Take on a sports challenge
Use your team’s sporting prowess and enter some of the great sporting events we have here in Australia. With so many awesome sports events to choose from, we’ve helped narrow your search with some top suggestions to receive sponsorship for.
5 sports challenge fundraising ideas:
- Sydney Marathon, Melbourne Marathon or Gold Coast Marathon
- City2Surf
- Ultra-Trail Australia
- The Aussie Ocean Swim
- Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Simply start training with your team and set yourselves up with a GoFundMe page. Ask friends and family to sponsor you, with proceeds going to a specific team goal.
Don’t forget to share lots of updates on your GoFundMe and tell everyone how you go on the day.
This is a great way to get local businesses involved in your community. You could ask a company to help out by providing money for your team or club in exchange for promotion. You may wish to add their logo to your jersey, put up a banner at games or promote them through your social media or email channels.
5 tips for getting your team sponsored:
- Send detailed information to potential sponsors, including what’s in it for them and why the cause is so important.
- Write an outreach letter that explains the benefits of supporting your team.
- Speak to existing contacts, such as parents of teammates and local businesses.
- Ask individuals, groups and businesses from your local community.
- Reach out to national corporations that might be able to help.
School holiday skills camp
You’ve got a team of kids with skills, right? Why not put them to work and help them teach their talents to others? Run a school holiday workshop for younger kids, where your more experienced players run through drills. They can even end the day with a small-sided game with the parents watching.
Charge a fee for the day and let parents know that all money goes to your sports team’s fundraising goal.
Walkathon
This is an oldie but a goodie and is a great fundraising idea for your sports club, as it’s something that you can easily do together as a group.
5 walkathon fundraising ideas for clubs:
- Choose a course in your local area that includes as many different communities as possible.
- Take on a 100 km challenge over several days or spread across a month.
- Set up a relay walk where each member of the team takes turns to do their leg of the journey.
- Do a family-friendly walk that’s suitable for people of all ages and abilities.
- Organise a more challenging walk in the outback or along a coastal path.
Always check with your local council or other appropriate bodies about the logistics of organising such an event and whether you need a permit and insurance. It’s also important to check accessibility so people with wheelchairs can be included.
Invite as many people as possible to register and ask them to pay a participation fee. On the day, you could even have something special at the end, such as drinks for sale and a sausage sizzle. You could also include pets and make it a paw-a-thon!
Organise a competition
A tried and tested fundraising idea for sports clubs is to organise your own competition or event. For example, a charity tournament is a great way of bringing your club and the community together. Whether you choose soccer, cricket or touch football, friendly organised matches can be made suitable for all ages and bring plenty of excitement to a fundraising event.
To boost the funds you raise, you could charge a small entry fee for participants and have stalls selling refreshments and snacks.
Trivia night
Everyone loves a trivia night, don’t they?! Encourage parents to get their friends together to form quiz groups. You can raise money by charging for entry and providing drinks and snacks to buy.
Get someone to write some tricky questions with multiple rounds and bonus rounds, and then get your team together and battle it out for which group is the smartest. You could also ask for extra donations on the night to further grow your fundraising efforts.
Start a GoFundMe for your team
One of the easiest ways to fundraise for sporting clubs is to start a GoFundMe. You could connect it to an event, like a walkathon, or use crowdfunding on its own.
Simply share a story about your team and why you need to raise money. Maybe you need new jerseys for the team or perhaps you have a big tournament coming up in another state?
Ask your local community’s Facebook page and school to share it with their networks. The more people who hear about your story, the more money you raise.
Sports club fundraising examples
Now you’re equipped with some excellent fundraising ideas for sports clubs, you’re one step closer to organising your first sports fundraiser.
If you’re looking for inspiration, then here are some examples of where crowdfunding has been a top fundraising idea for these Australian sporting clubs.
Ardmona Football and Netball Club asked their community to help save their club from extinction. With a long and proud history, the club’s spirit remained high during challenging times. However, this togetherness could only get them so far and they needed help financing the club rooms and ground facilities that were falling into disrepair.
With the help of crowdfunding, they aimed to provide a safe, happy, healthy outlet for the Ardy Bush Cats.
Bells Park Sports Club have used GoFundMe to help raise money for a desperately needed renovation. The function room and member facilities needed an upgrade, but unforeseen events blew out renovation costs and delayed the re-opening of the club.
They used crowdfunding to urgently appeal to members of the community to support their local club by making valuable donations and ensuring their facilities open again to loyal members.
The women of Gooniyandi Goornboo pledged not to drink soft drinks for the entire month of August last year. They hoped to not only change habits and be healthier but also raise money for new uniforms and equipment for the team.
With any additional funds they raised, they used the money to assist them with travel costs, as they have to travel up to 120 km to play a game.
How to set up a team fundraising campaign
If you’re looking to raise money for your sporting team and feel inspired by our fundraising ideas for clubs, then get started on GoFundMe. Donating is easy, meaning GoFundMe appeals to people who haven’t donated online before.
Follow these 8 simple steps to set up a team fundraising campaign with GoFundMe:
- Enter your personal information
- Set your fundraising goal.
- Create your GoFundMe account
- Add a cover photo or video
- Tell your story about why you’re raising funds
- Complete your fundraiser registration
- Share your fundraiser
- Wait for the donations to roll in
As you can see, setting up your GoFundMe campaign couldn’t be easier. There are also heaps of expert fundraising tips on our blog to help you raise the most money possible for your worthy cause.
