Fundraisher | About

Our Company

We are on a mission to simplify support for female athletes by providing the professional infrastructure needed to bridge the gap between social media awareness and sustainable funding.

Yes, the equity gap in sports still exists and as female athletes at any level, a major key to our success is fundraising, partnerships, and being prepared for opportunities as they come.

To secure sponsors we've all been told the importance of sharing our athletic journey effectively and pitching professionally, but we've never been shown how or been provided the tools to do so.

So, instead of chasing the get-rich-quick trends of AI, we decided to let our passions for the game lead us, and we started cooking up something special. Our secret sauce is crafted from experience in sports brand strategy, team operations, corporate charitable giving, and a deep passion for the success of women and girls in sports.

From there, we started building something we could only dream of when we were competing. An all-in-one platform to help athletes pitch sponsors, represent themselves professionally, raise funds, and engage with supporters, without having to beg or juggle a dozen different links.

And true to the spirit of the athletes we serve, Fundraisher is a completely bootstrapped company. No venture capitalists or private equity here! We chose not to take outside investments because we believe in making decisions that put the needs of women and girls in sports first, not investors. We're growing this together, one Athlete Hub at a time! And by keeping our subscription price at just $20 for the year, we hope athletes at all levels are able to utilize our technology.

While this approach means we're more hands-on and a little less automated, every step we take is intentional, designed with both athletes and their supporters in mind. And our roadmap includes so many features we can't wait to share with you in future releases.

As we embark on this journey together, we want to take a moment to thank you for trusting us with your efforts. We're so excited to support your success!

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.

-The Fundraisher Team

A Personal Message From Our Founder

If you know me in real life, you’re aware of my deep passion for women’s tackle football and the growth of women’s sports in general, as well as the fact that I have been missing in action. If we haven't met, and even if we have, this level of personal transparency might be unexpected, especially when you might have anticipated professional accolades or a resume. I have a feeling you'll find this a bit more insightful and during these times, a bit more relatable...

So, a few seasons ago, I found myself struggling mentally and emotionally, or should I say I finally realized that I was struggling. I was having one misstep after another, but once I finally understood why, I knew I needed to take action.

As one who had spent the majority of my 40+ years of life ensuring that women felt beautiful heard, seen, protected, and cared for, I've neglected to apply that same care to myself. I've also never placed the expectation on others to reciprocate because as long as the people that I cared about were good, I was good, or so I thought. I realized that I created the illusion that I was always "good", and because of this my feelings, as a human being, were often not considered. This realization caused me to go through a major shift in every area of my life, and in an effort to restore or create balance, I went on a journey. Hiding in plain sight, I allowed all 5 stages of grief to run their course:

I was in Denial about many of the things I experience, the ways I was treated, and even many of the mistakes that I made that may have affected others negatively
I became Angry for both Lil' Amari and my adult self for being so passive
I began Bargaining with myself instead of accepting reality
I fell into a deep, and i mean deep years long Depression
And lastly, it was the Acceptance of all of the above that allowed me to stop masking, do the work to be at peace, and truly understand why this journey and shift was necessary

I made the difficult decision to take a break from everything and everyone, quietly, without a public announcement, informing only my clients about my mental health hiatus. And as one whose personal and professional environments pretty much existed as one, it was all or nothing: either I take a real break or not commit to the process and face the type of breakdown that many others never recover from. Kinda like my own personal rehab. And I'm talking about a no-social-media (ok, ok, you may find me active on Twitter and Reddit), all devices and apps on DND, 'see you when I see you' type of break. I needed to avoid influence, opinions, judgement, and consumption of whatever the algorithms decided to throw my way. Definitely not the best strategy for maintaining both personal and professional relationships, but it was necessary in cultivating a real relationship with myself.

For the first time ever, my usually friendly self tried to avoid making new friends or taking on new projects due to my inability to be truly engaged. On one hand, I had the burning desire to continue pouring into others, but on the other hand, it was clear that although I am a very pessimistic, 'cup is halfway full' type of gal, I had to come to terms with the fact that the cup was truly empty, and my impact was no longer matching my intent. And when I went against what I knew I was supposed to be doing, which was focusing on self, thats when the missteps would happen. It became harder and harder to "put on" the smile, when in reality a hard stop and a refill was needed. To those of you who have asked me where I've been, I hope this provides the context you're looking for.

With the support of my amazing partner, I entered a state of eremitism and took the time to prioritize my foundational well-being. You know, digging deep and getting to the root of things while quietly healing & maturing. And while I initially viewed stepping away as a failing, the absolute peace and purpose of today would have been impossible without it. Sometimes, you just have to go through it. And having gone through the 'this had to happen in order for this to happen' scenarios, I realize that to land exactly where I am now, I wouldn't alter a single moment, whether lesson or blessing.

No longer stuck in arrested development, I became very intentional about self-preservation. Being untethered to the "the world" gave me the space needed to change my life, my energy, and my outlook. Priorities have shifted in the most harmonic way, and a sense of balance has replaced my now understood overstimulation. Far too nuanced and personal to dive into my life story, especially here, but I can honestly say that I am thankful for the time away and the ability to bounce back still extending love and grace, with boundaries of course.

Nowadays, in the fashion of "keeping the main thing the main thing," I'm back to finding joy in creating and nerding out over the success of female athletes & their teams, as well as sports creatives.

I went from hoping someone would launch the next big thing in support of female athletes, to telling myself that, "It hasn't been built yet because the world is waiting on you to do it." And this time around, I believed those words. So, I launched FundraisHER.

A dream realized, FundraisHER transformed a decade-plus of consulting and creating fundraising, marketing, sponsorship, and fan engagement strategies from a mental guide of best practices and to-dos, into a viable product that I can now equip endless athletes and teams with, without draining myself. The goal is to address critical gaps in the impactful support of female athletes, and the accessibility and user experience of those doing so.

My superpower has always been supporting the success of others, and I am now able to do it at scale. They say if you build it they will come, and I've since been met with the opportunities to support student-athletes, nonprofits, teams, and provide a casting network of female athletes to production and influencer marketing agents, therefore creating additional opportunities for women and girls in sports.

I'm incredibly thankful for all of my experiences, from starting my career as a licensed cosmetologist to currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Sports Creative Community, and everything in-between. These experiences and encounters with amazing humans at every step along the way have helped shape the vision that was born when I started playing football in 2010.

I wanted so much for the women sacrificing it all to play the game that we love. I took it upon myself to build a website for my 2012 Dallas Diamonds women's tackle football team, bought a camera, learn a bit about photoshop, and turned my living room into a photo studio for what I now understand to be "media day". I printed personalized business cards for each of my teammates to promote themselves and the team, produced hundreds of pieces of content and posts for our social media, and this was pretty much the blueprint and unofficial case study for our Athlete Hubs and our Custom QR Code Cards. It's crazy to think about how much of my original vision has evolved, but also how much my mission has stayed the same.

My hope is that FundraisHER is a catalyst for keeping women and girls in the game, which we know can get very costly over time. Social media is great for exposure, but not the conversion of sponsorships, ticket sales, etc. The opportunities are out there, but our preparation, presentation, and professionalism are most important. We may not get paid big bucks to play, but there is so much value in our voices and so much space for us to create opportunities that were not there before.

On one hand FundraisHER is my business, but its also my way to continue giving back. We are donating Athlete Hubs to female athletes via nonprofits that share the same mission, so please reach out if you know of an organization that could use the support.

Now, you might wonder why I’m sharing all of this. It’s not just for the feel-good story that ends in triumph, because this ain’t that, lol!! I was going through it! But I believe it’s important to be reminded that growth isn’t always pretty and can be downright ugly. There are struggles and losses along the way, but you learn so much about yourself in the process. In business, everyone is expected to be so polished and never allow personal experiences to negatively affect their work, but that's not realistic.

We all go through things, and sometimes you just need to step away for a bit, regroup, and come back even stronger. The more I come out of my cocoon and connect with people, the more I learn about my peers on the same journey, even prioritizing self-care over high-paying yet stressful executive titles. And just the fact that my usually uber-private self even wanted to give an update about my hiatus, yeah, we're all growing around here.

Today, equipped with so much mental clarity, excitement, and gratitude, I am ready to serve, build, and grow with those in alignment. Do I have a bit of anxiety starting a new business? Well, of course! But it's honestly more social anxiety than anything as I emerge out of my lil' bubble. If there is anything that I am never anxious about is helping and creating opportunities for others, and FundraisHER is allowing me to do that on so many levels! Whether we have 47 paid users, or gain another 10,000, I just want FundraisHER to be a resource for those athletes who find value in it.

So in closing, thank you sooo much for reading, please be kind to others and yourself as people are fighting battles that we are not privy to, and last but not least - support women & girls in sports.

-Amari Hollis