Alexandra Park Pavilion: A Community Vision Brought to Life
Alexandra Park Pavilion: A Community Vision Brought to Life
April 04, 2025
With outdated facilities and rapidly growing participation, especially from women and girls, Mornington’s sporting community knew something had to change.
Quick Facts
- $41,600+ raised
- 48 Donations
- $868 average donation
Over more than a decade, the Mornington Football Netball Club, Mornington Cricket Club and Peninsula Raiders came together to make the redevelopment of Alexandra Park Pavilion a reality.
Through a mix of private donations and government grants, they secured $1 million, but it was the additional $41,000+ raised with the help of the Australian Sports Foundation that helped take their vision even further.
“The ASF was a major part of helping us get there. Having tax-deductible donations gave us something real to offer people who wanted to support the project.”
- Mick Wunderly, Mornington FNC
WATCH ALEXANDRA PARK PAVILION'S STORY
Hear from Mick at Mornington Football Netball Club about the changing needs of the community and how three clubs came together to effectively engage donors and build the new facilities.
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THEIR THREE KEYS TO FUNDRAISING SUCCESS:
1. A shared vision across multiple clubs
2. A meaningful recognition strategy
3. A committed team of community champions
BUILDING A SHARED VISION
One of the biggest challenges for the project was uniting three clubs under one plan. Each had their own priorities, but they agreed on one thing: the pavilion no longer met the needs of a growing, modern sporting community.
“Getting three clubs moving in the same direction was never going to be easy, but once we agreed that this was a space for everyone, not just one sport or one group, it became easier to sell that vision.”
The clubs aligned around the shared goal of creating not just a sports facility, but a true community hub. That framing helped them gain broader support.
The pavilion is now used by local groups including Rotary, a business networking club, and a specialist support coordination group that teaches job skills in the pavilion’s kitchen. That initiative has even expanded to include selling coffee to the public from the pavilion kitchen on weekday mornings, activating the space when it would otherwise sit unused.
“We have many community groups that use this facility through the day before the sporting clubs arrive. And I think that helped us so much in our drive to achieve this, that we could show that this wasn’t just going to be one of those buildings that say there for most of the day.”
RECOGNISING DONORS IN A LASTING WAY
To encourage donations, the club introduced a tiered membership model, giving supporters the opportunity to become Foundation Members and, depending on the amount donated, would receive a permanent plaque on the pavilion wall in varying sizes.
Each of the three clubs promoted the model to their members, but all plaques were displayed together on one board, reinforcing the unified effort.
“I couldn’t believe how well it worked. It took on a life of its own because I had people come up and ask me if they could put a plaque up there that remembered someone that had passed. There are many people on that board that unfortunately are no longer with us who were part of this club and community in years gone past.”
The plaques became a strong motivator for giving and created a lasting legacy for families and supporters. It added emotional and tangible value to the campaign and helped deepen community connection to the new facility.
A TEAM THAT NEVER GAVE UP
While grants and government support were vital, the real driving force behind the project was a dedicated group of volunteers.
"You need a group around you that are driven. They've got to have a love for the club."
This small group took on everything from grant writing to stakeholder engagement and donor follow-up. They developed a high-quality pitch deck, tailored it to council priorities, and used the ASF platform to provide a professional structure for donations.
“We put together this pitch deck very early on in the piece, and in the pitch document, we called People Foundation members of Alexandra Park, and encouraged them to donate through the Australian Sports Foundation. This was a wonderful thing to have in your hand when you went to someone and wanted to encourage them to donate.”
Their persistence, creativity and long-term commitment turned a decade-long dream into a thriving space now used by clubs, local businesses, and community groups all week long.
KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING
The pavilion may be built, but the work isn’t over. The Mornington Football Netball Club is still fundraising to finish the fit-out and ensure the space meets the needs of players, volunteers, and the wider community for years to come.
If you’d like to support the next stage of this incredible community project, you can donate to their live fundraising campaign on the ASF Platform.