The Best Fundraising Ideas for Clubs in 2026

Looking for people who might donate to your club but unsure which types of giving actually exist? We walk you through the best ways your club can raise money — from individual donations and crowdfunding to sponsorship and public grants.

Please note: Fees, funding schemes and tax details below are guideline figures (as of 2026) and change regularly. Always check the current terms directly with the platform, the funding body or a qualified tax adviser.

Potential Donors

1. Individuals: People are often more willing to give than you might expect — think of collection buckets at events, raffle stalls at fêtes, or rounding-up tins on a pub or restaurant counter.
2. Businesses: Companies often give primarily for their own image or to win customers. Even so, many also give out of genuine conviction — and when they do, they tend to give happily and on an ongoing basis.
3. Public funding and foundations: Government bodies, the National Lottery, regional and local authorities, and charitable trusts and foundations all fund community and sports projects. Securing one grant often improves your odds of winning another.
4. Funds and trusts: The schemes offered by public bodies are complemented by independent charitable funds, trusts and corporate foundations.

Fundraising

Fundraising is the systematic raising of resources — above all donations — for charitable, community or good causes, at the lowest possible cost. The advantage of fundraising is that it runs entirely independently of any single institution or company. To find the right donor, you simply have to be convincing — and there is no real ceiling on how much your club can raise.

Most clubs come to rely on donations as soon as their activities cost more than membership subscriptions bring in. Subs and the occasional club social rarely cover everything. Here are a few tips to make fundraising in your club easier.

Let donors take part

When donors feel they are part of your project, they get the sense they have done something good — not only for you, but for themselves. It also helps to give donors a proper acknowledgement of their gift. If your club is a registered charity, that acknowledgement can carry real value at tax time (see Gift Aid below).

Social media and online platforms

These days, social media and online platforms make almost anything possible — including raising money. You no longer have to go door to door with a collection tin persuading people to part with a few pennies. From the comfort of home you can set up a campaign on a donation platform and share your cause with the world. Ideally, a club or committee member who genuinely understands social media and online fundraising takes the lead. Here are some useful donation and crowdfunding platforms.

• GoFundMe — the best-known global donation and personal-cause platform. 0% platform fee; a small payment-processing (transaction) fee is deducted per donation, and the platform is funded mainly through optional voluntary tips from donors. Recurring donations carry a small percentage fee.
• JustGiving — a UK charity-fundraising heavyweight with built-in Gift Aid handling. Expect a platform fee of up to around 5% on donations (or a donor-tip model) plus payment processing, with subscription tiers for charities depending on the plan.
• Donorbox — donation forms and recurring giving you can embed on your club’s own website. Platform fee of around 2.95% per donation, plus payment-processing fees on top.
• Enthuse — charity-branded fundraising, events and peer-to-peer challenges with CRM integration. Runs on a monthly subscription plus payment processing (roughly 1.9% + 30p per donation) and a small Gift Aid handling fee.
• Crowdfunder UK — project-based crowdfunding with a strong storytelling and community angle, plus match-funding partnerships. Processing for charities and fundraisers starts from around 1.9% + 20p per donation.
• Zeffy — marketed as 100% free for non-profits, with 0% platform and processing fees. It is funded entirely by optional contributions from donors, which makes it increasingly popular with smaller groups.

Remember that almost every platform splits cost into two layers: a platform/service fee and payment-processing (transaction) fees. Several “free” platforms charge no platform fee but still pass on payment processing and/or rely on optional donor tips — so always read both layers before you choose. Some smaller community-focused platforms (such as Givey) advertise a low- or no-fee model, but exact terms vary, so confirm the current figures directly on each provider’s site.

There are also ways to raise money online that give something back to the donor: charity shopping. With these schemes, a percentage of the proceeds from an online purchase is donated automatically — the buyer chooses a cause to support at no extra cost to themselves. Amazon’s well-known AmazonSmile programme was discontinued in February 2023, but other “shop and give” services continue to operate on the same principle.

As of 2026: platform fees and terms change regularly — please check the current details directly on each provider’s website.

Public relations

If your club is doing something good, you should talk about it. Share your work with the world — whether through your club newsletter, the local paper or social media. The more people who know, the more may feel moved to help and to donate. Recognition and a clear identity both give people a sense of security, and when people feel secure, they are far more willing to trust you with their money.

Benefit events

Benefit events always involve a lot of effort, but when the event is a success, that effort really pays off. The theme of the event should tie in with your club: a sports club might organise a sponsored run, while a music club could put on a concert. The more people who take part and get involved, the more promising it becomes — and that success will hopefully spread by word of mouth and bring even more people your way.

Sponsorship

A more direct way to raise money is sponsorship. It is a very well-known form of fundraising because it is so often a win-win. A sponsorship is essentially an advertising agreement between a company and your club. The company or institution gives your club money and, in return, gets the chance to promote itself — whether on players’ kit, pitch-side banners or branded merchandise handed out at a tournament. It is important to read the sponsorship contract carefully, so that your obligations never clash with the values or code of conduct of your club.

First, work out your target group: what kind of backers can your club realistically attract? It helps if a potential sponsor already supports similar teams or projects, or has given in your field before. Better still is when you know the sponsor personally — then you understand how they feel about you, your club and your project, and you can win them over face to face if needed. Personal relationships open not only doors but also wallets.

Finding sponsors is often easier in smaller towns and communities than in the anonymity of a big city. This makes sponsorship especially well suited to clubs in smaller towns with large local employers. Just be careful around sensitive or interpersonal topics: people don’t always welcome large companies trying to influence delicate matters, and many view it critically.

Public Grants and Funding for Clubs

Alongside fundraising and sponsorship, your club can also apply for money from public bodies, the National Lottery and charitable trusts. Here are the most important funding sources worth knowing in 2026. Programmes and deadlines change regularly, so always confirm the latest details on the official websites.

• National Lottery Community Fund — “Awards for All” — grants of £300 to £10,000 for grassroots and community activity across England (with equivalent funds in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Crucially, your club or community group does not have to be a registered charity to apply. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with a decision typically within around 12 weeks.
• Sport England — the national agency that channels government and National Lottery money into grassroots sport, covering facilities, participation and inclusion. This is the main funding route for sports clubs; specific programmes change, so check sportengland.org for what’s currently open.
• Football Foundation — Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund — for grassroots football, with grants from £10,000 up to £500,000 (most awards are up to £25,000) covering up to 75% of project cost. It funds pitches, changing rooms, goalposts, floodlights and similar, and is open to football clubs, schools and councils.
• Local council grants — most UK councils run small community and sport grant pots. Apply via your local council’s website, which is also the best place to find out what’s available in your area.

For sports clubs, your county sports partnership and national governing body are also worth contacting — they often signpost funding you might otherwise miss.

How to apply for grants

Step 1: The application
There is plenty to watch out for when applying, because most funding programmes have strict eligibility criteria. Anyone who doesn’t meet them, or who makes formal errors on the application, gets rejected. So it is vital to know all the guidelines. They differ from scheme to scheme, so make sure you understand exactly what applies to your club — and be clear about whether you are even eligible for a given grant in the first place.

Leave enough time between submitting your application and starting your project, so the application can be assessed and the funding approved. Read up on the deadlines you have to meet when applying for public funding. One last tip that makes both fundraising and sponsorship easier: get to know the decision-makers personally where you can, so you can better gauge both expectations and your chances.

Step 2: The project plan
The project plan is most often where applications fall down, because there simply isn’t enough information about the project. In many cases there is a ready-made form for you to fill in. Where there isn’t, your club should put together a pack that describes the project as concretely and precisely as possible. When money is being awarded, even the smallest details count as valuable information — and if they’re missing, not every assessor will go to the trouble of chasing them up.

Step 3: Your own contribution
As with a bank, grant funding usually requires you to put in some money of your own. This matters: a grant will rarely finance a project 100%. Your club has to cover the larger share itself, and you can fund that contribution however you like — through sponsorship, membership subscriptions, donations or members’ own investment.

Step 4: An application checklist

1. Is the aim of your project explained clearly, along with why it serves the community? Example: a new football pitch to support youth sport.
2. The timescale of the project. Example: construction of the pitch begins 18 months after funding starts.
3. A funding plan showing how the grant money will be spent. Example: a cost breakdown and a quote from a contractor.

How much funding to expect

• Full funding: all costs are covered.
• Fixed-sum funding: the club itself decides how to use the money.
• Proportional funding: the funder decides what percentage of the cost it will cover.
• Deficit funding: grant money fills the remaining gaps in your budget.

Types of funding

• Ongoing funding: long-term, reliable support.
• Project funding: grants for clubs pursuing a specific project; this can be time-limited and may need to be reapplied for each time.
• Awards and prizes for outstanding community projects.

A small tip: in some areas, certain grants are tied to a minimum membership subscription. If your subs fall below that, it can be worth discussing whether to raise them — and, in return, to subsidise some purchases, trips or competition entries more heavily, so that everyone ends up benefiting from the increase.

A note on tax: Gift Aid

If your club is a registered charity in the UK, Gift Aid is one of the simplest ways to make donations go further. Under Gift Aid, a registered charity can reclaim 25p for every £1 donated from HMRC — at no extra cost to the donor — provided the donor is a UK taxpayer who has paid enough tax and has signed a Gift Aid declaration. The charity itself must be registered with HMRC. Rules and rates change, so check the current HMRC rules before relying on the figures here. (This is a basic overview, not tax or legal advice.)

How Klubraum helps you organise it all

Raising money is rarely the work of one person — it takes a coordinated team. Klubraum is a communication and coordination app for clubs (topic-based chat, a shared calendar, polls, car pooling and a member directory) that helps you organise your fundraising: rally volunteers, announce a campaign to every member, run a quick poll on event ideas, and coordinate the logistics of a benefit event in one place. Klubraum isn’t a donation or payment platform — but it’s where the people behind the campaign get organised. With a 4.6/5 rating and 200,000+ users, it’s built to keep club life running smoothly.

Conclusion

There are plenty of ways for your club to raise capital — and in the best case you also do something that benefits the wider community, which is the best win-win there is. We hope this article has given your club some fresh ideas around fundraising, donations and grants.