How to build a budget that doesn't fall apart when one thing goes wrong
Take a look at where your money actually comes from.
Registration fees. Maybe a fundraiser or two. That sponsorship deal someone landed three years ago that auto-renews. The snack bar at tournaments. A merchandise sale in the fall. A grant you applied for once and forgot about.
If your revenue looks like a collection of things that happened rather than a system you designed, you're not alone. Most youth sports programs build their budgets the same way: opportunistically, reactively, one income stream at a time. Something works, so you keep doing it. Something new comes along, so you add it. Eventually you've got a patchwork that technically covers expenses but feels fragile in ways that are hard to name.
Then something shifts. Registration dips. A sponsor pulls out. The fundraiser that used to bring in $8,000 only brings in $4,000. And suddenly you're scrambling, because the budget was never designed to absorb a hit.
This isn't a failure of effort. It's a failure of strategy. And strategy is fixable.
The Problem with Accidental Revenue
When revenue streams accumulate without intention, a few predictable problems emerge.
The budget becomes fragile. If you're depending on five income sources and three of them are volatile, one bad season can blow a hole in your finances. You won't know which sources are stable until one of them isn't.
Decision-making gets reactive. Without a clear picture of where money comes from and what it's supposed to fund, every budget conversation starts from scratch. Should we raise fees? Do we need another fundraiser? Can we afford that equipment upgrade? These questions are impossible to answer well without a framework.
Mission drift creeps in. Some revenue sources align naturally with what your program is trying to do. Others are tolerated because they bring in money, even if they create friction or distract from core priorities. Over time, the tolerated stuff can start driving decisions more than the mission-aligned stuff.
Volunteer and staff energy gets scattered. Running a fundraiser takes time. Managing sponsors takes time. Selling merchandise takes time. When revenue streams multiply without prioritization, the people running your program get stretched across too many fronts, often without a clear sense of which efforts actually matter most.
None of this means your current approach is wrong. It means it probably hasn't been examined closely enough to know whether it's working as well as it could.
The Revenue Stack Audit
Before you can build a strategy, you need to see what you're actually working with. A revenue stack audit is a simple exercise that makes the invisible visible.
Start by listing every source of income your program received in the past year. Registration fees. Sponsorships. Fundraisers. Merchandise. Grants. Donations. Facility rentals. Tournament entry fees. Snack bar profits. Everything.
For each source, answer three questions.
How much did it bring in? Get the actual number, not a rough guess. You need to know the scale of each stream relative to the others.
How stable is it? Some revenue is predictable. Registration fees, assuming enrollment stays consistent, show up reliably each season. Other revenue is volatile. A fundraiser might bring in $10,000 one year and $4,000 the next. Sponsorships can disappear without warning. Grants may or may not be renewed. Rate each source as stable, somewhat stable, or volatile.
How mission-aligned is it? This one requires honest reflection. Does this revenue source support what your program is trying to accomplish? Does it create friction with families or staff? Does it take more energy than it's worth? Some income streams are clearly aligned. Others are tolerated because they work, even though nobody loves them. A few might actively conflict with your values or priorities.
When you're done, you'll have a clearer picture of your revenue stack: what you're depending on, what's at risk, and what might deserve more or less attention going forward.
Stable vs. Volatile: Why the Mix Matters
Every program needs a base of stable revenue to cover core operations. If your baseline expenses depend on income sources that fluctuate wildly, you're building on sand.
Registration fees are typically the most stable source. Families commit at predictable times, and while enrollment can shift, it usually doesn't swing dramatically from season to season. Fees should be set at a level that covers your non-negotiable costs: facility rentals, insurance, basic equipment, and essential staffing.
Sponsorships can be stable if you've built long-term relationships with local businesses, but they can also vanish overnight if a contact leaves or a company changes priorities. Treat sponsorship revenue as a bonus rather than a baseline until you've got multi-year commitments in writing.
Fundraisers are almost always volatile. They depend on volunteer energy, family participation, and external factors you can't control. A car wash that made $3,000 last year might make $800 this year if it rains. Plan accordingly.
Grants are high-reward but unpredictable. They're worth pursuing, but don't budget for renewal until you have confirmation.
The goal isn't to eliminate volatile revenue. It's to know which sources are volatile and avoid depending on them for expenses you can't cut.
Setting a Target Mix
Once you understand your revenue stack, you can start thinking about what you want it to look like.
A target mix assigns different revenue sources to different purposes. This isn't just accounting. It's a strategic framework that guides decisions about where to invest energy and how to respond when something changes.
Here's one approach that works for a lot of programs.
Registration fees cover operations. This is your baseline. Facilities, insurance, equipment, and essential staffing should be funded by predictable income that shows up every season. If fees don't currently cover these costs, that's a signal to either raise fees or cut operational expenses.
Sponsorships fund scholarships and access programs. This creates a clean story for sponsors: their support directly helps families who couldn't otherwise afford to participate. It also protects your scholarship budget from fluctuations in other areas.
Fundraisers fund extras. New uniforms. End-of-season events. Equipment upgrades. Tournament travel subsidies. These are things that improve the program but aren't essential to running it. If a fundraiser underperforms, you skip the extra, not the essentials.
Grants fund special projects. Facility improvements. New program launches. Pilot initiatives. Grants are great for one-time investments but risky to depend on for ongoing costs.
This is just one model. Your program might allocate differently based on your context, priorities, and what your revenue stack actually looks like. The point is having a model at all, so that when decisions come up, you're not starting from zero every time.
When Something Falls Short
The real test of a revenue strategy is what happens when something doesn't go as planned.
If your framework is clear, the response is straightforward. Sponsorship revenue dropped? Scholarship budget gets adjusted. Fundraiser underperformed? The extras get scaled back. Registration dipped? Time to look at operational costs or consider a fee adjustment for next season.
Without a framework, every shortfall triggers a scramble. Which expenses do we cut? Do we need an emergency fundraiser? Should we dip into reserves? These conversations are stressful and often lead to decisions that create new problems.
A good revenue strategy doesn't prevent shortfalls. It tells you what to do when they happen.
Pruning What Isn't Working
Not every revenue stream deserves to continue.
Some fundraisers take enormous volunteer energy and produce modest returns. Some sponsorships come with strings attached that create more hassle than they're worth. Some merchandise sales barely break even after you account for the time spent managing inventory.
Part of building a revenue strategy is being willing to cut what isn't working. If a revenue source is volatile, low-margin, misaligned with your mission, or burning out your volunteers, it might be doing more harm than good, even if it technically brings in money.
This is hard because cutting feels like losing. But the energy you free up can be redirected toward sources that are more stable, more aligned, or simply less exhausting.
Revenue Strategy as Leadership
Talking about money can feel awkward, especially in youth sports where so much runs on volunteer goodwill and community spirit. But avoiding the conversation doesn't make the budget more stable. It just means problems stay hidden until they become crises.
A clear revenue strategy is an act of leadership. It tells your board, your coaches, and your families that the program is being run thoughtfully. It gives you language to explain decisions that might otherwise seem arbitrary. And it protects the mission by making sure financial pressures don't quietly push the program somewhere it never intended to go.
Your revenue stack didn't arrive by accident, even if it feels that way. It's the result of years of decisions, relationships, and experiments. The question now is whether you're going to keep adding to the pile or start building something intentional.
The programs that thrive long-term aren't the ones with the most revenue streams. They're the ones that know exactly what each stream is for and what happens if it disappears.
Ian Goldberg is the CEO of Signature Media and the Editor of the largest and fastest growing sports parenting newsletter. He’s been recognized as an industry expert by the National Alliance for Youth Sports, the US Olympic Committee’s Truesport, and the Aspen Institute's Project Play. Ian is also a suburban NJ sports dad of two teenage daughters and has over 2,000 hours of volunteer time coaching them (which he calls the most fun form of R&D for his newsletter content). Ian and his team provide players, coaches, parents and program directors with the articles and content they need to have a great sports season. Ian has spent most of his career in digital product development and marketing and got his start at the White House where he worked for the economic advisors to two US Presidents.
