Athlete funding – via ASF

Athlete funding – via ASF

Donations and crowdfunding

Athletes can now use the Australian Sports Foundation platform to help raise funds! Elite athlete funding often requires large sums of money, and there is opportunities for assistance.

The ASF is supported by the Australian Sports Commission and was established by the Australian Government to help community organisations raise funds for the development of Australian sport. The ASF provides elite athlete funding by helping you to take tax deducible donations online.

This program has been set up to support athletes competing at a state, national or international level.  Athletes are checked for eligibility and once approved are given their own webpage.  This webpage can be shared with friends, family and the wider community to raise funds.

You may be thinking that people are more likely to donate funds if it was directly to the club rather than through an outside foundation.

Usually you would be correct, but the unique advantage that the ASF has is that it offers the incentive of tax deductibility for donations.  This means that individuals or groups that donate over $2.00 to help support your club’s project receive a tax deduction on that donation.

It is pretty clear that if people are able to claim this on their donation to a project, they may be willing to donate greater amounts than if they were just giving post-tax money straight to you.  Directing donors to the ASF also simplifies the process of facilitating donations for your club.

Funds raised through our platform can go towards anything that helps athletes compete, including:

• Travel and accommodation expenses
• Training and coaching costs
• Sporting apparel
• Sporting equipment
• Food and nutrition
• Medical costs

Why Athlete Fundraising?

The benefits to your club of registering a project with the ASF are simply too great to ignore. Your club, the project and the donor will all benefit from the involvement of the ASF.  This program requires minimal volunteer time and allows for most of it to be taken up in promoting the fundraiser and the initial set up online.

It also allows for funds to be raised externally to your club’s members and supporters and offers the people wanting to donate money to your club a tax deductible option.

When should I hold this fundraiser?

This can be used by any athletes competing at a state, national or international level.

Key Activities

These are the tasks you will need to consider: 

Before launching your Athlete Fundraising page

• Ensure you meet the criteria
• Contact and register with the ASF
• Supply all of the necessary paperwork
• Set up your page

Once your Athlete Fundraising page is live:

• Share and Promote the online donations to your community and beyond
• Monitor the page
• Continue to update the wider community and your members and supporters on how the fundraising is going

After the fundraiser:

• Publicly thank everyone involved along the way
• Announce the amount of money raised in club newsletters, on social media, website and around the club

Who can help?

It is important to engage your friends, family, members and supporters to help in raising funds.
You may ask them to share the fundraiser with their communities and donate funds (no matter how large or small)

You could also approach current club Sponsors to see if they would help spread the word or donate funds.

Recruiting your people

It is important to create a culture of volunteering at your club to help not only with fundraising but also across the day to day running of your club.  For more on how to create this at your club, click here.

Using technology to make it easier

This fundraiser can be very successful if you use the technology well.  This will reduce the workload on your volunteers and increase your fundraising dollars through reaching further.

Having this kind of fundraising option online means your members and supporters can easily share the page.  It is a good idea to remind your members and supporters to share the page throughout the year.

Another great part of online fundraising is that anyone can donate at any time of the day or night.

Your club may then also like to use social media, email newsletters and your club website to promote the page to continue to reach as many people as possible.

You may like to live stream updates on fundraising amounts to help build excitement and awareness.

Financial Considerations

The Australian Sports Foundation do a great deal of the work for you!

The more your page is shared and the more people that know about your fundraiser the more likely it is that you will be able to raise significant funds.

Promotion

Athlete Fundraising pages are best promoted in-house using:

• Club website
• Email Newsletter
• Noticeboard
• Signs around the club (especially the canteen)
• Blackboards
• Club Facebook and Twitter.

It is a great idea to encourage your club community to share your page with as many people as possible as a tax deductible donation has many benefits for large groups in the community.

Communication considerations

Athlete Fundraising success is heavily reliant on your ability to communicate online. You can use social media to promote your page and to keep the community updated on how your fundraising is going.  You can also live stream updates on fundraising targets to help build excitement and awareness.

What can go wrong?

Low donation numbers

If not promoted consistently there is a risk of your club not reaching the fundraising dollars you require.  It is important to ensure there are continual reminders and promotion in your community.

Licenses and Permits

You may need to check with your state or territory regulatory body to make sure they have all the required permissions to have an Athlete Fundraising page.

Additional Factors to consider

Online Donations

While an Athlete Fundraising page makes online donating easy, you may also need to consider those who are not comfortable donating online. There may need to be an option available for donations to be made in person and then these can be manually entered.

Additional Revenue Opportunities

Your may consider running other fundraising activities at your club while your Athlete Fundraising page continues to raise funds and take donations online.

Disclaimer

This procedure should be treated as a guide only. Your club should seek advice specific to the needs of your club and event. Seek further details from authorities and service providers; especially in regards to insurance, licences, permits, spectator and participant safety.