How to Promote a Club Fundraiser on Social Media (UK Guide)

The fastest way to promote a club fundraiser on social media is to give people one link, shared often, from the accounts your community already follows. Most grassroots fundraisers don't underperform because the idea was weak — they underperform because supporters saw a single post three weeks before the deadline and had no obvious way to take part. Running your draw or raffle through Play Fund Win removes the hardest part: you get one shareable link that works on a phone, takes card payments and keeps a live running total, so every post you write has somewhere useful to send people. There's nothing to pay up front and you can be live in about ten minutes.

Start with the link, not the poster

Committees often spend an evening designing a graphic and only then think about how people will actually pay. Do it the other way round. Before you post anything, make sure you have:

• A single URL that takes someone from "that looks good" to "paid" in under a minute
• Clear ticket prices and a closing date
• An honest, one-line explanation of what the money is for — "new training kit for the under-12s" beats "club funds"

If a supporter has to message the treasurer, arrange a bank transfer or find someone at training with a raffle book, you'll lose most of them. Cash and paper still have a place on matchday, but they don't travel through a phone screen.

Post from the accounts people actually follow

Your club page is not your biggest asset — your members are. A post shared by thirty players, parents and coaches reaches far more of the local area than one post from a page with a few hundred followers, because it lands in feeds that already trust the person sharing it.

So make sharing effortless. Put the link, a two-line caption and the image into your team WhatsApp groups and ask people to copy, paste and post it to their own profiles. Give them the words — most volunteers won't write their own. And ask specifically: "please share this to your page today" works, "give us a share if you can" doesn't.

A posting rhythm that keeps ticket sales moving

One announcement is not a campaign. Sales in most club fundraisers spike at the start and again right at the end, with a long flat middle — so plan posts that create those spikes. A simple, repeatable pattern:

• Launch — what it is, what it's for, how to enter, the link
• Prize reveal — one post per prize or sponsor, spread across the campaign
• Progress update — a running total or a milestone, so people can see it working
• Matchday push — post while supporters are at the ground or watching
• Last chance — 48 hours, then 24 hours, then a final morning-of reminder
• The result — announce the winner and, crucially, say what the money will now pay for

That closing post matters more than people think. It's the proof that persuades the same supporters to take part next time.

What to post when you've run out of ideas

Fundraising posts that perform tend to show people, not text. Photos of the actual team, short phone videos from the captain or head coach explaining the appeal, a thank-you to a local business that donated a prize, a shot of the kit or equipment you're raising for, a quick clip of the draw itself. A ten-second video filmed on someone's phone at training will nearly always beat a polished graphic — it looks like your club, because it is.

Stay on the right side of the rules

Prize draws, raffles and lotteries are regulated in the UK, and the rules apply just as much to a Facebook post as to a ticket book. Keep these in mind:

• Get the format right first. Small raffles run and drawn entirely at a single event are treated differently from lotteries sold in advance or online, which generally need registration with your local authority as a society lottery — or a licence from the Gambling Commission for larger operations. Check before you promote, not after.
• Don't market to under-18s. Compliant platforms, Play Fund Win included, restrict entry to over-18s, so don't ask junior members to sell or share tickets.
• Be accurate about proceeds. Say what share goes to the club and what the prize is. Don't imply "all proceeds" go to the cause if they don't.
• Paid ads are restricted. Most social platforms limit paid promotion of lotteries and prize draws and require prior permission, so check the current policy before boosting a post. Organic posts and shares are usually the better route anyway.

Using a compliant platform handles the ticketing, age checks and record-keeping for you, which is one less thing for a volunteer committee to get wrong.

Don't forget the channels that quietly outperform social

Social media is the shop window, but the sales usually come from closer to home. Club WhatsApp groups, a plain-text email to your membership list, an announcement at training, a QR code on the clubhouse door and a mention from the tannoy on matchday will often convert better than anything on a public feed. Use social to reach the wider community, and direct channels to reach the people who were always going to say yes.

Ready to give your supporters something worth clicking? Set up a compliant 50/50 draw, raffle or club lottery in about ten minutes at playfundwin.com — nothing up front, with a single shareable link, live totals and your club keeping its share of every ticket sold.