Klubfunder comes to the aid of clubs

Sporting clubs are becoming increasingly expensive to run with the treasurer forever forking out cash and signing cheques.  Committees very often have a fundraising arm to take care of sponsorship and organising various fundraising drives.

Club lottos are the staple income and nearly every workspace is inundated with sellers of last man standing.

Another trend is the level of technology and web based products used in sport.  Stats devices, video analysis, Facebook and Twitter.  The list is endless.

Maghera based club Watty Graham’s Glen have enjoyed a fruitful youth development drive bringing them unprecedented success.  It didn’t just happen, it came from planning and hard work.  Their foresight wasn’t just on the pitch.

Stephen Convery who has a background in IT and Financial Software is a member of Glen and he chipped in to help the committee with online lotto and fundraising.

There and then Klubfunder had took its first baby steps as Convery explains.

“I took the request back to the team in Belfast and we quickly realised there was an opportunity to put our IT skills and experience to good use in the area of fundraising for sports clubs. Not just for my club but for all clubs across all sports”

When anything is brought up at a club meeting the chairman and treasurer will always ask – ‘How much is it going to cost us?’

The answer is nothing.  Not a cent.  Not a washer.  It is free and has the potential to bring in extra revenue. 

It can handle ticket sales, lotto, last man standing and registration, all at the touch of a button enabling members to channel their energies into other club ventures.

From helping with our fundraising draw in Slaughtneil I realised the volume of people who don’t operate with cash any more and we setup a PayPal account as a workaround.

So once setup with Klubfunder the club has regular income and also from ex-members over seas.  It is a win:win situation for everyone. 

There are no set up fees and no commission. Instead Klubfunder will generate revenue from sponsorship and partners so keeping it free for the clubs.

A payment provider (PayPal) will take a small percentage for processing the online payments but from experience, it will matter very little as it is ‘handy’ to support their club without any undue hassle.

At a recent Derry game I bumped into Stephen at Celtic Park and along with him was Glen player Ryan Dougan who works with Klubfunder.

A club’s players are a valuable commodity and with much of our talent going ‘over the pond’ in search of work it’s refreshing to have companies employing locals.  And GAA people at that.

Their Marketing manager is Loughgiel’s Conal McMahon, coming from a GAA background with first-hand experience in how a club operates and the finance required to mount an assault on the All-Ireland Club championship.

In the age when there is so much negativity it is great to see sporting clubs having an avenue to be more self-sufficient.

Klubfunder are holding a fundraising workshop for clubs in Owenbeg on Tuesday night at 7.30pm.

It sounds almost too good to be true.  A venture that takes the admin duties away from club officials, makes it more convenient for members to financially support their clubs and the final piece of the jigsaw – the club’s bank account benefits.