The straight answer
Getting set up
with Fund Your Team
This page is the whole checklist — what we require, why we require it, and exactly how the money moves. No fine print waiting for you later.
Two things we don’t bend on
Fund Your Team runs on registered 501(c)(3) organizations that collect through their own Stripe account. Both. Every time. No exceptions, no “we’ll sort it out later.”
That isn’t us being difficult. Those two facts are the difference between a fundraiser that produces deductible, matchable, receipted money in the organization’s bank account — and one that produces a pile of cash in a coach’s personal Venmo that nobody can write off, no employer will match, and no board can account for in March.
It is what makes a receipt mean something. Tax-deductible language on every gift, and employer matching — most corporate match programs only match gifts to registered 501(c)(3) organizations. Without the status, both are just words on a page.
Every donation goes straight into your organization’s Stripe account. FYT never holds, routes, or splits donor money — there is no platform account sitting between your donors and your bank, and nothing to chase if we get hit by a bus.
Not there yet? Keep reading. The entire path is written out below — the forms, the real fees, the actual wait times, and where your state comes into it. Then email us and we’ll walk it with you.
Why you want this anyway — even without us
Every league that has ever run money through a coach’s personal account knows the feeling. Here is what changes the day you stop.
A gift that is tax-deductible is an easier yes and a bigger number, because part of it comes back. The donor needs your legal name and EIN on a real receipt to claim it — which is exactly what FYT prints on every one.
Most corporate matching programs will only match a gift to a registered 501(c)(3). No status, no match — and matching is free money you are otherwise leaving on the table every season.
A local business sponsoring your team wants the deduction. Registered status is what lets their accountant treat it cleanly instead of calling it a favor.
Foundation and corporate community-giving programs almost universally require 501(c)(3) status to even accept an application. Without it you are not in the running.
This one comes from INCORPORATING as a nonprofit corporation in your state — not from the IRS. Done right, the organization is the legal person on the hook, not the parent who volunteered to be treasurer.
Funds belong to the organization, in the organization's bank account, under a board — so when a coach moves or a treasurer quits, the season's money doesn't move with them.
The distinction almost everybody blurs: incorporating is a state act that creates the organization and the liability shield. 501(c)(3) is a federal determination from the IRS that makes gifts to it deductible. You do the state one first, and you need both.
How you actually become a 501(c)(3)
Not a vague “talk to a lawyer.” This is the real sequence, with the real numbers, current as of August 2026 and linked to the source so you can check us. Rules, fees and wait times change — and the state steps vary a lot by state.
- 1
Form the organization in your state — first
Almost every league does this as a nonprofit corporation, by filing articles of incorporation with the state. The IRS will ask for that organizing document, and it has to contain two specific things: a clause limiting you to exempt purposes, and a dissolution clause sending assets to another exempt organization if you ever wind down. Boilerplate articles from a generic filing site often omit both, and that is a classic rejection. Filing fees, name rules and processing times are set by your state.
- 2
Get your EIN — free, and instant
Apply online at IRS.gov and the EIN is issued immediately. It is free: the IRS says outright, "Beware of websites that charge for an EIN. You never have to pay a fee for an EIN." One EIN per responsible party per day, and that person needs an SSN or ITIN. This is the number that ends up on every donor receipt.
- 3
Adopt bylaws and seat a real board
Bylaws are how you govern; a board is who governs. Also adopt a conflict-of-interest policy — the IRS application asks about it. This is the step leagues skip, and it is the one that matters when a parent asks who authorized a purchase.
- 4
Pick your IRS form — this is where the money and the wait diverge
Form 1023-EZ is $275 and is only available if your gross receipts stayed at or under $50,000 in each of the past three years and are projected to stay there for the next three, AND your total assets are under $250,000. Form 1023 is $600 with no such caps. Both fees are paid at Pay.gov when you file. Most single youth leagues fit the EZ; a multi-team league running a real budget often does not.
- 5
Then wait — and the gap is enormous
The IRS issues 80% of Form 1023-EZ determinations within 22 days. For the full Form 1023, 80% land within 191 days. That is roughly three weeks versus better than six months. The EZ cannot be expedited at all; the full 1023 can be, but only on a written request explaining a compelling reason, granted at the IRS's discretion.
- 6
Watch the 27-month clock
File within 27 months after the end of the month you were legally formed and your exempt status is backdated to your formation date — meaning gifts from your very first day are covered. Miss that window and exemption generally starts the day you file, leaving everything before it undeductible. This single deadline is the most expensive thing on this page to get wrong.
- 7
Register with your state BEFORE you ask anyone for money
Most states require a charity to register before soliciting donations — and a public fundraising page is soliciting. In South Carolina, charities must register with the Secretary of State prior to any solicitation and annually thereafter, under the Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act (S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 56). Exemptions exist under §33-56-50 but you must file for them annually — being small does not make the paperwork disappear. Fines are assessed for filing late or not at all. Every state writes these rules differently: confirm yours.
- 8
Keep it — file the 990 every single year
Exempt status is not permanent. Miss the annual 990-series filing three years running and the IRS revokes it automatically, and you are back to square one — reapplying, re-paying, with a gap where your gifts were not deductible. South Carolina also wants an annual financial report, which the Secretary of State's own form or your IRS 990 can satisfy.
Your league is probably not an “amateur sports” organization
501(c)(3) lists “fostering national or international amateur sports competition” as an exempt purpose, so leagues reach for it. It is usually the wrong box: that purpose is unavailable if your activities include providing athletic facilities or equipment — which is most of what a youth league does, and it is also aimed at national and international competition, not a Saturday season across town.
The routes that actually fit a youth league are charitable and educational: the IRS has long recognized that organizing supervised athletics for kids — promoting sportsmanship, training coaches and officials, giving young people a recreational outlet and thereby combating juvenile delinquency — is charitable, and that teaching a sport to children is educational. Describe what you truly do in those terms.
Where we come in
We are not your lawyer and we are not your accountant — and anyone who tells a league otherwise is selling something. What we will do: sit down with you and map which form you qualify for, what your state actually requires, and in what order to do it; help you get the Stripe side stood up and wired to your campaign; and tell you honestly if you are not ready yet. Sorting this out once is a season of work that pays for every season after it.
Ask us where to start →Straight talk: this page is a map, not legal or tax advice, and we are neither lawyers nor accountants. The federal figures above — the $275 and $600 user fees, the $50,000 / $250,000 thresholds, the 22-day and 191-day determination times and the 27-month rule — were confirmed against IRS.gov in August 2026, and the IRS states plainly that its user fees are subject to change. State requirements vary substantially and the South Carolina detail is an example, not a national rule. Confirm the current numbers with the IRS, your state, and a professional before you file. Sources: user fees, processing times, EIN, exempt purposes, SC Secretary of State.
What we need from you
Five things. If you can gather these, we can build your campaign.
- 1
Your 501(c)(3) organization
Your organization's legal name and EIN (the federal tax ID on your IRS determination letter). This is what appears on donor receipts.
- 2
A bank account in the organization's name
Stripe deposits donations directly to it on Stripe's standard payout schedule. It must belong to the organization — not a coach or parent personally.
- 3
A Stripe account your organization owns
Free to create. If you don't have one, we'll walk through the setup with you — see below for exactly how that works and what Stripe asks for.
- 4
Your roster
Player first and last names. Optionally a per-player goal and a parent email for each player (parent emails power the one-tap family welcome — they're never required). CSV or typed in by hand, either works.
- 5
Team basics + one admin email
Team name, colors, fundraising goal, end date, and the email address of the coach or admin who'll run the dashboard. That's the only login the whole system needs — families and donors never create accounts.
“We’ve never used Stripe” — that’s fine
Stripe is the payment processor behind millions of businesses and nonprofits. Creating an account is free, and we’ll do the setup call with you. Here’s the honest version of what that looks like:
- 🏢 Stripe will ask for your organization’s legal name, EIN, address, bank account details, and identity information for the person opening the account. That’s Stripe’s standard onboarding — we don’t control it and can’t skip parts of it.
- 🔑 You own the account. Your organization holds the login. Your bank details go into Stripe directly — FYT never sees or asks for your banking credentials.
- 🔌 We connect your campaign to it. Once your account is live, we wire your fundraiser to your Stripe account so donations land there and nowhere else.
- 🧾 Card fees come out of your Stripe account like any processor. That’s what the 3.5% + 30¢ donor add-on at checkout is designed to cover, so the team receives the full amount the donor meant to give. The fixed 30¢ matters: Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢, and a percentage alone would leave small gifts short.
Stripe discounts nonprofits — and youth leagues routinely miss it
Stripe offers reduced processing fees to eligible nonprofits. You have to ask for it: contact Stripe support with your account ID, your EIN, tax documentation of your status such as your IRS determination letter, and a statement about your donation volume. Stripe does not publish the discounted rate, so we won’t quote you one — ask them for your number.
Here is the catch that gets leagues. Eligibility requires that at least 80% of your Stripe payment volume comes from tax-deductible donations — and Stripe explicitly excludes membership fees, tuition, ticket sales, auction payments, and registration fees. If your league runs player registration through the same Stripe account as its donations, that registration money counts against you and can push you under the line. If you want the donation discount, keep registration on a separate account from the fundraiser.
Confirmed against Stripe’s nonprofit fee-discount policy, August 2026. Stripe sets and changes these terms, not FYT.
How the money moves
A donor taps a player's link and pays by card. The 3.5% + 30¢ processing add-on is shown up front — a $100 gift is $103.80 charged, stated plainly before they pay.
The full charge goes into your organization's Stripe account and pays out to your bank on Stripe's standard schedule. FYT is never in the flow of funds.
15% of what you raise, invoiced once at the end of your campaign. No setup fee, no monthly subscription. Nothing is ever auto-deducted from donations.
You can turn on a checkbox at checkout that lets a donor add a set amount to feed a player on game day. It rides in the same card charge — no second transaction — counts toward your goal, and your dashboard shows meal-fund dollars separately from regular donations.
Full pricing detail lives on the homepage. Want the exact contract? Email us.
Then we build, you launch
- 🃏 We build your campaign: a personal link, QR flyer, and player card for every athlete, your team page, sponsor wall, and the printable handouts (Family Playbook, Sponsor Sheet, per-player flyers).
- ✅ New campaigns go live once approved by FYT — that’s our check that the organization and Stripe account are actually yours before a single donor pays.
- ✉️ Launch is one paste: the dashboard writes your kickoff email with every player’s personal link included. You send it from your own email or group chat — FYT never emails your families.
- 🧾 Every donor gets a durable receipt page showing your organization’s legal name and EIN, with tax-deductible language when your status qualifies — plus an employer-matching helper with everything HR needs.
- 🔒 Team pages are reachable only by link and are not indexed by Google or Bing. No parent or donor accounts exist, anywhere.
Have the checklist? Let’s go.
Tell us your organization, your team, and your roster size — or ask us the question you’re stuck on. A real person answers.