GB Sports Academy saved over $1,000 in PayPal fees to keep more athletes in their chosen game.

GB Sports Academy is a nonprofit dedicated to keeping kids in club sports, no matter the financial status of their families. Club sports are vital spaces for students to grow and develop, both as athletes and young adults, but they are a costly undertaking for many families. Alan and Kihoko Glasband want to help alleviate this burden for as many families as possible by selling baseballs and directly raising costs to cover team fees.

“We create a supportive community for ambitious student-athletes, their families, and their coaches to chase their dreams together.” — GB Sports Academy 

Background

Alan and Kihoko used to run a youth baseball organization in Los Angeles. They managed six teams of students between the ages of six and 13 years old, and they loved the chance to help these young boys grow. 

But they faced several tensions along the way. The students were passionate and eager athletes who cared about their teams deeply, and their parents expected quality. They wanted to see smiling students in clean, new uniforms, hitting shiny baseballs on attractive, well-maintained fields. Of course, the parents expected engaged coaches with a deep experience in their chosen sport and a proven ability to teach well.

Families also hoped to have all of the above without paying fees that were too high.

Alan and Kihoko made many accommodations over the years when families on their team couldn’t quite get the monthly fees together, but eventually they saw it happening too often. 

“Many kids couldn't afford equipment, coaches and tournaments,” Alan says. “We started a non-profit to help them and others to be able to achieve their goals and stay healthy by being active in their chosen activities.”

And this disparity didn’t end with the fees themselves. The athletes whose parents could pay fees easily had more opportunities to practice and develop their skills, so Alan and Kihoko saw them improve more rapidly than other students. As they explain on their website:

“We believe that financial status should not stop kids from being challenged to develop their skills in their chosen sport. We sincerely would like to support all the kids to pursue their dreams and would like their family and coaches to be able to support them in that achievement. ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ and we hope that we can bring like-minded people together to help our kids to realize all the goals they set out to.”

They believe learning teamwork and sports skills are vital for developing youth’s mental and physical health, and are mustering teams of support for every athlete they can. 

Alan and Kihoko are building networks of support for students in whatever sport they care about. They are creating villages by selling baseballs and collecting donations to offset club fees for families in need of assistance.

Nonprofits raising funds with merch require different support from stores selling retail products. Alan and Kihoko tried using Venmo, GoFundMe, Square, and PayPal to raise funds and sell baseballs, but the features didn’t quite line up with their needs. 

These fundraising platforms had high fees, less-than-ideal customer support, complex user interfaces, a lack of features beyond payment transfers, and expensive or delayed payouts. The money Alan and Kihoko paid out in fees could have gone to just about any other element of baseball.

“The hundreds of dollars lost to fees could have paid for pairs of shoes, baseball bats, and coaches,” Alan says. 

And dealing with so many different spaces turned bookkeeping into a nightmare. Alan and Kihoko knew there was no reason for their fundraising tools to be so expensive and so difficult to use, and they were right.

Kihoko spent hours researching, finding new potential platforms, and reading reviews. She stumbled across Zeffy on social media and began reading about its zero-fee fundraising platform.

Reading more, Kihoko found that her problems were common. Other nonprofits had struggled with PayPal fees and Square charges so drastic that they rehauled their fundraising systems. If that sounds familiar, read our full comparisons between Zeffy and PayPal and/or Square here. 

Zeffy did everything Alan and Kihoko were hoping for and more. 

The zero-fee donation platform means they get to actually keep the money they raise. Their fundraising campaigns are both attractive and easy to set up, and Zeffy’s responsive customer service quickly addresses any concern.

Overall, GB Sports Academy’s fundraising is more effective, and the bookkeeping is simplified. 

“The fact that we can set up a different page so easily to help teams and people raise money for their kids and organizations was a huge plus,” Alan says. “The auto reply with our tax info they can use for their taxes instead of the long form letter we do for some that don’t use this platform is also a blessing.”

Alan and Kihoko use Zeffy for all of their fundraising and also to generate tickets for events that bring in even more gifts. Zeffy gets out of the way, letting the couple focus on the students who need their help, instead of managing spreadsheets and paying high fees.

“Zeffy is the easiest, most effective, and time-efficient method to raise money that we have ever used,” Alan says.