Keeping a club going takes commitment, endurance and guile. However, has your club ever reflected and asked, “where is our income coming from?” This is the first question I ask clubs when they attend one of our Fundraising Masterclasses.

To the right is an accumulative funding model for all the attending clubs to date. Our discussions have led to lively findings:

1. Communication is KEY!

To communicate with people you need names, numbers, emails and addresses. It sounds so simple, yet many clubs do not seem to be doing this. This problem is particularly prevalent to rural clubs, whose members may have moved for employment purposes. Should a club wish to contact one of these members, it cannot. They have been lost by their club. Fundraising, at its very core, is a people and numbers game. It’s all about routine: Meet, Greet, Details (with permission these days!), Contact, Repeat.

2. Tangible results

Many clubs want to be the best, or at the very least, competitive. However, this is one facet of what a club does. Sport is serving the public and social good. Yes, clubs are about competing. This means publicity and greater awareness about the club. However, some of our players and member don’t care about this. They care because playing is improving their mental health, feeling part of the community and improving their overall health. When clubs are fundraising, it is normally “to help the club out” or “keep it going this year.” When people give their hard-earned money, it is imperative to show them a result. Wrap a fundraising campaign around a capital ambition or for equipment. When charities fundraise, they ask people to give by programme area. When people give, they can then choose what to give their money to. The charity in return can then showcase how the money was used. This is something sport can learn from and aim to get to.

3. Learn from each other

This has been the most beneficial part of our sessions. It is not for us to lecture any club or organisation on what they are doing. Our travels across the country have resulted in discovering amazing ideas and practices by clubs: “500 club schemes,” “inclusive sport models,” “sport for all,” “direct marketing programmes.” These are only some of the examples we discovered. Most importantly, clubs shared these ideas with each other, all in the name of improving their own sports in their county and province.

To learn more about our Masterclasses please contact Darren McMahon on +353-1-234-3127 or Darren.McMahon@2into3.com

Last week, in Dún Laoghaire Harbour, Irish Sailing opened their first ever training base for their Senior Sailing team. In total, thirteen sailors will be based in the Performance HQ in the hope of delivering medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The project cost €300,000 and was funded entirely by philanthropic income raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation.

2into3 began working with Irish Sailing in 2014 with the objective of accessing philanthropic investment into high performance sailing. The Sailing Association high performance programme had been operating on an annual budget of circa €1 million funded from Sport Ireland and Sponsorship. However, in order to compete with their International counterparts in the UK and elsewhere, the association would need to increase investment at least threefold.

Following an extensive consulting project a fundraising strategy was developed and approved, a new Chief Executive recruited and the Irish Sailing Foundation was established with the mission of securing philanthropic donations to support the associations Olympic Steering Group and allow Irish sailors to compete on a par with their International peers.

With the opening of the new high-performance training base, Irish Sailors finally have a place which they can call home and shows the positive impact philanthropy can have on sport. Speaking at the opening of the HQ, The CEO of Irish Sailing, Harry Hermon said

“The creation of the Performance HQ is great news – there is no doubt that we’re at the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Irish Sailing, delivering on the medal-winning potential that the facility will help shape and focus. Clearly, however, this new home for the Performance team would not have been possible without the generosity and far-sightedness of those who, through the Irish Sailing Foundation, funded the project.”

2into3 Director, Dennis O’Connor added that

“2into3 are delighted to have supported the establish of the Irish Sailing Foundation. Currently, circa 2% of the €1b philanthropic investment is going into Sport. The potential to grow this source of investment, to support sport in high performance and participation is there and other National Governing Bodies, Regional, County and Club sporting bodies can also grow their income through philanthropy.”

If you would like more information on how Sports organisations can access Philanthropy please feel free to contact 2into3 Director, Dennis O’Connor at dennis@2into3.com or give him a call on 01-234-3184.