Have you ever been browsing online, maybe doing online shopping or just doing some research, you’ve clicked on a website and it looks terrible – blurry pictures (if any) and only a few sentences? How likely would you be to buy something or use the information from this webpage?  

Answer: Highly Unlikely 

This is how you should approach your own fundraising page on the Sports Foundation site, if you were a potential donor and looked at the page: does it make you want to give & does it look appealing, professional and informative?  

Having high quality and relevant images on your fundraising page is one of the most important factors to maximise donations. Pictures and images create an emotional response in the donor and help in your story telling. Making sure your images are the right size for the page is the first thing to do.

Telling your fundraising story is super important and we cover it over here but ensuring your story is backed up by eye catching photos is critical.  

Budget & Resources  

This is the biggest road block for most grassroots clubs and schools. They don’t have the money to organise a photographer to come to games or to buy a quality camera that a volunteer can use.  

DIY 

Our tip here is use what you’ve got: have you reached out to your community, maybe there is a parent, player, supporter who loves photography and would be available to take some photos? Put a call out on Facebook, in your newsletter or stick a flyer up in the clubhouse.  

We can almost guarantee that a kid in your club or school owns an iPhone or smartphone and knows how to use it.  

Tip: don’t try and use a phone camera to capture games or action because the zoom is not powerful enough to show anything meaningful. Instead get nice and close at training or events and you can even stage a pic of a handball or shot on goals. Why not make it a competition within the club of who can get the best action shots? Then you’ll have a plethora to choose from!  

Outsource  

If your call out to the community has come up empty, then look beyond them.  

Does the local high school have a photography or media class, maybe there are students who want to get some experience and build their portfolio, does your club have enough in the budget to offer them some monetary incentive for their time and effort? If not, you could offer the student free rego if they join the sports team (free photos and a new player = win/win!)  

Same goes if there is a CIT, TAFE or Community College nearby, they are sure to have budding media or photography students that may be willing to lend a hand.