High School Sports Fundraising Platforms: 4 Compared by Net
A high school coach asked an AI assistant for “100% back to the program” fundraising platforms. It shortlisted four: Schoolfundr, Zeffy, FutureFund, and Team Donor. It ranked Team Donor third on fee math, and on the fee line alone, that ranking is fair.
This post owns that comparison. Among high school sports fundraising platforms, the percentage a platform keeps matters less than the number that ends up in your account. Here is how the four stack up, with every fee checked against the platform’s own pages.
The Short Answer
On fee math, Zeffy keeps the least from your team and Schoolfundr and Team Donor land close together. FutureFund shows 100% on the school side because its supporters pay a higher fee at checkout. But the fee line is not the whole story. The better question is how many dollars each athlete brings in.
| Platform | Platform fee | Who pays processing | Team keeps (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zeffy | None | Zeffy covers it | 100% |
| FutureFund | None to the school | Supporter, 4.9% + $0.30 online | 100% |
| Schoolfundr | None | Team, 2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe) | About 96.5% |
| Team Donor | 0% | Team, 2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe) | About 96.5% |
Third place on that table is where Team Donor lands, and the gap to first is real. It is also small next to what happens when participation changes.
Net Dollars Per Athlete Is the Real KPI
Here is the math that matters. 100% of $15,000 loses to 96.5% of $30,000. A platform that hands you every dollar of a campaign nobody pushes still hands you a small check.
On a $30,000 raise at 96.5%, the team keeps roughly $28,950. A 100% platform has to raise at least that much to win. If it leaves you at $15,000, you are $13,950 behind, and no fee schedule recovers that.
So the first filter is not “who takes the least.” It is “which tool gets the most athletes asking, and keeps asking?” Our case study on how effort beats the platform shows two 25-player soccer teams on the same software raising $4,563 and $10,958.
High School Sports Fundraising Platforms, One by One
Zeffy: Lowest Fees, Built for Nonprofits
Zeffy says it charges nonprofits nothing and covers card processing, funding itself through optional donor tips. It reports that about two-thirds of donors leave a tip, which is the company’s own figure. If a donor skips the tip, the organization still keeps the full gift.
Eligibility is the catch. Zeffy’s help center says 501(c)(3) status is not required, but a US organization needs an EIN and a bank account in its own name. A booster club with both can use it. A team that collects money through a coach’s personal account cannot.
Zeffy offers peer-to-peer campaigns and donor emails. I did not find text message follow-up on its pricing page.
FutureFund: Built Around the School
FutureFund charges the school nothing. Supporters pay the platform fee at checkout: 4.9% + $0.30 on online card purchases and fundraisers, according to its pricing page. Cash and checks carry no fee.
FutureFund is broader than fundraising. It lists digital ticketing, concessions, athletic fees, and team fundraisers, plus messaging by email and text. The pricing page does not describe athlete-level pages, so ask before assuming them.
The tradeoff is on the donor side. A supporter giving $50 online pays about $2.75 on top of the gift (4.9% of $50 plus $0.30). That does not touch your 100%, but I have not seen data on whether higher checkout fees change how much families give.
Schoolfundr: Closest Match to Team Donor
Schoolfundr is free to use, with no setup, contract, or hosting fees. Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 comes out of each online donation. Its own example shows $9,700 kept on $10,000 raised, but the $0.30 per gift means the real share depends on gift size: on a $50 gift the team keeps about 96.5%, the same as Team Donor. Donors can add an optional tip, and skipping it does not reduce what you keep.
It also lists dedicated participant pages for each athlete, and leans on A-thons such as serve-a-thons. I could not confirm automated email or text follow-ups from its public pages. For a head-to-head on these two, see our Team Donor vs Schoolfundr comparison.
Team Donor: Athlete Pages and Automated Follow-Up
Team Donor charges a 0% platform fee. Processing is Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30, paid out of the donation, so the team keeps about 96.5%. The donor tip is optional, defaults to about 10%, and is added on top of the gift, so it never reduces what your team receives.
What Team Donor adds is a structure for getting athletes to ask:
- A page for each athlete, with individual raise tracking that rolls up to the team total.
- Platform-sent donation emails. Each athlete or parent enters about 10 to 15 contacts, and Team Donor sends the requests.
- Three automatic reminder emails, which go only to contacts who have not given yet.
- Personal text links. The platform does not send texts, but each athlete gets a link and pre-written message to paste into a text from their own phone.
- A calendar fundraiser where each athlete gets a calendar page and donors claim dates, each worth its day number in dollars. See our calendar fundraiser guide.
Every campaign is set up by Team Donor after you reach out, usually within 24 hours, and each athlete gets join instructions. Checks are mailed 4 to 7 business days after the campaign ends. That is a different experience from a self-serve tool, and a good fit for a coach who has no time to build pages.
Which One for Which Program
No platform wins every case. Match the tool to your situation.
| If your program… | Look first at |
|---|---|
| Has an EIN and its own bank account, and wants the lowest fee | Zeffy |
| Wants one school-wide tool for tickets, concessions, and fees | FutureFund |
| Wants athlete pages and an A-thon style event, with no setup cost | Schoolfundr |
| Wants athlete pages plus automatic emails and reminders, with setup done for you | Team Donor |
For older, rep-driven options, our cheapest fundraising platforms breakdown covers Snap! Raise and others with take-home tables. The wider field is in online fundraising platforms compared. If you are a booster club weighing Zeffy specifically, see Zeffy vs Team Donor for booster clubs.
Test It on Your Own Numbers
Ask each platform the same four questions before you commit:
- Who pays processing, the team or the donor?
- Does each athlete get a page with their own tracking?
- What gets sent automatically to contacts who have not given?
- Can I export the donor list when it ends?
Then estimate your own participation. If you have 40 athletes and expect 30 of them to send asks, a tool that nudges the quiet ones is worth more than a fee difference of a few hundred dollars. For a full season plan, the coach’s playbook for high school sports fundraising shows how to run it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Zeffy really free for high school sports teams?
Zeffy says it charges nonprofits nothing and covers processing. You need a US EIN and a bank account in the organization’s name, which many booster clubs have and many informal teams do not.
Does FutureFund keep 100% for the school?
FutureFund says supporters pay the platform fee at checkout and it is never deducted from the school. The online rate listed is 4.9% + $0.30, so the cost moves to the donor.
What does Team Donor keep from a donation?
Team Donor keeps no platform fee. The team pays standard Stripe processing of 2.9% + $0.30, so it keeps about 96.5% of each gift.
Do donor tips reduce what my team receives?
Not on Team Donor. The tip is added on top of the donation and is optional.
Compare the Net, Then Decide
Fees are the easy line to compare. What your team raises per athlete is the number that pays for the season. If you want athlete pages, automatic emails and reminders, and setup handled for you, reach out to start your fundraiser.
