Club fundraising ideas that actually work

The best club fundraiser is not the cleverest one. It is the one you can run again next week without wearing out your volunteers. One-off events raise a lump and then they are gone. What a club really needs is a steady stream ticking away in the background.

Here are three that work, and that mostly run themselves.

Turn matches into fundraisers

Your community already follows the matches: the inter-county games, the Premier League, the Champions League, the League of Ireland, and your own club's big days. Bluefundr lets you run a prediction competition on any of them. Supporters pick their scores, pay to enter online, and the money goes to the club.

For the matches we cover, the result is scored for you and the competition image is generated automatically, so it is far less work than it sounds. Set it up, share the link, and the entries come in on their own.

Get a sponsor to fund the prize

Run a competition with a main sponsored prize and the entire pot goes to the club. A local business funds the prize, and in return they get their name, a link to their website, and a spot on every share and every view of the competition. The club raises more and the sponsor gets real local visibility. Here is how to get a local sponsor.

Run a club lotto

A club lotto is the classic steady earner. Choose from a ready-made list of deals, like three for five euro, or build your own, and let members play online. Because entries can renew on their own, it keeps earning week after week with no chasing. Here is how to set one up.

Pick one and keep it going

The clubs that raise the most are not the ones chasing a new idea every month. They pick something simple and run it consistently. Set up once, share often, and let it build across the season.