Varsity Brands, the parent of BSN Sports and Varsity Spirit, and GoFundMe, the world’s largest social fundraising platform, announced an exclusive partnership to change the way teams raise money for school groups, sports teams, their players, communities and related extracurriculars.
Dallas-based Varsity Brands works directly with schools, coaches and athletes through their core businesses: BSN Sports (the largest team sports equipment and apparel distributor in the U.S.), Varsity Spirit (leader in cheerleading uniform innovation and educational camps, clinics and competitions) and Herff Jones (leading provider of graduation and educational products and services).
Adam Blumenfeld, CEO of Varsity Brands, said, “Coaches and schools consistently identify fundraising as a top priority and unmet need, with the cost to participate in youth athletics and extracurriculars up more than 15 percent over the past five years, while traditional funding sources have declined drastically. Schools, teams, leagues and clubs need a safe and secure way to raise funds quickly to offset rising program costs, and we believe this partnership will change the paradigm for team and school fundraising forever. The multi-year partnership will pair the reach of Varsity Brands’ 1,700 local market sales associates, millions of catalogs and broad digital capabilities with GoFundMe’s unmatched awareness, scale and technology. Not only will we be bringing the solution to such a broad market, but we will also be doing it at no cost to the customer.”
The partnership will utilize the new GoFundMe Team Fundraising product and include a customized, co-branded experience providing teams, schools and coaches the ability to collaborate and fundraise together. The community will also benefit from the same features that make GoFundMe boasts, including a 0 percent platform fee, fast set-up, social sharing tools, customer support and the GoFundMe Guarantee.
“We’re excited to be working with Varsity Brands to bring our new team fundraising product to the school and extracurricular market,” said Rob Solomon, CEO of GoFundMe. “With our knowledge and expertise in social fundraising combined with the power of the Varsity Brands market leadership, we look forward to enhancing the fundraising experience for millions of coaches, students and athletes by providing the fastest, easiest and most effective way to raise money.”
Exclusive partnership features and a co-branded destination will start rolling out later this summer.
