#SportFunding on Razoo

The benefits of sports on children’s lives can be profound. Sports encourage physical fitness, help hone gross and fine motor skills, and teach children how to work effectively as part of a team as well as how to win and lose gracefully. But as any parent with one or more child enrolled in a sports team can tell you, the cost of youth sports can be staggering.

First, you’ve got to pay a registration fee. That can run you $100 or more. Then you’ve got to pay for uniforms and equipment, which can be a few hundred dollars depending on the sport. You may also be asked to pay a “meet fee,” “coach fee,” and chip in for use of a practice space. Then you’ve got to transport your young athlete to and from games — which can add up quickly if your child plays on a travel team. During the summer, you may end up paying for sports camp. And if your child’s dreams include getting scholarships or going pro you could end up paying for private coaching.

These expenses may accumulate slowly, but over the course of a few years, you could end up paying thousands of dollars to keep your child active in their favorite sport.

Even worse, these costs can “price out” children from low-income families, preventing them from enjoying the social, physical and psychological benefits of participating in sports.

So, what’s a parent to do?

Start a fundraiser on Mightycause, of course!

Why use Razoo?

You can use crowdfunding the help ease the financial burden. Here are just a few things you can fundraise for on Razoo:

  • Registration fees. If you’re running a sports league, you could even crowdfund to cover the cost of registration for each player or kids whose families might not be able to afford the fees.
  • Travel costs.
  • New uniforms and equipment.

We’ve had many sports teams successfully #SportFund on Mightycause. Mightycause can be used for youth sports as well as adult sports, which can be cost-prohibitive too.

The most successful fundraiser to date was held by the Dacula U15 girls’ soccer team. The team started a fundraiser to send the team to Miami, FL to compete in the Orange Classic International Soccer Tournament. Their goal was $10,000 but they managed to exceed it, raising a grand total of $11,295 for their trip — plenty of money to cover the expenses, plus $1,295 extra for the team!

After seeing the success the girls’ team had, the Dacula boys’ soccer team jumped on the #SportFunding bandwagon to get to the same competition. Veronica Tamayo, whose son plays on the team, created the page on Razoo.

“Our coach was not sure if all of our players have the means to pay for a trip to a soccer tournament in Florida,” she told us. “He had done other fundraisers in the past with other teams, so he named someone to be in charge of organizing, promoting and encouraging everyone on the team.” Veronica took the lead in starting the fundraiser on Mightycause to help the team make it to Florida for the tournament.

The boys’ team is still working on getting to their goal, but with the whole team working together to promote the fundraiser, we’re sure they’ll get there!

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you get started #SportFunding on Razoo:

Choose your fundraiser type

There are two main types of fundraisers on Mightycause: personal fundraisers and charitable fundraisers. Which kind you should start for your #SportFunding campaign depends on whether your team has nonprofit status.

If your team is affiliated with a school, sports club, or church, you may be able to start a charitable fundraiser. All donations to charitable fundraisers are tax-deductible, which is a big plus for anyone making a donation. You should check with the office at your team’s school, club or church to see if they have nonprofit status with the IRS.

You can also start a personal fundraiser. Personal fundraisers aren’t connected to a nonprofit organization, so donations are not tax-deductible, but you’ll be able to get the funds you raise directly deposited into your a bank account. A personal fundraiser would be the best choice if you aren’t affiliated with a nonprofit organization, or if you’re fundraising for personal sports cots (like new equipment, registration or travel fees).

Decide what kind of fundraiser works best for your team, and get started! Choosing the type of fundraiser is as simple as a click when you’re setting up your fundraiser:

Designate a fundraising captain

Having one person take the lead on creating and managing the fundraiser can help keep your fundraiser focused and eliminate confusion.

Try to identify one person who is very engaged with the team (it could be the coach, a parent, or even a team member — if they’re old enough!) and web-savvy. Creating a fundraiser on Mightycause is incredibly simple so they don’t need to be a tech genius like Bill Gates, but you do need to make sure your fundraising captain has reliable access to a computer or mobile device, has internet access, and is comfortable using online tools.

Your fundraising captain should also be available to answer questions from donors, other parents and members of the team, and they should have the time and know-how to coordinate fundraising efforts.

Come up with a game plan

Strategy is an important part of sports and fundraising. The fundraising captain should think about creative ways to get the ball rolling and get donations coming in: when and how to promote the fundraiser, plotting out important fundraising milestones, fun and creative ways to get the word out.

Work as a team

Since your sports team is already a team, it makes sense to raise funds as a team too! Once your fundraising captain creates and publishes your Mightycause page, get everyone involved in promoting it: coaches, parents, team members, even any teams or clubs affiliated with your team.

Most of us are on social media these days, so this is an easy place to start! Get everyone involved with the team to start sharing the fundraiser on social media and you’ll likely see donations come in pretty quickly. Mightycause has social media share buttons on each fundraiser that make it quick and easy to spread the word:

The whole team can get involved in thanking donors too. Every donor will get a thank you email, but everyone can also respond to supportive comments on the page, and “heart” donations.

See the little heart next to each donation? When you click it, something cool happens: Mightycause sends an email to that donor letting them know that you “liked” their donation. That email is a fun way to show appreciation for people who have donated to your team, and it can also send them back to your page to make another donation or share on social media.

Don’t be afraid to get creative! Fun photos or videos featuring the team can be a great way to solicit donations on social media, thank donors, and help push your fundraiser to its next milestone.

Follow up with your donors

Fundraising doesn’t end when you’ve reached your goal! Once you’ve raised the amount you needed, give your donors an update so they can see the impact their contribution had. If you were fundraising for a trip, like the Dacula soccer teams, send an update with photos from the trip and news about where the team placed. If you were fundraising for equipment, make sure to show the new equipment your Mightycause fundraiser helped your purchase.

Following up with your donors is a fundraising best practice for a reason: when your donors feel appreciated, they will be more likely to donation when you ask them to next time. You’re laying the groundwork for future #SportFunding campaigns!

There are lots of different reasons and ways to use Mightycause for #SportFunding. Once you know what you’re fundraising for, have your “point person” picked out, and figure out how much money you need to raise, get started here!

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