10 rugby club fundraising ideas (with real clubs who’ve raised money)

Raising money for your rugby club shouldn’t be hard. Here are 10 ideas that actually work, from online campaigns to a Saturday afternoon in the clubhouse, with real clubs and figures for each.

1. Launch a crowdfunding campaign for your big project

If you’re facing a five or six-figure bill for a clubhouse rebuild, new changing rooms or floodlights, a crowdfunding campaign lets you collect one-off donations from players, parents and the wider community towards a clear target, on a page you can share on WhatsApp, email and social media.

Resources needed:

• A clear target figure and a specific project (not just “general funds”)
• Photos of the clubhouse, pitch or kit you’re fixing or replacing
• A core group of committee members and players to share the page in week one
• Your club’s bank details to set up a payout wallet

Cost of setup: Free to launch. Crowdfunder takes a small fee on funds raised.

Could raise: £5,000 to £100,000+, depending on the scale of the project.

Pontefract RUFC raised £83,439 to modernise their clubhouse. 

Topsham RFC raised £83,710 to rebuild theirs brick by brick. 

Kirkby Lonsdale RUFC raised £42,135 to replace failing floodlights.

Longlevens RFC raised £30,482 towards a clubhouse that works for every age group, from toddlers to the first team.

Tip: Launch with 20 to 30% of your target already pledged by committee members and sponsors. It gives everyone else the confidence to back a project that’s clearly already moving.

2. Apply for match funding to double what your crowd raises

Match funding means a funder, often a national body, a local authority or a corporate community fund, pledges to match what your supporters give, pound for pound, up to an agreed amount. It’s free money that only unlocks if your community backs the project first, so it rewards clubs that do the legwork of rallying their crowd.

Resources needed:

• A project that fits a funder’s criteria (facilities, participation, inclusion)
• Time to complete a short application before you launch
• A campaign page that states the match funding clearly from day one

Cost of setup: Free to apply.

Could raise: Effectively doubles your crowd total. Sport England’s Movement Fund pledges 50% of your project target, and your club raises the other 50% from the crowd. Hit your crowd target and the match funding is yours.

Haywards Heath RFC stacked two funders, Aviva Community and Sport England, to raise £59,809 for a new multi-sport clubhouse. 

Eccles RFC stacked Salford City Council and Sport England to raise £36,003 for facilities improvements for their women’s and girls’ sections. 

Rushden & Higham RUFC used Sport England funding to reach £34,841. Across every sport on Crowdfunder, Sport England’s £6m in match funding has helped clubs collectively raise £18.9m, a 313% amplification of the original investment.

Tip: Apply for match funding before you launch, not after. Supporters are up to 84% more likely to donate, and give larger amounts, when they can see their money will be matched.

3. Run a raffle style prize draw

A raffle style prize draw is its own product on Crowdfunder: supporters buy an entry for a chance to win a prize, and the proceeds go to your club. It works well for smaller, more frequent asks that don’t need a big capital project behind them, and it’s genuinely repeatable. A free entry route has to be offered alongside paid entries on every prize draw, so build that into your plan from the start.

Resources needed:

• A prize, ideally donated by a sponsor, player or local business
• A free entry route (required by law on every prize draw)
• A ticket price and a promotion plan for socials and matchday

Cost of setup: Free to set up, plus the cost of any prize you buy rather than have donated.

Could raise: £2,000 to £10,000 per draw, more if you repeat it.

Dorking RFC is the best example of the repeat model for a rugby club. They’ve run three separate Christmas prize draws over three different years: Light up DRFC’s Future (£8,053), The Pitch Perfect Christmas Prize Draw (£6,438) and Pad the Paddock (£5,890). 

Bishop’s Stortford RFC’s minis section raised £2,965 and, separately, £2,390, with prize draws built around signed England shirts, a good reminder of how far a well-chosen prize goes. A prize draw can’t be combined with match funding on the same project, so treat it as a separate string to your bow.

Tip: Run it annually around the same date; Christmas works well, so supporters come to expect it and it becomes a fixture rather than a one-off ask.

4. Turn supporters into owners with a community shares offer

If your club is looking at a genuinely transformational purchase, buying your ground outright, taking over the freehold, or becoming fully community owned, a community shares offer lets supporters invest rather than just donate. They get a stake in the club’s future, and the club gets patient capital instead of a loan.

Resources needed:

• Legal and financial groundwork before you launch
• A share offer document setting out the terms
• A supporter base large enough to justify the extra setup

Cost of setup: Legal and admin costs, higher than a standard project, so factor this into your target from the start.

Could raise: Six figures for a major ownership transition.

Salford Red Devils used this route in their 150th year to become the only fully community owned elite rugby league club in the country, raising £363,770 from their supporter base.

Tip: This is a bigger undertaking than a standard campaign. Get proper legal and financial advice before you commit to it, but for the right club at the right moment it’s the difference between renting your future and owning it.

5. Host a summer barbecue and end-of-season friendly

Not everything needs a webpage. A summer barbecue paired with a friendly match against a rival club, an old boys’ side or a touring team is one of the oldest tricks in the book for a reason: it brings the whole club together, families included, on a day when nobody’s under match pressure.

Resources needed:

• BBQ equipment and food and drink stock
• Volunteers to run the grill, the bar and the gate
• A pitch booking and an opponent for the friendly

Cost of setup: £100 to £300 for food, drink and any hire costs.

Could raise: £300 to £1,000.

Tip: List the day as a small crowdfunding project too, so people who can’t make it in person can still chip in online, and you can take contactless payments on the gate alongside the cash bucket.

6. Run a quiz night, race night or beer festival

Clubhouse social events are reliable income because people already come to your bar. A quiz night, a race night with sponsored “horses”, or a small beer festival over a weekend all work on the same principle: ticket or table sales cover costs, and the bar takings are the real fundraiser.

Resources needed:

• A quiz master or race night kit, and a set of questions or races
• Raffle prizes for the interval
• Extra bar stock and a few volunteers behind it

Cost of setup: £50 to £150 for prizes, printing and stock.

Could raise: £300 to £1,500 per event.

If you want to combine an event with online reach, Balfour Beatty’s staff Touch Rugby Challenge paired a day of touch rugby with an online prize draw and raised £2,970 for their nominated causes.

Tip: Do the event in person, then give people who can’t attend a way to back it online too, either through a prize draw or a simple donations page.

7. Set up a shirt and pitch-side sponsorship scheme

Local businesses want visibility with a loyal, local audience, and your first team shirt front, your pitch-side boards and your matchday programme are all inventory you’re probably under-using. Package up a few tiers, shirt sponsor, boot sponsor, board sponsor, matchday sponsor, price them for a local plumber or estate agent rather than a national brand, and go and ask.

Resources needed:

• A simple sponsorship pack with tiers and prices
• A list of local businesses connected to players and parents
• Boards, shirt printing or programme space to deliver on the deal

Cost of setup: £50 to £200 for design and printing.

Could raise: £500 to £5,000 per season, and it renews.

Tip: Renew every season rather than treating it as a one-off, and add a “thank you” board of sponsor logos to any bigger campaign you run. It gives local businesses a reason to back the larger project too.

8. Start a 100 club or golden gate lottery

A 100 club (or golden gate, or numbers draw, whatever your club calls it) is a small recurring prize draw among members: everyone pays a set amount in a monthly draw for a chance to win a cash prize, and the club keeps a cut. It’s low-key but dependable, and it turns your existing membership into a steady drip of income rather than a one-off ask.

Resources needed:

• A membership list and a way to collect monthly payments
• A prize structure and a draw date
• A quick check of your registration obligations before you launch

Cost of setup: Free, plus a registration fee with your local authority or the Gambling Commission if your ticket sales are above small-scale limits.

Could raise: £1,000 to £5,000 a year, recurring.

Tip: Do check the current Gambling Commission rules before you set your numbers and price, regular society lotteries above small-scale limits need registering.

9. Get your minis and juniors fundraising with a sponsored challenge

Junior sections are usually the biggest, most enthusiastic and most parent-supported part of any club, which makes sponsored challenges an easy win. A sponsored walk, run or cycle for an U13s tour, or an age-grade team taking on a physical challenge together, gives parents an easy way to sponsor their own child while raising the profile of the junior section.

Resources needed:

• A challenge the kids are genuinely excited about
• A simple online page for sponsors to give and share
• A team of parent volunteers to organise the day

Cost of setup: Free to set up online, plus any costs for the event itself.

Could raise: £500 to £7,500.

Rugby St Andrews U15s raised £5,337 with a sponsored race up Snowdon.

Windsor U13s raised £7,402 towards their end-of-season tour to the South Coast Rugby Festival.

Didcot U12s raised £2,130 with a sponsored fun run.

Tip: Let the kids pick the challenge. A sponsored event they’ve chosen themselves will always out-fundraise one the committee has picked for them.

10. Run a tag rugby festival or minis tournament

A festival day for minis, juniors or mixed-ability players brings new families through the gate, gives your junior coaches a shop window, and works as a fundraiser through entry fees, a barbecue and a raffle all on the same day.

Resources needed:

• Pitch space and equipment for tag or mini games
• Entry fees or team fees from visiting clubs
• Food, drink and a raffle to run alongside it

Cost of setup: £100 to £500 for pitch hire, equipment and prizes.

Could raise: £1,000 to £11,000, depending on how many clubs and families take part.

Portadown Panthers raised £10,988 running a disability tag rugby festival open to all abilities, ages and backgrounds across Ireland, a good example of a festival day that raises money and widens who gets to play.

Tip: Invite two or three neighbouring clubs to bring teams. More visiting families means more gate money, more raffle tickets sold, and more people who’ve never been to your ground before.

Top tips to boost your rugby club fundraising

• Apply for match funding before you launch a crowdfunding campaign, not after, it makes the biggest difference to how much you raise.
• Don’t rely on one method. The clubs above are often running a big facilities campaign, a Christmas prize draw and a junior sponsored challenge in the same year.
• Give people who can’t attend an event in person a way to back it online too.
• Say thank you publicly, on socials and at the clubhouse, sponsors and supporters who feel appreciated give again.

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