During the creation of your sports club, you may not have thought about the fact that you will need money to make your project work better. Finding funding can be very difficult when you don’t know where to start. In this article, we will give you some sports fundraising ideas to help you find the funds you need.
Get grants
The first thing to do to finance your sports club is to apply for public aid. For registered associations you can receive subsidies from public establishments, communities (department, town hall, region, etc.) or from the State. However, all grant requests from associations must relate to a project of general interest or to a training action for volunteers.
You can of course make your request online. You just need to fill out a form.
Contributions, contributions and entrance fees
You can also have many internal ways to raise funds for your sports club. Funding will be provided by your association itself. In particular, you can demand membership fees from your members. Of course, the association’s statutes must provide for this. However, it should be emphasized that the contribution you request must correspond to a real need for funds and not a cash reserve that you can keep.
The payment of this contribution can be made by several means. Your members can give a check, cash or make a bank transfer. However, this contribution will not necessarily be annual. The amount to be paid is provided in the internal regulations or in the statutes. This practice is very common in sports associations .
The statutes of an association may also impose entry fees . This amount is mainly paid by new members within the sports association and only at the time of membership.
Finally, there is a last solution, which is to finance internally with contributions from members . The latter can offer movable or real estate contributions. They can also offer a sum of money. A member can therefore transfer ownership of his property and can pay consideration for it. Indeed, it can include a clause which stipulates that it will take back its property if there is one day dissolution of the association.
Develop lucrative activities
Your sports association can of course develop lucrative or economic activities. You can offer and sell goods or services, organize flea markets and garage sales offer meals, t-shirts, tickets to a show, and much more.
Donation request
Asking for donations is a very effective way to get funded. Your donor will have the advantage of obtaining a tax reduction if your association has a goal of general interest. You will then have to issue tax receipts for your generous donor, so that he can benefit from this advantage.
Regarding donation collection campaigns, you must request authorization from the mayor if your collection takes place locally or on the street.
How to carry out a crowdfunding campaign?
Crowdfunding is also adapted to sports associations. The first thing you need to do is create a page that attracts people. This involves creating a campaign page that perfectly reflects the colors of your sports club (banner, colors, logo, etc.). You must therefore treat it so that Internet users want to support your cause and participate in crowdfunding. Don’t forget to put photos of your club, teams, activities, etc. GiveCentral provides great tools for nonprofit fundraising with a donor management software included, to manage campaigns, donor data and reports.
You must also put the details of the expenditure items so that the contributors know exactly what you are going to do with the amount you will raise. Preferably, it is advisable to put a short video which presents the objective of your project, its origin as well as the people who support it.
The second step is to determine your goals . It is important to emphasize that your campaign and the amount you want to raise must be realistic. Considerations which correspond to donations made by donors must also be taken into account.
You can opt for material rewards such as places to attend a match, a jersey bearing the image of your sports association, etc. They can also be symbolic, such as writing the names of generous donors on one of the walls of the gymnasium. To help you set your goal, you can ask for help from the office, the oldest, the most active volunteers, etc. You can then adapt it according to the amount you wish to obtain.
The third step is to personally involve all of your members . These are the people who will be the first to contribute to your project. Then, over time, they will become ambassadors for the project by communicating its existence to those around them. It is therefore very important that all of your members support you in this cause until the end of the collection.
Finally, you must prepare upstream communication together. Communication is the very heart of the success of a crowdfunding campaign . You must then communicate regularly in a targeted manner and maintain this dynamic until the end of the campaign. It is therefore best to consider preparing an effective communication plan. In addition, this step will allow you to anticipate the operations that you must follow during the collection and thus keep a good pace until the end. Social networks, personalized e-mails, local press… it is advisable to use several channels to make your association and your collection even more known .
Did you find this post useful? Have you tried any of these sports fundraising ideas before? Let us know by leaving a comment below.