4 Sports Fundraising Challenges + How Software Can Help

Whether you lead a soccer, football, or baseball team, you’ve likely run into a moment when you realized you needed to fundraise. Maybe shabby equipment finally reached the end of its life in the middle of a season, or perhaps you made it to that out-of-state championship game. Whatever the reason, sports fundraising is an essential part of your competitive season.

However, these fundraisers don’t come without their challenges. Fundraising timelines can be tight, and you may not have the reach, expertise, or behind-the-scenes support to pull off the campaign. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to remedy each of these common challenges.

Keep reading to see how a few small changes to your team’s fundraising approach can make all the difference. Let’s get started!

1. Limited reach and resources.

Your local community can offer loyal, powerful support to your team. While you should never discount the impact of local support, a limited donor pool can lead to fundraising troubles. For instance, these supporters could become fatigued from repeated fundraising appeals and even withdraw their support.

To avoid those consequences, make an effort to reach beyond town borders for support. Here are a few easy ways to reach more donors and increase the number of resources at your disposal:

• Fundraise online. Online fundraising allows your team to reach people thousands of miles away from your team’s home base. Taking campaigns online quickly increases your potential donor pool from the thousands of people in your town to the millions of users on the internet. Plus, spreading awareness online is completely free!
• Use a fundraising platform. Fundraising software gives you the tools you need to manage the small (yet important) details of your campaigns and facilitate online fundraisers. As 99Pledges’ guide to sports fundraising explains, its software offers easy-to-share online fundraising pages and helps users gather donations from far and wide.
• Leverage digital marketing. Marketing your fundraiser online will help you increase reach by strategically promoting your fundraising campaign to your target audience. Go beyond just making one or two posts on your team’s Facebook page. Share compelling calls to action across a variety of platforms, use data-driven strategies to encourage engagement, and include helpful links and details so supporters can quickly take action.

Making supporters aware of your fundraiser is the first, most crucial step toward fundraising success. Once you’ve captured their eyes, take advantage of your share of their attention by clearly explaining the purpose and goals of your campaign to compel supporters to learn more about how to get involved.

2. Short fundraising timelines.

Because sports seasons can be so busy, there isn’t always a lot of time for planning fundraisers. Additionally, unforeseen expenses can always pop up.

Cultivating a strong online presence can make it easier to reach donors and inspire support when it’s time to fundraise. To prepare for these unexpected situations and build an audience of online supporters, your team should:

• Use a variety of digital communication channels (e.g., popular social media platforms, email, websites) so supporters can engage through their preferred channels.
• Make regular posts about a variety of topics like try-out reminders, practice schedules, event announcements, and fundraising-related content.
• Cross-promote your social media accounts and other ways to sign up for the fundraiser or donate.

When you only have weeks or days to reach your revenue goals, closely monitoring your data is more important than ever. Choose software that tracks your fundraising progress in real-time so you can be sure you’re on track to meet your goals. And, if you aren’t, course correct. Make sure to have good donor data management practices to keep the information accurate, secure, and well-organized.

3. A lack of fundraising experience.

Your team’s staff are experts in your sport, not fundraising. However, learning just a few of the basics can have a significant positive impact on your campaign’s performance. Here are a few ways you can boost your knowledge and fill in expertise gaps:

• Explore free resources. There are plenty of free resources and entire websites dedicated to educating organizations about fundraising. While many of these are geared toward nonprofit audiences, much of the advice holds true for any organization. Start with reputable sources like the Association of Fundraising Professionals and National Council of Nonprofits websites.
• Work with a fundraising coach. Fundraising coaches have the years of experience and knowledge that your team is lacking, and they can help you design campaigns that align with your goals, staff capacity, and audience preferences. Some fundraising software companies offer complementary coaching services, or you can find a coach on your own.
• Learn about corporate giving. Even seasoned fundraising professionals can overlook this important funding source. Corporate giving occurs when a for-profit business gives back to charitable causes through monetary donations, in-kind gifts, and even volunteering efforts. If your team is a nonprofit, spread awareness of these programs to donors who could be eligible, and reach out to mission-aligned organizations in your area.

Finally, the best way to learn is from firsthand experience. The more fundraisers you have under your belt, the better equipped you’ll be to reach your goals. Remember to experiment with new fundraising ideas and strategies to learn what resonates with your audience.

4. Not enough help with running the campaign.

Fundraisers can be a lot of work. Not only do you have to plan and promote them, but there can be a seemingly endless stream of administrative tasks to tackle along the way. Along with recruiting more parents and kids to volunteer during the campaign, here are some things you can do to take some tasks off your plate:

• Carefully choose fundraising methods like peer-to-peer or crowdfunding methods that place more responsibility on your team and supporters.
• Effectively delegate tasks to other staff members, parents, and volunteers so you don’t have to do everything alone.
• Automate communications like donation receipts and reminders.
• Seek sponsorships or partnerships that provide additional funding or other resources to your team, removing some of the fundraising pressure.

Additionally, you can set your future fundraisers up for success by sincerely thanking anyone who gave a helping hand for their support. As Fundraising Letters notes, these expressions of gratitude can motivate them to return for the next volunteer opportunity and foster personal connections between your team and its volunteers.

Fundraising challenges shouldn’t hold you back from the benefits of raising more to support your team. Instead, embrace the challenges and look for ways to make your team’s approach to fundraising more effective—starting with choosing a comprehensive fundraising platform designed to help teams like yours raise money.