Our club series has generated huge interest from clubs themselves, national governing bodies, sponsors and small ventures creating imaginative ways for clubs to raise money.
We will continue the series through and encourage members to submit ways in which their club has faced the challenges that are in many ways common to all of providing the best sporting opportunities and having enough funds in the bank to make that possible.
Next week we will focus on the ways in which GAA and Rugby have helped their clubs, as well as at fundraising ideas from race days to christmas markets that clubs themselves are actively pursuing as ‘king hit’ ideas.
One of the new fundraising platforms to emerge during 2013 has been icharityu (www.icharityu.com).
The premise of the platform platform is to choose a challenge that an individual or team are willing to do if a set minimum amount of money is pledged. The challenge can be promoted through offline, online and social media and once the pledges are secured the challenge needs to be undertaken and a proof video uploaded.
Those who have pledged are given the opportunity to vote on whether the challenge was met and if the majority agree that it has the money is collected from all and split between the team, club or a nominated charity.
If on the other hand it is deemed to have failed then the pledges are void.
“The platform has been going well since it started during the summer,” according to founder Mark Lyttleton. “Bressie was the first celebrity to run a mission through the site, where he committed to doing the Liffey Descent endurance race IF €3,000 was raised, which it was.”
“icharityu is also the fundraising partner to Gary O’Neill and the Drogheda United player’s battle with cancer. The platform hosted a mission where Stuey Byrne said he would run the Dublin Marathon and also wear a St Pats jersey on the MNS couch if €2,000 was raised.”
“For a sports clubs it allows groups to create a mission that is fun, serious or challenging and with social media tools at the core, enables them to reach far and wide for awareness and donations.”
“It’s a blank canvas for ideas and just takes a little bit of imagination, but clubs are doing this already with various events, but the platform can help manage and amplify very simple ideas that are fun or challenging and translate them into funds quickly and easily.”
