How 7 Varsity Spirit Cheer Teams Turned Cookie Dough Into Real Money
There’s a particular kind of hustle that lives inside a cheer program.
Early morning practices. Long competition seasons. Uniforms, travel, entry fees, camp registrations — the list of things a cheer team needs is almost as long as the list of things they’ll do to get them. And right in the middle of that beautiful, exhausting, passionate world sits one very important question: How are we going to pay for all of this?
The answer, for a growing number of Varsity Spirit cheer teams across the United States, has turned out to be surprisingly delicious.
Seven high school and youth cheerleading programs recently ran a cheerleading cookie dough fundraiser through David’s Cookies Fundraising — and the results were nothing short of spectacular. Seven teams. Seven communities. Hundreds of boxes sold. And thousands of dollars raised in total sales, with zero upfront cost, zero logistical headaches, and 100% cheer-team energy.
Here’s their story.
What Is Varsity Spirit?
Before we dive into the numbers, a quick word about the world these teams compete in.
Varsity Spirit is the global leader in cheerleading and dance — the organization behind some of the most iconic cheer camps, competitions, and championships in the sport. From school cheer programs to All Star competitive teams, Varsity Spirit exists to celebrate, elevate, and empower the spirit community. Follow them on Instagram at @VarsitySpirit for competition highlights, athlete stories, and everything the cheer world is talking about.
When a Varsity Spirit cheer team needs to fund their season, the stakes are real. These are dedicated athletes with serious goals — and they deserve a cheer team fundraiser that’s as high-performing as they are.
The Challenge Every Cheer Team Knows
Here’s the thing about running a cheer program: the costs don’t wait for your fundraiser to be ready.
Uniform orders have deadlines. Camp registrations close. Competition fees come due on a schedule that doesn’t care whether your last car wash raised $200 or $2,000. Coaches and parent boosters are constantly searching for cheerleading fundraiser ideas that can move fast, raise meaningful money, and not require an army of volunteers to manage a logistical nightmare.
Traditional fundraisers — selling wrapping paper, running car washes, collecting pennies in a jar — have their place. But the teams in this story needed something better. Something their supporters would actually want to buy. Something that could spread beyond the school parking lot into family networks, neighborhoods, and communities across the country.
What they found was a cookie dough fundraiser — and it changed the game entirely.
The Fundraiser: Premium Cookie Dough, Zero Upfront Cost, Ship-to-Home Convenience
Our Fundraising pragram offers cheer teams — and any school organization — one of the most straightforward, high-return fundraising programs available today.
Here’s how it works: your team signs up at no cost, receives a personalized online store link, and starts sharing it with family, friends, and supporters. Supporters visit the store, choose from premium cookie dough fundraiser products — rich, indulgent, perfectly portioned doughs that bake into real, gorgeous cookies at home — and place their orders online. Products ship directly from the warehouse to the supporter’s doorstep. The team never handles inventory, never chases payments, never fills the coach’s car with frozen goods.
And the profit? A fundraiser with 50% profit for schools — meaning every box sold puts real money directly into your program’s pocket.
This is the ship-to-home fundraiser model at its best: modern, efficient, and built for busy teams who want to focus on cheering, not logistics.
The Results: Seven Cheer Teams, Seven Victories
Now, let’s talk numbers. Because these aren’t just good results — they’re great results, earned by real cheerleaders in real communities across five states.
Alpine High School Cheer — Alpine, TX
12 participants | 104 boxes sold | $5,750 total sales including donations
From the heart of West Texas, Alpine’s cheer squad showed that a small-but-mighty team can absolutely deliver. Twelve participants hit the phones, hit the group chats, and hit their community — selling 104 boxes and raising $5,750 in total sales including donations. As a high school cheer fundraiser model, this is exactly the kind of result that makes a real difference to a program’s budget.
Sonora High School Cheer — Sonora, CA
20 participants | $5,540 total sales including donations
California’s Sonora High brought sunny energy to their campaign. Twenty cheerleaders spreading the word and raising $5,540 in total sales including donations. Their result is a textbook example of what happens when a cheer team fundraiser taps into an enthusiastic, well-connected supporter base.
Parkway High School Cheer — Parkway, LA
17 participants | 198 boxes sold | $6,220 total sales including donations
Parkway High’s cheer squad from Louisiana didn’t just show up — they showed out. With only 17 participants, they sold an impressive 198 boxes and raised $6,220 in total sales including donations. That’s elite-level fundraising performance from a squad that clearly knows how to rally a crowd. Their result is one of the best per-participant averages in this entire group, proving that a competitive cheer fundraiser mentality translates off the mat just as powerfully as on it.
Alvin High School Cheer — Alvin, TX
12 participants | 118 boxes sold | $4,325 total sales including donations
Alvin, Texas brought serious heart. Twelve participants, 118 boxes, and $4,325 raised in total sales including donations. Like Alpine, Alvin’s squad demonstrates that team size is not the deciding factor in a high school fundraiser — commitment is. With an average of nearly 10 boxes per person, these cheerleaders absolutely delivered.
Fort Zumwalt North Cheer — St. Peters, MO
30 participants | 188 boxes sold | $8,505 total sales including donations
Missouri showed up in force with Fort Zumwalt North. Thirty cheerleaders selling 188 boxes and raising $8,505 in total sales including donations — a strong, standout group result that reflects what a well-organized high school cheer fundraiser can achieve. Fort Zumwalt North is proof that when you build a team culture around a shared goal, the fundraiser becomes its own kind of team sport.
Antioch Vikings Youth Football & Cheerleading — Antioch, IL
31 participants | 162 boxes sold | $7,110 total sales including donations
Illinois’ Antioch Vikings Youth Football & Cheerleading program brought the biggest squad energy of the group. Thirty-one participants, 162 boxes, and $7,110 raised in total sales including donations. As a youth football fundraiser and youth cheer program combined, the Vikings prove that this model works beautifully for multi-sport organizations — not just a single team, but a whole athletic family rallying around a shared cause.
Fort Zumwalt West High Cheer — O’Fallon, MO
37 participants | 202 boxes sold | $7,665 total sales including donations
And saving the biggest fundraising story for last: Fort Zumwalt West High Cheer takes the top spot in participation with 37 participants, 202 boxes sold, and a standout $7,665 raised in total sales including donations. Missouri’s cheer community is clearly no joke — and Fort Zumwalt West’s team showed what happens when you combine a large, motivated group with a cookie dough fundraiser that gives everyone an easy, shareable way to contribute.
The Combined Impact: By the Numbers
159 cheerleaders. Hundreds of boxes of cookie dough sold. $45,115 raised in total sales including donations. Across five states, spread across communities from West Texas to central Missouri, these teams collectively demonstrated what the best school fundraiser ideas look like in action.
Why It Works: The Fundraising Formula for Cheer Teams
If you’re a cheer coach, a booster parent, or a program director searching for cheerleading fundraiser ideas that actually move the needle, there are a few things that make this model stand out.
The product sells itself. Nobody needs convincing to buy premium cookie dough. David’s Cookies and Mrs. Fields have decades of reputation behind them — rich, indulgent, home-bake-ready doughs that supporters genuinely want. When your product is desirable, the ask is easy.
Ship-to-home removes every barrier. With a true ship-to-home cookie fundraiser, supporters anywhere in the country can order with a click and receive their cookie dough at the door. Grandma in another state, aunts and uncles scattered across the country, family friends from years past — all of them can support your team without anyone having to be in the same zip code.
No upfront cost means no risk. This is a cookie dough fundraiser no upfront cost model — your program pays nothing to launch. Every dollar raised is driven by real community support and completed orders. For booster clubs and school organizations managing tight budgets, that zero-risk entry point is enormous.
The 50% profit margin is real. Most school fundraising ideas offer 25–40% returns. At 50% profit, every box your team sells puts maximum money into your program. That’s what turns committed cheerleaders into serious fundraisers.
It’s an easy school fundraiser with online ordering. The entire campaign runs through a personalized online store. No paper order forms. No cash handling. No delivery coordination. Your team shares a link — by text, on social media, through email — and the platform handles everything else.
How to Run a Cheer Cookie Dough Fundraiser: Lessons From These Teams
Looking at what these seven Varsity Spirit cheer programs did well, a few patterns emerge:
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Get every participant involved. The teams with the strongest per-person averages had every squad member actively sharing their link — not just the loudest voices.
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Leverage social media. Post on your team’s Instagram and Facebook. Tag @davidscookiesfundraising and encourage your supporters to share. Digital word-of-mouth is your most powerful tool.
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Reach beyond the school. The ship-to-home model means your supporter network is unlimited by geography. Extended family, family friends, and online communities are all fair game.
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Set a team goal and celebrate milestones. Whether it’s a box count target or a dollar amount, shared goals create shared momentum — and that’s something every cheer team already knows how to build.
A Shoutout to Every Cheerleader Who Made It Happen
To the cheerleaders of Alpine, Sonora, Parkway, Alvin, Fort Zumwalt North, Antioch, and Fort Zumwalt West:
You didn’t just fundraise. You showed your communities what cheer teams are made of — dedication, teamwork, and the ability to win on and off the mat. Whether your team raised $4,325 or $8,505, every box sold and every donation received was a vote of confidence from someone who believes in your program and the athletes behind it. Take that with you into every practice, every competition, and every performance.
You’ve earned it.
And to the coaches, booster parents, and program directors who organized these campaigns: thank you for investing your time and energy into building something real for your athletes. This is exactly the kind of leadership that makes great cheer programs great.
Could Your Cheer Team Be Next?
If your squad is searching for cheerleading fundraiser ideas that are easy to launch, genuinely profitable, and something your entire community can get behind — the seven teams above have handed you a blueprint.
A cookie dough fundraiser online through David’s Cookies Fundraising gives your cheer program everything it needs: a product people love, a ship-to-home platform that handles fulfillment, a fundraiser with 50% profit for schools, and zero upfront cost to get started.
It doesn’t matter if your squad is 12 athletes or 37. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Texas, California, Missouri, Louisiana, or Illinois. What matters is that you start — and that your community shows up for you.
They will. They always do.
Ready to start a cookie dough fundraiser online for your cheer team? Visit davidscookiesfundraising.com and launch your campaign today. Follow us on social media for tips, inspiration, and success stories just like these.
Tag us when your team hits its goal. We want to celebrate with you.