Imagine that it’s the start of your region’s Little League baseball season. You’re doing everything you can to prepare, from sharing about the team online to securing sign-ups to holding tryouts. But when it comes time to review your finances, you realize you’re going to need a little extra funding to have a successful season.
It’s a familiar predicament for youth sports coaches across the country, which is why many turn to fundraising to fill budget gaps. Sports fundraisers provide the revenue you need to keep your team running—sometimes literally!
To maximize your earnings while minimizing the burden on you and your team, you need the right team fundraising platform. That’s why we’re highlighting the need-to-knows of team fundraising platforms and highlighting the best solutions on the market.
Let’s dive in!
- What Is a Team Fundraising Platform?
- Team Fundraising Platform Essentials
- 9 Best Fundraising Platforms for Sports Teams
- Top Team Fundraising Platform: 99Pledges
- Other Team Fundraising Platforms
- Team Fundraising Platform FAQs
What Is a Team Fundraising Platform?
A team fundraising platform is a type of software that helps sports teams launch a campaign, collect donations, and track their progress. Exact features will vary based on the type of fundraising platform and the specific provider you choose, but your solution should help you increase revenue while minimizing the work parents or coaches have to put in to manage the campaign.
Team Fundraising Platform Essentials
As a coach, you’re busy juggling everything from team management to practice planning to communications with parents, and you may even be doing all of that on top of a full-time job. Plus, your athletes and their parents are just as busy with school, work, family obligations, and more. All of this means you need a team fundraising platform that takes the burden of fundraising off your shoulders, rather than adding more to your plate.
Here, we’ll outline key features you should look for when researching team fundraising platforms.
Quick and easy setup
Look for a provider that will set up your campaign for you. By choosing a platform with automatic individual donation page creation, you’ll minimize the burden on you and your athletes’ parents so you can focus on the more exciting parts of hosting a fundraiser.
Zero platform fees or startup costs
There are plenty of costly fundraising platforms out there, but they are usually meant for larger nonprofit organizations with more complex needs rather than your local Little League team. Opt for a free or low-cost, lightweight solution that offers all of the features you need and none of the ones you don’t.
Keep an eye out for hidden fees or software that requires you to raise a certain amount to use it for free.
Customizable donation pages
Your donation pages are critical to the success of your online fundraiser—after all, this is where your supporters decide whether to support your team. Ensure you can customize them with your team name, branding, and a compelling description that will inspire supporters to take action.
Flexible payment processing options
To raise as much money as possible, you should accept a wide range of payment methods. Look for a solution that accepts digital payments via debit or credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Your team fundraising platform should also enable you to track cash and checks at no additional cost.
Mobile-friendly interface
To encourage supporters to engage with your fundraiser, you need to simplify the process. This means making it easy for supporters to access your donation pages from any device, from desktops to smartphones.
A mobile-optimized interface should ensure text is legible on small screens and adjust navigation as needed so users can donate from anywhere, at any time.
Comprehensive reporting & donation tracking
Tracking your fundraising progress can help you see whether you’re on target to hit your goals. If you’re not, you’ll have time to course correct. Check that your team fundraising platform automatically tracks donations and generates easy-to-understand reports.
Integrated communication tools
Maintaining regular, prompt communications with supporters shows that you value their support and encourages future donations. However, this can quickly become stressful and eat up hours of your time. Focus on finding a solution that automatically sends donation receipts, thank-you emails, and reminders.
Practice due diligence when looking for the perfect platform. Some solutions may seem promising at first, but it’s crucial to read the fine print and ask clarifying questions. For example, a provider could claim to be free but require you to turn over a percentage of your earnings to them.
9 Best Fundraising Platforms for Sports Teams
Now, we’ll dive into our recommendations for team fundraising. Each of these platforms is designed to help teams like yours come together to raise the funding they need. We’ll get started with our top pick, which has all of the must-have features listed above: 99Pledges.
1. Top Team Fundraising Platform: 99Pledges
99Pledges is a team fundraising platform made for youth sports teams, clubs, and schools. Our mission is to ease the stress of fundraising so you can get back to what really matters: the kids. That’s why we offer our robust, comprehensive platform to teams like yours for free.
99Pledges follows a simple yet lucrative peer-to-peer fundraising structure. Here’s how it works:
- Create. In just a few minutes, we’ll set up your team’s fundraising page and automatically create individual pages for each team member.
- Share. Encourage your team to share the link to their fundraising pages in social media posts, emails, and texts. This builds momentum for your campaign.
- Collect. Leverage the ease of online donating to inspire more donations from your supporters, whether they’re local family members or supporters from across the country.
- Track. Measure your progress and share it with your team and supporters to spark competition and encourage participants to keep fundraising. To further motivate your participants, offer prizes to the top earners.
- Host. Hold your event, whether that’s a Hit-a-thon, Shoot-a-thon, or Fun Run. After your campaign, you’ll receive the proceeds from your campaign within one business day!
To see our software in action, check out our sample fundraiser pages and reports. You can even create a customized sample tailored to your team and fundraiser type.
Teams raise two to three times more funds when they switch to 99Pledges. Even better? They accomplish this with less setup time, paperwork, and stress. 99Pledges makes fundraising easier for everyone involved, including organizers, participants, parents, and donors, while delivering impressive results.
Other Team Fundraising Options
2. GoFundMe
Overview
GoFundMe is a popular crowdfunding platform used to address a variety of fundraising needs. The platform offers customizable campaign pages, communication tools, and shareable links, making it easy to spread the word about your fundraiser.
Drawbacks
GoFundMe’s base platform only supports crowdfunding campaigns, meaning participants won’t have individual, trackable donation pages. Compared to peer-to-peer platforms, this limits the potential for engagement with your fundraiser.
3. Mightycause
Overview
Mightycause offers solutions for nonprofit fundraising, team and event campaigns, and giving days. Its team fundraising solution allows users to create dedicated websites and track metrics in real time. Fundraiser templates help participants get started quickly and start fundraising for your team.
Drawbacks
Participants must complete the donation page set up on their own, which is a major hassle for busy parents.
4. Vertical Raise
Overview
Vertical Raise is an online fundraising platform for youth sports and schools. The platform focuses on product fundraisers, where participants sell items such as popcorn or discount cards to raise money.
Drawbacks
When you host a Vertical Raise fundraiser, each participant has to send at least 20 emails or texts before the fundraiser can go live. This increases the burden on your community and stalls your revenue.
Vertical Raise also costs users on both ends of the fundraising process by charging fundraisers a 20% service fee and making it difficult for donors to opt out of a 15% tip on donations.
5. RallyUp
Overview
While RallyUp primarily offers software for enterprise-level nonprofits and other large organizations, it also has a solution for small and grassroots fundraisers. This tool can be used by growing nonprofits, individuals, and community groups (like your team). RallyUp allows you to create a free, branded campaign website that can manage a-thon fundraisers, auctions, raffles, crowdfunding, and more.
Drawbacks
Because RallyUp’s primary customer base is large, established nonprofits, many smaller fundraisers struggle to get the support they need to succeed with this platform. RallyUp offers some customer support, but unlike 99Pledges, you won’t get a dedicated fundraising coach, which means you’ll be competing for experts’ attention.
6. Donately
Overview
Donately is a robust fundraising platform that serves many different industries, from nonprofits to churches to influencers. It offers a crowdfunding solution designed specifically for teams to help them fundraise for new uniforms, equipment, and more.
Drawbacks
Donately is not a free fundraising platform for teams. While they advertise their platform as having fees “as low as 0%”, this requires you to pay $5,000 upfront. If you choose not to pre-pay or invest in a monthly plan, the platform fees will take 4% of your earnings.
7. Give Lively
Overview
Give Lively offers software to support digital, event, and peer-to-peer fundraisers. Team leaders can create the main campaign page, have participants set up their own pages, and promote the campaign. Additionally, the platform is free (except for fees charged by third-party payment processors).
You can also get donors involved in the fundraising process. Give Lively includes an “I Want to Fundraise for This” button on the campaign page for your top supporters.
Drawbacks
Coaches and athletes must handle the campaign setup themselves, adding another item to their to-do list. Additionally, you may have to wait longer to receive funds—some payment methods can take up to seven business days.
8. FundRazr
Overview
FundRazr is an online team fundraising platform. This solution provides crowdfunding websites that help sports teams and individual players raise money for uniforms, travel, competition entry fees, and more. You can even make the benefits of donating feel more tangible to donors by allowing them to “purchase” a specific item with their donation (e.g., a jersey or tank of gas).
Drawbacks
Team leaders will need to set up the campaign and enroll team members themselves. Additionally, some users report slow response times from their support team, which can be stressful when you want to launch a campaign quickly.
9. RaiseRight
Overview
RaiseRight is a more passive way for your team to fundraise. All you have to do is ask users to do their regular online shopping through the RaiseRight app or website, which has partnered with major retailers like Nike, Best Buy, and Expedia. Your team will receive a portion of the purchase price as fundraising revenue.
Drawbacks
These campaigns are low-lift, but they are also hard to promote. Parents can easily forget to make purchases through the app, or their favorite stores might not be available. It’s better to run these campaigns in the background as you take on a more engaging fundraiser that brings your team together and excites your community.
Team Fundraising Platform FAQs
What are the different types of fundraising platforms?
The different types of fundraising platforms include:
- Peer-to-peer fundraising tools
- Online donation forms
- Donor management systems
- Matching gift platforms
- Auction software
- Text-to-give tools
The best type for your team will vary, but many sports teams find the most success with peer-to-peer platforms due to their higher profit margins, broad geographic reach, high engagement, and easy management.
What are the best ways to motivate youth athletes and participants to actively share their fundraising pages?
To motivate kids to give their all to your fundraiser, gamification and clear communication are key. As you kick off your fundraiser, let your players know why their participation matters. For example, a cheer team leader might say, “This fundraiser will provide the money we need to license your favorite songs and fund our travel to regionals.”
During the campaign, you should share team progress along with individual leaderboards to ignite some healthy competition. Your team will love competing to gather the most pledges! To further incentivize kids to participate, try offering low-cost fundraising prizes to your top earners.
Why is it important for a team fundraising platform to support offline payments alongside digital processing?
Supporting offline payment methods like cash and checks alongside digital wallets ensures that local community members who prefer traditional payment options can still contribute. While online credit card and mobile payments drive the bulk of modern fundraising revenue, older relatives or local business sponsors often prefer writing a check or handing over cash directly to a coach or player.
Additional Resources
For many sports teams, fundraising becomes an annual tradition that not only provides funds but also brings the team together. The right team fundraising platform helps you reach your goals while simplifying the campaign management process, enabling you to focus on what really matters: having a great season with your team.
To learn more about earning money for your team or other organization, check out these additional resources:
- Winning Sports Fundraising Ideas to Help You Raise More. Need creative ideas for your team’s next fundraiser? Look no further than our comprehensive guide.
- Genius School Fundraising Ideas: Shatter Your Goals. School fundraisers can help you fill in gaps to give students better learning experiences. See how to drive more revenue with these creative ideas.
- Fundraising Ideas for Dance Teams to Expand Your Reach. Dance classes, costumes, and travel fees add up quickly. Discover fundraising ideas to sustain your team.
