Sports clubs on the island of Ireland generated over €1million in lottery funds through Clubforce last month – an 11th consecutive record month for online fundraising following the Covid 19 pandemic.
Ticket sales now exceed 100,000 per month which is a 10-fold increase on pre-pandemic levels when much of the club fundraising activity was conducted offline.
Clubs have taken a huge hit with the cancellation of almost every form of fundraising from bag packing to cake sales, collective walks and more.
With underage training coming back across the major field sports and elsewhere in the next week, the emphasis will switch back to having to meet the additional costs of training, facilities and gear that have been on hold since the end of 2020.
Finding new ways to raise funds, and doing so through a low cost, long term method like a lottery is essential now for club administrators.
“The level of fundraising activity we are seeing through lotto is unprecedented,” said Clubforce CEO Warren Healy.
“While it has been a staple fundraiser for GAA clubs and county boards for many years, more and more professional and semi-professional clubs are seeing the recurring value of the lottery.”
Derry City are the latest League of Ireland club to activate a profile on the Clubforce platform, while clubs in England, Wales & Scotland also continue to adopt the Clubforce system to drive their fundraising efforts.
“The integration of Stripe payments and achieving UK Gambling Commission certification opens up a new market for the lotto product and there has been huge interest from Britain thus far,” Warren noted.
Despite the million-euro milestone, the upward trend in lottery ticket sales isn’t expected to slow down any time soon with April already on target to surpass the record set in March.
“The number of players per club and the number of repeat ticket purchases per player are growing at a consistent rate – this essentially means a growing monthly recurring revenue for the clubs without the recurring workload for volunteers. We see one-off fundraisers giving sports organisations a much-needed boost but nothing compares to the lotto for that reliable income stream.”
Sport for Business, working with 2Into3 has created a new Webinar Series for sports clubs across the island of Ireland looking at key areas of Sponsorship, Fundraising, Communications, Strategic Planning and Grant Application. Find out more about the initiative here.
Sport for Business Partners
