Jamboree helps every kid raise more to fund their dreams

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Every kid should be able to achieve their dreams through sports, clubs, and activities regardless of cost.

We started with a mission: Every kid deserves the chance to pursue their passions.

About 60 million children are registered to play youth sports in the U.S., and nearly 85% of public K-12 schools in the U.S. offer after-school programs for students.

Clubs, sports, and other group activities are good for kids. These activities help kids find a sense of belonging, do better in school, build vital social skills, gain self-esteem, and figure out what they want to be in life.

But keeping kids involved with clubs, teams, and other group activities is tougher nowadays. American parents spend about $731 per child per year on extracurricular activities, and three out of five are stressed about paying for them. The costs of belonging have risen, and families are feeling the pinch.

That makes our mission even more important today. Every kid should be able to achieve their dreams through sports, clubs, and activities regardless of cost. Kids and their parents need a better way to make that happen.

The costs of activities have grown

Despite how much extracurricular programs help kids, it’s becoming more expensive to belong to them. Costs vary depending on what a kid wants to do. Our own research with parents finds the most common costs to be:

Registration and program fees covering participation, which range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per participant
Essential equipment and uniform purchases
Facility costs, including rentals and improvements to maintain programs
Scholarships to help make programs accessible to more participants
Major events like special trips that carry high per-student costs

As any parent who’s written a check for these knows, costs add up fast. Parents don’t want to let costs stop their kids from participating in valuable extracurriculars, but it’s becoming just too much to bear.

Youth fundraising hasn’t kept up with the times

Many groups turn to fundraising to help parents with the costs of belonging. Many of these fundraisers ask you to sell products as part of the process. If you’ve stood outside of Walmart on a Saturday morning with popcorn bags, you’re familiar with the concept.

There are many products, services, and ways for parents and children to support their goals through fundraising. Yet, the process of running these fundraisers has gone stale, stuck in a pre-internet analog format.

Maybe these scenarios sound familiar to you, too.

There are many fundraising options to pick from, but you still ask the same people for help repeatedly.
You and your kids have no time to organize a fundraiser. Even if you have the time, you struggle to get your kids to engage.
You use paper order forms and handle fistfuls of cash or checks, hoping the right supporter gets the right product. Yet you don’t even know your fundraising goal — let alone if you’re meeting it.

That’s a lot of time, energy, and stress for you — not to mention the kids whose dreams are on the line.

It’s time for a new way to raise money and support kids’ dreams.

Where technology and fundraising meet

Technology has changed our lives so much. That includes fundraising, which is adapting to digital times. You’ve probably seen crowdfunding appeals on Facebook or been invited to a virtual auction.

Professional nonprofit organizations are learning how technology can transform their business. Applied wisely, tech can help people reach more supporters, spread their mission, and help more people.

Yet, this digital revolution seems to have skipped youth fundraising. Sure, some product order forms may have moved online, or there may be an online storefront you can log into. But, we’re missing technology focused on helping kids — just kids — powered by the know-how to make a big difference.

That’s why we made Jamboree.

Jamboree transforms youth fundraising

Jamboree is an app that combines technology with over four decades of fundraising expertise. We aim to make fundraising easier and fun to help kids reach their goals.

We focus on handling those frustrating, manual processes that tech should have solved by now.

You choose the products you want to sell — and we’ll help you set up your own page to sell online or in person.
You can still reach family and friends, but our social sharing tools help you reach beyond your networks.
Instead of messy paper forms, we store your product orders digitally.
You can leave crumpled cash behind — we let you take credit cards and online payments and cover the fees.
Your whole group fundraises together, and you can cheer each other on toward shared goals.
When you’re done, you get funds quickly, so you can get back to the activities your kids love.

With Jamboree, you can raise more in less time — helping every kid have life-changing experiences.