Raise Craze
Raise Craze is a cloud-based online fundraising platform serving U.S. schools, sports teams, clubs, and parent groups. Participants solicit donations via email, text, and social media and pay forward donor generosity through "Acts of Kindness" rather than product sales.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersGreer, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Raise Craze does
Raise Craze, LLC is a private, bootstrapped software company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Greer, South Carolina, that operates a cloud-based online fundraising platform for schools, sports teams, clubs, bands, scouts, and parent-led organizations across the United States. The platform enables participants (parents, students, athletes) to set up secure custom donation websites and solicit contributions via email, text messaging, and social media (Facebook, Instagram). Its defining product mechanic is the "Acts of Kindness" program, in which participants complete kindness activities to pay forward donors' generosity regardless of donation amount, positioning the service as an inclusive alternative to product-sales or fun-run fundraisers that typically retain only 40-60% of proceeds for the organizing institution.
The underlying technology is a self-serve, multi-tenant SaaS application with online donation processing via Stripe, real-time fundraising dashboards, automated email reminder sequences, social sharing tools, and a resource library of downloadable and physical promotional materials (posters, banners, yard signs, digital banners, QR code kits). Two primary program variants are offered: a robust Schools Program with kick-off assembly videos, incentive programs, turnkey prizes, and dedicated support, and a streamlined Teams & Clubs Plan designed to be run by as few as two volunteers. Add-on monetization includes an Incentive Shop operated through vendor SchoolLife.
Revenue is generated on a pure transaction-fee basis: $1 per online donation under $25 and $5 per donation of $25 or more, plus Stripe processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 (except South Carolina charitable organizations, which pay a flat $3 per donation with no 10% cap). Raise Craze guarantees schools keep at least 90% of funds raised, refunding any net fees above 10% of donations. Go-to-market is product-led growth via the my.raisecraze.com self-serve portal, supplemented by weekly Zoom-based training webinars, content marketing, and earned local and national media coverage (notably NPR All Things Considered). Customer concentration is diffuse across K-12 public, private, and parochial schools, with documented repeat-use customers raising $50k-$110k+ per campaign across multiple states.
Raise Craze firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Raise Craze
- Legal name
- Raise Craze, LLC
- Website
- https://raisecraze.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Raise Craze is a cloud-based online fundraising platform serving U.S. schools, sports teams, clubs, and parent groups. Participants solicit donations via email, text, and social media and pay forward donor generosity through "Acts of Kindness" rather than product sales.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Raise Craze industry classification
Industry- Product category
- School and Youth Fundraising Software
- SIC
- Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creator Fundraising & Crowdfunding Platforms (Recurring/Project-Based) (MPACAFAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Fundraising & Annual Giving (EDALAOAB), Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments (MPACAFAB)
Keywords
Where Raise Craze is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Greer
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Raise Craze business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Personnel
Revenue model
- Transaction Fees - Standard: Raise Craze charges a flat fee per online donation: $1 for donations under $25, $5 for donations $25 or more. An additional payment processing fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction is charged by Stripe. Donors can optionally cover fees through the 'Keep the Kindness Going' program.
- Transaction Fees - South Carolina: Due to state regulations, South Carolina charitable organizations pay a flat $3 per donation. No 10% fee cap applies for SC organizations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard Pricing - Donations Under $25 |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Standard Pricing - Donations $25 or More |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | South Carolina Charitable Organizations |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Raise Craze product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Raise Craze operates a self-serve online fundraising platform that lets schools, teams, and clubs launch donation campaigns via custom participant websites shared by email, text, or social media. During the campaign, participants pay donors' generosity forward by completing Acts of Kindness. Raise Craze monetizes through flat per-donation transaction fees plus pass-through Stripe processing fees, and provides turnkey promotional materials, training webinars, and real-time dashboards.
Product overview
Raise Craze is a unified online fundraising platform centered on kindness and pay-it-forward principles. The core product includes the main Fundraising Platform, with two primary program variants: the full-featured Schools Program (complete turnkey solution with all tools and resources) and the streamlined Teams & Clubs Plan. Add-on offerings include an Incentive Shop (physical prizes from partner vendor SchoolLife), Promotional Materials (both physical box kits and free downloadable resources), and Digital Banners. The central differentiator is the Acts of Kindness program where participants perform kindness acts to thank donors, distinguishing it from traditional sales-based fundraisers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Raise Craze Fundraising Platform Self-serve online fundraising platform that enables parents and organizers to set up secure, custom websites where participants request donations via email, text, or social media. Participants pay forward donors' generosity by completing Acts of Kindness during the fundraiser.
- Schools Program Full-featured fundraising program for schools (elementary, middle, K-8/12, public, private, parochial). Includes an Interactive Planning Suite, kick-off assembly videos, incentive programs, turnkey prizes, printed promotional materials, social media campaigns, announcement scripts, parent updates, corporate partnership support, real-time dashboard, and dedicated personalized support.
- Teams & Clubs Plan Streamlined fundraising solution for teams, clubs, bands, scouts, and other youth groups. Provides custom registration handouts, pay-it-forward recommendations, real-time results dashboard, and donation tracking with reminders. Designed to be easy enough for 2 volunteers to manage.
- Acts of Kindness Program Core program feature where participants complete Acts of Kindness to pay forward their donors' generosity regardless of donation amount. Includes a curated list of suggested kindness acts that participants can select or customize, with platform tracking of completed acts.
- Promotional Materials Box & QR Codes Printed promotional materials box kit with QR code stickers designed to boost registration. Physical materials help schools and groups promote their fundraisers in the real world.
Quantifiable outcome
- Schools keep 90-97% of funds raised vs. industry average of 50-60%
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Raise Craze
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Raise Craze technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature4 records
Raise Craze partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- StripecoreStripe processes all donations made through the Raise Craze platform. Only Stripe has access to credit card numbers. Stripe is described as SSL Protected, PCI Compliant, Encrypted, and Proactive with Fraud Prevention.
- SchoolLifeminorSchoolLife is a partner vendor for physical prizes and incentives corresponding to Raise Craze's Incentive Plans. They offer Brag Tags and other customizable incentive products.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Raise Craze competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- 99Pledges: Pledge-based school fundraising platform similar in mechanics to Raise Craze — online donation pages, shareable participant links, and school/team reporting dashboards. Directly comparable in target customer, pricing model, and self-serve onboarding.
- Snap! Raise: Digital fundraising platform for K-12 athletics, clubs, and activities, combining online donations with in-person fulfillment. Overlaps Raise Craze's Teams & Clubs segment and competes for the same parent-volunteer-led campaigns.
- Boosterthon: Operates the largest K-12 fun-run and pledge-based fundraising programs in the US, directly competing with Raise Craze's Schools Program. Both target elementary and middle school leaders with turnkey, volunteer-light campaigns — and Boosterthon's higher take rate is exactly the pain point Raise Craze's 90%+ guarantee is designed to attack.
- Fun Run: A long-standing school fun-run fundraising operator that schools cite when describing why they switched to Raise Craze. Competes head-to-head in the same K-12 pledge-based fundraiser category with similar kick-off assembly and online donation mechanics.
- RallyUp: Online fundraising platform with auctions, events, and donation campaigns aimed at nonprofits, schools, and teams. Comparable self-serve model, donor share pages, and transaction-based fee structure, though broader in scope than Raise Craze's school/team focus.
- QGive: Online fundraising platform with donor pages, event registration, and peer-to-peer campaigns for nonprofits and schools. Competes for the same small-team/small-budget organizer customer and offers comparable transaction-fee pricing.
Broad incumbents
- DonorsChoose: Large-scale nonprofit platform where teachers post classroom project requests and donors fund them. Addresses the same underlying pain (underfunded K-12 needs) through online donations, but operates as a nonprofit with a different model than Raise Craze's per-transaction fees.
- Bonterra (Network for Good): Suite of fundraising and donor-management software serving nonprofits, schools, and community organizations. Adjacent category — supports online donation pages and campaigns similar in spirit to Raise Craze but adds CRM, email marketing, and recurring giving at an enterprise tier.
- GoFundMe: Dominant general-purpose crowdfunding platform. Schools, teams, and PTAs increasingly use GoFundMe for fundraising, making it a broad substitute — though without Raise Craze's Acts of Kindness turnkey content library, incentive programs, or school-specific dashboards.
Emerging players
- Piggybackr: Peer-to-peer crowdfunding platform purpose-built for youth and student-led fundraising campaigns. Closely comparable product experience — custom participant pages, social sharing, donor tracking — but smaller scale and youth-led rather than school-PTA led.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Raise Craze social profiles
Digital presenceRaise Craze financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Raise Craze leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Raise Craze funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Raise Craze M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Raise Craze
What does Raise Craze do?
Raise Craze operates a self-serve online fundraising platform that lets schools, teams, and clubs launch donation campaigns via custom participant websites shared by email, text, or social media. During the campaign, participants pay donors' generosity forward by completing Acts of Kindness. Raise Craze monetizes through flat per-donation transaction fees plus pass-through Stripe processing fees, and provides turnkey promotional materials, training webinars, and real-time dashboards.
Is Raise Craze a public or private company?
Raise Craze is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Raise Craze founded?
Raise Craze was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Raise Craze based?
Raise Craze is headquartered in Greer, United States, in the North America region.
How does Raise Craze make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Transaction Fees - Standard is the primary driver. The others are transaction Fees - South Carolina.
Who are Raise Craze's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are 99Pledges, Snap! Raise, Boosterthon, Fun Run, RallyUp and QGive. Broad incumbents are DonorsChoose, Bonterra (Network for Good) and GoFundMe. Piggybackr is listed as an emerging player.
Does Raise Craze have an API?
No public API is recorded for Raise Craze.
What industry is Raise Craze in?
Raise Craze's product category is School and Youth Fundraising Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAFAJ, Creator Fundraising & Crowdfunding Platforms (Recurring/Project-Based), with a secondary code of EDALAOAB, Fundraising & Annual Giving. Its SIC code is 7310.