School Fundraising with the GameTime Spirit Shoe Program™

The GameTime Spirit Shoe Program is a great way for schools to raise money for their athletic or other activities. Unlike selling candy bars or wrapping paper as fundraisers, every child needs shoes and the Spirit Shoe program can raise funds for the school by providing a product students love and without irritating parents.

How the GTA Fundraiser program works:

The school does not invest any money in the program. The principal or their representative simply contacts GameTime and indicates their interest in participating in the Spirit Shoe fundraising program.

GameTime’s creative graphic artists design a men’s athletic shoe and a women’s athletic shoe with the school’s colors, logo and/or mascot on the shoe and sends the design to the school for approval.

Once the design is approved, GameTime provides a package of marketing materials for the school to use to promote the shoe to the students. 

Schools typically introduce the Spirit Shoe at a pep rally or all school meeting. All the materials necessary for presenting the Spirit Shoe to the students is provided free of charge by GameTime.

The school conducts the fundraiser for two weeks - giving students time to talk with their parents about the shoes and complete the purchase orders. 

Each student gives the school a $30 deposit when they order their shoes. The balance will be paid when the shoe is delivered to the school for distribution to each student. Deposits are given to GameTime when the final order is submitted. 

GameTime sends the final order count of the custom shoes to their manufacturing facilities in Putian, China. With 2 million people, Putian, China is the largest center of shoe manufacturing in the world. Every major shoe company produces shoes in Putian – Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Puma. 

In six weeks the shoes are handmade in China with the same materials and on the same assembly lines as the name brand shoes kids buy in retail stores. The shoes are then air shipped to Memphis for distribution to the school.

Schools typically hold a Spirit Shoe Rally where the shoes are distributed to the students and the final payment is collected.

Depending on the shoe design selected by the school, the school retains $10-$20 per pair of shoes as their fundraiser and remits the remainder to GameTime.

Benefits of the Spirit Shoe Program

Schools that have participated in the GTA Spirit Shoe Fundraising Program have experienced many benefits:

Students get a high quality athletic shoe, customized with their school’s colors, logo and/or mascot.

The price of the shoe is below the retail price of comparable brand name shoes – they are made from the same materials and in the same factories as brand name shoes, but GameTime doesn’t have multi-million dollar endorsements to pay or expensive advertising programs to support. So we pass the savings on to the students.

These custom shoes are a great way to promote school spirit. Students wear them to athletic events to show their pride in their school and their teams. 

Many schools include the students in the fundraising process – letting them be in charge of promotion, selling, organizing the pep rally, taking orders, and distributing the shoes. Working with GameTime, students learn about how a product is designed, manufactured and sold – important educational lessons and life skills.

The school receives $10-$20 per shoe depending on the custom shoe style chosen. With 200-300 students participating, the Spirit Shoe fundraiser can generate $5,000 - $7,000 for the school. Often this is much more than traditional fundraisers such as selling wrapping paper or candy bars.