Does your club have required volunteer hours from the members? My skating club has a required number of hours (I think it's only 2) you must volunteer, and if you don't, you have to pay a $100 fee with your next membership dues. It's pretty extreme, but it's motivating. In my riding club, you have to do 4 hours of volunteer work, or else you are not eligible for a year-end award (unless you pay $200 - and people have done it). It saves money on paying people to announce or do other jobs, and frees up the board members to do other important things during competitions/exhibitions.
Also, do you have sponsors? I'm too new to my skating club to know if we have sponsors, but my riding club does. There are different sponsorship levels... for paying X amount, you can get your banner put up, your business announced at every competition, your ad in the prize list, etc. We've had banks, florists, and other businesses owned by members sponsor the club. Businesses will pay to have their name seen, and it can be as inexpensive as a couple hundred for the year, $25 per event, or paying for the awards at one competition. I just dropped $1,500 to have my business's name plastered EVERYWHERE for the year, even on year-end awards. If I thought it would get me more business, I would totally sponsor my skating club, too (and therein lies the crux... businesses have to weigh whether or not they will gain anything from the advertisement. This is why we get so many banks, bakeries, and non-specific donators). But I would certainly consider paying for medals/ribbons at one competition.
Another idea is to see if local businesses will let you put up a flyer for an upcoming competition. I am always more than happy to hang flyers in my store, and would absolutely hang one that wasn't related to horses, as long as the event is kid friendly.
At the year-end banquet, we have a silent and live auction (we don't hire an auctioneer, one of our club members does it for free, and he's not very good at it). One of our riders is the daughter of the director of the university football programme, and he's had the coach sign a football for the past two years (I think it went for $250 last year, but they stopped the bidding and offered to have a second one signed, so they got double the going bid). Everyone pays $35 for a meal, and we sit there bored out of our minds while the kids get their year-end ribbons (which we make BIGGER and BETTER than the normal show ribbons) and prizes. They LOVE it, so it's well worth the effort of putting it all together. At the end, the girls get to dance, so they all have a good time. I'm not sure if skating clubs DO year-end banquets/awards...?
Did any of that give you an idea, or am I just babbling?