A high school football coach has dozens of things to worry about throughout the year. Before the Friday night lights illuminate up the brilliant stadiums filled with thousands of excited fans, the school and its coaches need to put in a great amount of work to make those games happen.
Along with getting a group of teenagers ready for the big game, the head coach needs to get the players in weight training and conditioning, along with watching film on their future opponents, coming up with unique strategies on how to counter their opponent’s strengths and attack their weaknesses. Head coaches need to strategize, plan, hire, and train, all while excelling in their own careers.
It’s incredible that anything gets done with this sort of schedule, and even more incredible that Perry Football was able to increase their fundraising profits by 40% this year by switching to the up-and-coming Flex Fundraising fundraising platform.
The last thing a head coach wants to worry about is fundraising for their team. The idea of coordinating a fundraiser for his fellow coaches and players to participate in is one more thing at the bottom of the “To-Do” list and ends up being a hassle to execute.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when people think about fundraising? Selling chocolates in front of grocery stores, selling coupon books door to door–things no student athlete wants to spend their precious weekends participating in.
Flex Fundraising was created based on these issues, and with its new and innovative system of fundraising, receiving donations has never been easier and more exciting.
Located in the heart of Gilbert, Arizona is Perry High School. Head coach Preseton Jones leads a successful football program, bringing the team to the state championship in 2017 and 2018. His overall record is 90-57, an incredible feat in the competitive environment of Arizona high school football.
Coach Jones made the decision to go with Flex Fundraising for his fundraising needs in the 2021 season. Managing a fundraiser can normally be exhausting with little return for the amount of time spent. Neither coaches nor student athletes get excited to go door to door, selling coupon books that are naturally a tough sell. Instead of going through the usual motions of fundraising, coach Jones found a new platform to alleviate his fundraising pains.
Jones said in an interview that he usually uses “… multiple fundraising platforms,” to generate the amount of money to put towards necessities for the football team. His decision to go with Flex Fundraising saved him from managing multiple parties of fundraisers, which brought him time and money. Making the choice to go with one fundraising platform can be an intimidating one, especially with a company that is relatively new to the fundraising world. However, when the company is started by athletes that have been through the rigorous process of typical fundraising, it makes sure to solve all the problems they once had to go through.
Flex Fundraising uses an online platform to make fundraising easier and more exciting for everyone involved–including those being asked to donate. Part of the beauty of their platform is making the fundraising efforts engaging for every player and coach. By giving each player their own page on the Flex Fundraising website, Jones found that everyone was more eager to help raise money for their team than ever before.
“It was exciting and easy to track,” Jones said. He mentioned that goals and incentives were hittable and fun. Each player can decide how much they want to try and raise, and the website shows a bar with how well they’re doing. Each player averaged over $500 in donations.
Why are players hitting higher numbers than ever before? The secret to Flex Fundraising’s recipe is to allow donors to have options. Most fundraisers limit the choices to cash donations, buying coupon books or mediocre sweets, and so on. Flex Fundraising gives each team the flexibility to have as many or little options for donating as they want. Jones was able to sell slick apparel and discount cards while accepting cash donations and corporate sponsorships. People could also choose to donate their money to game day banners, which adds an awesome element to every Friday night.
These options take the initial pressure off from donors. Donors can feel pressured or forced into buying something they may not want. Pressuring a donor to buy something can make it a tougher sell for that donor in the following years when they’re likely asked again for donations. Options allow them to decide how much to donate and what they would like in return, simply making the process easier and more rewarding for everyone.
Along with the simple process of donating came another great feature from Flex–giving the student athletes a chance to share their pages on social media. It’s no secret that social media plays a large role in nearly everything we do. High school sports use social media to provide updates, highlights, create excitement for their sport and promote the team. Flex’s system makes it easy for student athletes to share their own pages on social media, email, texting, and so on. Instead of traveling door to door, they can create and share an engaging profile, which exercises their design and marketing skills along the way. All of this results in a higher return while spending less time on fundraising. It’s the epitome of working smarter, not harder.
It’s simple features like this that allow student athletes to use the tools they feel comfortable in: design, social media, online marketing. The coaches can track team and individual progress. This tool allows for interesting goals and incentives they can use to add some extra motivation over the weekend. Some coaches have given their student athletes one of these weekend challenges: the goal is to raise $X amount by a certain date. If they hit that goal, they don’t have to condition for a week. Such goals help team building and make fundraising something to look forward to.
How successful was Perry High School with Flex Fundraising? For their 2021 season, Perry High School raised over $98,000, increasing their donation total by 40% compared to their last season of fundraising. Coach Jones describes working with Flex Fundraising as effortless, easing the pains that have normally troubled them every year.
Coach Jones, after 15 amazing years with Perry Football, has announced his retirement. It is certain that Perry High School will continue in two traditions: having a winning football program and using Flex Fundraising to raise more, keep more, and do less.
