It’s been another incredibly exciting summer for English football. But with the increasing costs associated with the grassroots game, both for clubs and for parents / players, there’s a real threat that the next generation of Bellinghams, Kanes and Russos might be prevented from taking up the sport at all.
It’s these rising costs that lead Wellingborough Whitworth U14s to look for ways they can fight back and continue to provide opportunities and experiences for the young players in their community. This lead them to easyfundraising. We spoke to Liam from the club to find out more about their experience.
Tell us all about Whitworth U14s
The Whitworth club was founded in 1973, and the senior team now plays in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One. Our 14s team is just one of 21 teams in the club’s youth structure, ranging from under 7 to under 16s, both male and female.
What do you need funding for?
Right across the sport, but particularly at junior level, costs are rising. With rising costs for pitches, training venues, kit and equipment. We rely on fundraising and also the membership fees to continue. But at the same time, we don’t want to have to increase the costs for parents. We want the club to be accessible to all.
Why did you join easyfundraising? Was it easy to get started?
One of the parents suggested easyfundraising and when we looked into it, it seemed an ideal option for us as there were no extra costs involved for anyone. We were obviously a little sceptical at first because you always think there’s no such thing as free money, but that’s exactly how it seemed. The process of registering was really quick and simple – we joined in August 2025 and haven’t looked back since, within the first few months we got our first payment and it’s gone from strength to strength.
How did you encourage supporters to get behind you
As soon as we joined we got our link to our cause profile and immediately added it in the parent WhatsApp group and asked families to register, as well as inviting friends and relatives to support too. It’s really handy that there’s ready-made messaging you can use straight away so we didn’t have to worry about how to explain to parents what they needed to do. That simple first push worked almost immediately – fast forward to now and we have more than 50% of all parents signed up, many of who have the app and donation reminders installed. That’s still only 40 supporters, but they’ve raised a brilliant amount for us!
How much have you raised and how has it helped?
We’ve raised just shy of £3,400 in under 12 months which is fantastic! One parent is a regular shopper at B&Q and we get £4-5 a time with every order he places there. We’ve got others who book travel with the likes of Booking.com which raises £10+ a time. On top of that there’s Tesco orders, Dunelm etc, day-to-day shopping which is all adding up for us.
This season, the money helped provide essential equipment and supported the cost of taking the whole team to Hemsby for a weekend tournament at Norwich City’s training ground — giving the players brilliant memories together away from the pitch. Most importantly, it’s meant we haven’t had to increase monthly fees for parents, and they’ve still been able to give back to the club without having to pay anything extra as they shop.
Do you do any other fundraising alongside?
Yes, we sell hot dogs at home games, run football cards, hold raffles and race nights – the great thing is that alongside the short term events we hold, easyfundraising keeps ticking away in the background.
Would you recommend it to other clubs?
Easyfundraising has become a valuable extra income stream because it takes very little effort from supporters and doesn’t ask them to spend anything more than they normally would. It’s a no-brainer. The rewards are far greater than most fundraising options and for a lot less effort. It is literally money for nothing!
Feeling inspired? Support Whitworth U14s, or register your own club to start raising!
Whitworth U14s are one of over 14,000 football clubs who collectively have raised over £2m with our help to date. You can help the club continue to raise vital funds for free by signing up to support them here.
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