How many times have you sold candy bars, popcorn or magazine subscriptions to raise money for your child's sport's team?  Of course, you are the one who usually ends up selling the stuff, and you end up selling to the same friends and neighbors.  The truth is that you don't really raise any money because they end up hitting you up for the same goods when their kid has a club or league.

So is there anything new under the sun?

Two things come to mind:  first, if your club or league is not online get them there.  They should be registering players, managing clubs, leagues, tournaments, referees and even receiving text messaging updates all online.  Online management is not a luxury.  It's just smart.  Go to www.htgsports.net for the latest. 

But with being online, there come certain benefits.  Namely, online giving is where things are going.  People can support your club or league from the comfort of their home with a simple credit card payment.  And let's face it, people would rather make a $20 credit card donation than clogging up thier mailbox with a magazine they aren't going to read.  Better yet, with online credit card giving, people can give online even monthly.  Once people set up for online giving, they often will stick with it because people are creatures of habit.

Second, assuming that your club is online, one of the new and exciting ways to help people give is through non cash items.  Here's a simple fact.  The vast majority of wealth in the country is in non cash items--over 90% of a person's wealth is in their non cash items.  What do I mean by non cash?  It's things like cars, boats, RVs, timeshares, collectibles, old music instruments and the like.  Did you know that over $40 billion dollars of non cash gifts are given each year?

It's a simple click to receive a car or boat online--even junk cars?  It's a simple click to offer a timeshare.  Just recently a friend of mine donated his boat--a 49 foot yacht--to has favorite charity.  it was easier to donate that it was to hassle with a resale or trade in.  One of the key services for online non cash donations is www.iDonate.com.  It's a simple subscription, and then you can be ready to receive non cash gifts online.

Of course, need I say it--it all assumes that you are online and that you are driving people to your site.  So get there!

--William High is a freelance writer.