirit wear fundraisers described the same setup: take pre-orders, then have a business make them.
That is the whole model. Here is how to run it, step by step. If you just want the basics of how a store operates, start with how fan stores work. This guide is about making one raise money.
Step 1: Decide what the store is for
Stores do two different jobs, and mixing them up causes most of the confusion.
| Team store | Fan store | |
|---|---|---|
| What it sells | Uniforms and required gear | Spirit wear: hoodies, tees, polos, joggers |
| Who buys | Your roster | Parents, students, alumni, grandparents, fans |
| Main goal | Everyone in the same kit, with no cash collecting | Raising money and showing colors |
| Margin | Usually low, because families have to buy it | Your call, because the purchase is optional |
If the goal is fundraising, the fan store does the heavy lifting. Be careful about adding margin to required gear. Families notice when a mandatory singlet or jersey costs more so the program can make money. Plenty of programs run both, with required pieces priced close to cost and the fundraising margin on the optional gear.
Step 2: Pick a short product list
New store runners tend to add everything. Don't. A long list slows parents down, and a parent who has to think about it on a Tuesday night often closes the tab. Start with pieces people actually wear to a gym or a ballfield:
- A hoodie for every age. The Men's, Women's and Youth Momentum Hoodie cover the whole family.
- Something for the coach and the dad who won't wear a hoodie. A performance polo fits that spot.
- A bottom. The Momentum Jogger pairs with the hoodie as a set.
- A lower-priced way in. A tee gives the grandparent or younger sibling an easy yes. You can browse blanks and print options on the screen print and DTF tab.
Offer youth sizes on everything you can, and link the size guides in your first message. Size questions are the ones that land on the coach's phone.
Step 3: Set a margin with math, not a guess
The question boosters ask most is how much to add. Work backward from what you need to fund. Say the goal is $1,000 for tournament entry fees. The table shows what that takes at different margins. These are illustrations of the arithmetic, not Compound prices.
| Margin per item | Items needed for $1,000 | What that looks like |
|---|---|---|
| $3 | 334 | A big school community, or several sports sharing a store |
| $5 | 200 | A strong program with active alumni |
| $8 | 125 | A roster of 30 with families buying about four items each |
Now check that against reality. Count your families and be honest about how many will buy, and about how many items each. If the math only works when every family buys four hoodies, lower the goal or widen the audience. Don't raise the margin until it stings. A price that feels fair sells more items, and a parent who feels squeezed tells other parents.
On a Compound store you choose: keep prices low for families or add margin to raise more, and your rep builds the pricing around the goal. Before opening, ask your rep how the fundraising report and the payout work so your treasurer knows what to expect. Tax treatment varies by state and by how your group is set up, so run that past your treasurer or tax adviser instead of a Facebook thread.
Step 4: Pick a window and a close date you will hold
Keep the store open for one to three weeks. Parents on Reddit land at about two weeks, and that is a good default. Longer windows don't give you a longer rush. They give you a longer quiet middle.
Then count backward from when people need the gear. Our Help Center says to allow 6 to 8 weeks from the store's close for orders to reach buyers, because production starts after the close date. Add the store window and a few days to build the store, and you need to start about 8 to 11 weeks before the date that matters. For more on where the time goes, read how long custom team uniforms take.
Hold the date. An extension feels kind, but it pushes production and delivery back by the same amount, for everyone who already ordered on time.
Step 5: Promote it when parents actually buy
This is where stores are won or lost. We looked at order timing across 83 recent Compound store windows from 2025 and 2026. These are directional averages, not guarantees, but the pattern is clear:
- About 1 in 3 orders come in during the final three days.
- Order pace at close runs about double the pace at open.
- 35% of orders land between 6 and 10 PM.
- Sunday is the biggest ordering day of the week.
So send reminders after dinner, not at 7 AM. Build the schedule around five moments:
- 3 to 5 days before opening: tell families the store is coming and when it closes.
- Opening day: send the link everywhere at once with pictures of the gear. People buy what they can picture.
- Midpoint: check orders against your roster and text the families who haven't ordered. One personal text beats a fifth group blast.
- Final 72 hours: count it down. Three days, one day, closes tonight. Say the close date in every message.
- Delivery: post team photos when the gear lands. That photo sells your next store.
Two more things raise totals. First, send the link to parents directly, because athletes see the team chat but parents hold the card. Second, say what the money funds. "This pays for the trip to the state duals" sells better than "support the team."
Step 6: Decide how the gear gets to people
The Reddit softball advice was a single delivery to the school, which keeps shipping down but puts a pile of boxes in a coach's office. Someone still has to sort it and chase the families who missed pickup.
A Compound store ships each order straight to the buyer with tracking, so there are no pickup days and nothing to hand out. The honest tradeoff is that buyers see a shipping fee at checkout, and it's worth telling families that upfront. For most volunteer boosters, not sorting 200 orders is worth it. It also means an alum three states away can order.
Mistakes that sink a first store
- Opening with no close date. Without a deadline, nobody has a reason to order tonight.
- Sending one message. Most of the money is in the reminders, not the announcement.
- Keeping it inside the team. Share it on school and club pages too. Grandparents and alumni buy.
- Using art nobody would wear. A clean mark in your colors beats a crowded design.
- Timing it badly. A store that closes the week before the tournament will not arrive for the tournament.
How to get one open
Compound's online stores are free to set up and free to run, with no minimum order for you to hit and nothing to buy up front. Tell us your team, colors and goal, and our designers build the lineup. Nothing goes live until you approve it, and most stores go live within a few days of approval. You get one link, a QR code if you want one, and a private dashboard to watch orders come in.
Ready to start? Tell us about your program and a rep will walk you through it.
Frequently asked questions
How do you run a team store fundraiser without buying inventory?
Run it as a pre-order. Buyers pay at checkout during a set window, and nothing is made until the store closes. You never buy stock up front, so there is nothing left over.
How long should a team store stay open?
One to three weeks. Two weeks is a good default. In 83 recent Compound store windows, about 1 in 3 orders came in during the final three days, so a firm close date matters more than a long window.
How much should a booster club mark up spirit wear?
Work backward from your goal. Divide the dollars you need by the number of items you can realistically sell. If that margin feels too high for your families, lower the goal or widen the audience to alumni and fans.
Is there a minimum order for a Compound team store?
No. Team stores and fan stores are free to set up and free to run, with no minimum order for you to hit.
How long does it take for store orders to arrive?
Allow 6 to 8 weeks from the store's close date. Production starts after the store closes, and each order then ships directly to the buyer with tracking.