Celebrate birthdays for students while raising money for causes that benefit them! A birthday board fundraiser is easy to create and can bring in lots of money for your school group. Here’s how FutureFund can help you run yours from start to finish.
The #1 Alternative to Cheddar Up for PTAs
FutureFund is designed by and for school groups to solve the unique fundraising challenges you face.
FutureFund vs. Cheddar Up
FutureFund is a free platform that helps school groups manage fundraising campaigns, including online payments, event ticketing, and product sales. While Cheddar Up offers similar functionality, it was not made specifically with school groups in mind.
Here’s how they compare when you look at their costs, benefits, and features.
FutureFund
Unlimited access to all features
Seamless ticket redemption via FutureFund Turnstile
Custom fundraising campaigns
Support from a dedicated account manager
Designed for school groups
Messaging system with custom templates and senders
One-click financial reporting
Compliant with all major financial regulations and data privacy laws for US PTAs and school groups
Easy dispute resolution via automated responses
Cheddar Up
Monthly fee for Team plan (free plan limited)
Credit card processing fees on top of monthly user fee
Pre-made campaign templates
Designed for general fundraising
Limited to 3 message types
Reporting requires manual data filtering
Respond to disputes manually or lose revenue
PCI compliant
Why School Groups Choose FutureFund
Our purpose-built features help school groups fundraise more efficiently while engaging parents and giving time back to volunteers.
Seamless Ticket Redemption
Sell tickets online—then use the free FutureFund Turnstile app to scan and redeem them instantly on the day of your event.
Reliable Dispute Resolution
Use automated responses to resolve disputed payments quickly and avoid losing money.
Built for PTA Compliance
Generate campaign summaries and financial reports in just a few clicks to keep your school group compliant with federal and state regulations.
Faster Fundraiser Setup
Run donation drives, grow your membership, host Pledge-A-Thons, and more with custom campaign templates and help from a dedicated account manager.
Better Community Engagement
Send messages to filtered audiences and create personas for targeted, personalized communication that inspires parents and volunteers to act.
No Paid Plans
School groups use FutureFund for free! Our costs are covered by small platform fees charged as a percentage of each donation.
FutureFund is FREE for Schools
Schools that sign up get full access to all of FutureFund’s features—it’s always free and it always will be.
Trusted By Schools Everywhere
FutureFund is used by over 1,000+ organizations, including:
Over
Raised For Our Schools Since 2014
S, Kasad
Bollinger Elementary & Iron Horse Middle School
“FutureFund is always responsive to questions and suggestions, and added new corporate matching features based on my feedback. We rarely had to wait more than 24 hours for support and always felt taken care of.”
Made by PTA members and former school faculty
J, Morgenthaler
Tassajara Elementary
“FutureFund has been an invaluable tool for our school groups because it streamlines everything perfectly to be able to have one place for parents/caregivers to purchase and/or make donations. I recommend that all schools and their districts use FutureFund.”
You’ll Love Our Purpose-Built
Fundraising Tools
Unlike other peer-to-peer fundraising platforms, FutureFund was created specifically for PTAs and school groups. Our features are designed to solve the problems parents and educators face every day.
Ready Made Fundraising Campaign Templates
Free Ticket Redemption App (FutureFund Turnstile)
Free Online Store Setup
Built-In Payment Processing
Automatic Tax-Deductible Donation Reciepts
One-Click Order Fulfillment
Secure Data Protection
Frequently Asked Questions
How is FutureFund free for school groups?
Instead of having paid plans, we charge a small fee to donors as a portion of each payment they make through the platform. This spreads out the cost of our platform to make things easy for community members while allowing school groups to fundraise for free.
What does FutureFund do that GoFan doesn’t?
GoFan focuses on ticket sales, but FutureFund is an all-in-one fundraising platform built for K-12 school groups. In addition to selling tickets and redeeming them with the FutureFund Turnstile app, you can also run donation drives, sell products in an online store, run A-Thon style pledge campaigns, organize PTA membership drives, and more.
What kind of messages can I send with FutureFund?
All kinds! While GoFan has no built-in messaging system, we provide tools that make it easy to communicate with parents and volunteers. Everything is customizable—including your audience filters and sender profiles.
How Is FutureFund Different from Other Fundraising Platforms?
We built FutureFund specifically to support K-12 PTAs and school groups. Our team are PTA members ourselves, and we understand the relationships between parents, teachers, and students—so we created tools that solve the unique challenges these groups face when it comes to effectively organizing and fundraising.
What are FutureFund’s ready-to-go fundraising campaigns?
While GoFan only supports ticketed events, FutureFund lets you create a variety of custom campaign types to provide specific support for school group fundraisers of all kinds. These include:
- Donation: Collect donations for a project or general fund. Parents specify the amount they donate with an optional installment plan.
- Ticket: Sell tickets to dances, sporting events, or performances and redeem them easily with the FutureFund Turnstile app.
- Purchase: Sell physical products such as yearbooks and spirit wear, or collect money for lab fees and similar expenses.
- Membership: Sell PTA and PTSA memberships—can be used for ASB memberships as well.
- Multi-Level Membership: For selling premium memberships in organizations offering different membership levels.
- Fundraiser: Set a goal and collect donations for a project or achievement. Fundraiser campaigns support the same campaign options as donation campaigns.
- Pledge-A-Thons: Allow students to collect money from friends and family for run-a-thons, read-a-thons, etc.
- External: Link to third party sites for yearbooks, cafeteria funds, or anything else not in FutureFund. This can keep everything parents need in the store without having to remember different sites.
- Sign Up Campaign: Let parents sign up for free programs without having to pay by credit card. A good alternative to products with zero dollar amounts since their purpose and use is clearer.
How Does FutureFund Keep Sensitive Data Secure?
- At FutureFund, we respect your privacy and never share your data with anyone. We offer the same level of privacy and security as your financial institution. Our platform is also built to comply with education-focused legislation across the country, including child protection laws.
FutureFund is FREE for Schools
Schools that sign up get full access to all of FutureFund’s features—it’s always free and it always will be.