Below is what to look for if you are the parent who ended up in charge of fundraising, then seven platforms booster clubs use, and answers to the questions that come up every season.
What Booster Clubs Actually Need From a Donation Platform
Most booster club fundraising is run by parents in the evening, on a phone, between everything else. That rules out anything complicated. Here is what actually matters.
A page that looks like your school
Parents give faster when the page looks like the program they are supporting. Your logo, your colors, your campaign name. If the page looks like a generic payment form, people stop and check whether it is real before they put a card in.
Recurring donations, not just one offs
A parent giving twenty dollars a month for a season is worth more than a single gift, and it is easier to say yes to. Look for monthly giving and for pledges you can collect over time rather than all at once.
Knowing who gave
You will need this for thank you notes, for next year, and for the board. A platform that keeps a record against each supporter saves you rebuilding it from bank statements in June.
Being able to text supporters
Email gets missed. A text about a deadline gets read. CoreCause includes SMS Outreach, so you can message supporters and link straight to the donation page.
Taking donations in person at a game
A lot of money shows up at the gate, at the concession stand, and in the stands. If the only way to give is online, you lose the parent who meant to do it later and forgot. Being able to take a card on a phone at the game closes that gap.
Set your club up with a page in your school colors.
Book a short demo and we will walk through funds, recurring gifts, and taking donations at the game.
The 7 Best Donation Platforms for Booster Clubs in 2026
CoreCause
CoreCause gives the club its own donation page, set up in the school and program colors with your logo on it. Parents land on something that looks like the team, not like a form from a company they have never heard of. Your club can build it without waiting on anyone, and you can have it live the same week you start.
You can run more than one fund from the same page. Football, band, cheer, and a stadium project can each be their own line, so a supporter picks where their money goes and it lands in the right bucket. Donations can be one off, monthly, or set up as a pledge collected over the season. Every gift is tracked against the supporter who gave it, so you know who has given, who gave last year, and who has a pledge outstanding, without anyone keeping a spreadsheet.
SMS Outreach lets you text supporters when a campaign opens or a deadline is close, and link straight to the donation page. Donors are never prompted to add a tip on top of their gift. There is no platform tip, ever. When fee coverage is on, donors can cover the processing fee.
At a game you can take donations in person through CoreMobile tap to pay, which turns a volunteer’s phone into the card reader. Someone taps a card, a phone, or a watch on the screen and it is done. See CoreCause for sports teams and booster clubs.
Givebutter
Givebutter is a fundraising platform used by nonprofits and community groups. It covers donation pages, campaign pages, and event ticketing from one account.
Setup is done online by the organization.
Zeffy
Zeffy provides donation forms, ticketing, and campaign pages aimed at nonprofit organizations.
Everything is handled through the browser.
Snap! Raise
Snap! Raise runs fundraising campaigns built around school teams and activity groups. Campaigns run for a set window rather than sitting open all year.
The model is campaign led, so it suits a club that fundraises in bursts around a season.
99Pledges
99Pledges builds a page per participant, which suits events where each athlete collects pledges and supporters give against what that athlete does.
Each participant shares their own link.
PayPal
PayPal is a payment account with donation buttons and checkout links. Many clubs already have one, so there is nothing new to open.
The donation link can be shared anywhere.
Venmo
Venmo is a peer to peer payments app. Some clubs collect small amounts through it because parents already have it on their phone.
Money arrives in the account attached to the profile.
| Platform | What it is |
|---|---|
| CoreCause | Branded donation page for the club, multiple funds, recurring and pledge giving, donor tracking, SMS Outreach, and in person giving through CoreMobile tap to pay |
| Givebutter | Donation pages, campaign pages, and event ticketing |
| Zeffy | Donation forms, ticketing, and campaign pages for nonprofits |
| Snap! Raise | Campaign fundraising built around school teams and activity groups |
| 99Pledges | A page per participant for pledge style events |
| PayPal | Payment account with donation buttons and checkout links |
| Venmo | Peer to peer payments app |
Platforms change what they offer. Check the current terms on each one before you sign your club up.
Collecting Donations at the Game, Not Just Online
Online giving covers the parent at home. It does not cover the grandparent in the stands or the neighbor who came to watch. For that you need a way to take a card in person, and you do not want to buy hardware for it.
CoreMobile tap to pay runs on the phone a volunteer already carries. They open the app, enter the amount, and the supporter taps a card, a phone, or a watch on the screen. Several volunteers can take donations at the same time, each on their own phone, and it all rolls up to the same place. You can also put an NFC tag or a QR code on the table so people give themselves, which is covered in NFC tap to donate tags.
If your club also runs the concession stand, the same approach works there. See card payments at school concessions.
How to Choose for Your Club
Work through it in this order and the answer usually falls out.
Do you need to raise for more than one program? If football, band, and a facility project all need their own line, you want funds on one page rather than three separate pages nobody can find. There is more on that in raise more with multiple funds.
Will you collect at events as well as online? If yes, check what taking a card in person actually involves and whether it needs hardware.
Who is going to run it next year? Booster boards turn over. Pick something the next parent can pick up without a handover document.
Do you need the record afterwards? If you send thank you letters or report to a board, you want donor records you can pull, not a list of deposits.
The Bottom Line
If your club wants one place that handles the branded page, multiple programs, recurring gifts, the donor record, texting supporters, and taking donations at the game, CoreCause is where we would start. You can set it up yourselves and have it live before your next event. See CoreCause for sports teams and booster clubs or how CoreCause works.