What Pledgestar does

PledgeStar, Inc. is a privately held, bootstrapped software company founded in January 2013 by entrepreneurs Robb Glen, Steve Kramer, and Erik Lackey. Headquartered in Lake Forest, California, the company operates with a 1–10 employee team and serves as a cloud-based SaaS fundraising platform purpose-built for schools, youth sports organizations, high school booster clubs, and non-profits. The platform digitizes pledge-based fundraisers such as jog-a-thons, read-a-thons, walk-a-thons, and fun runs, replacing paper pledge forms and door-to-door selling with personalized participant pages, social/email/text sharing, real-time progress dashboards, automated reminders and thank-you notes, and built-in corporate donation matching. Supporting features include 50+ language translation, offline donation entry for checks and cash, and contact-list persistence across annual campaigns. The company has accumulated 20,000+ elementary school customers in the United States and, since a 2022 launch, Australia, with cumulative customer-raised funds exceeding $150 million.

The business model is a capped platform subscription with an optional donor fee coverage mechanism. Schools pay platform fees not exceeding $1,195 per fundraiser, while donors may voluntarily absorb platform and credit card processing fees, enabling schools to retain 100% of donations raised when enough donors opt in. Go-to-market combines a product-led growth motion (self-service website signup, demo access) with an assisted-sales layer: a 'Pledge Drive Specialist' contacts inbound form submissions within 48 hours for larger or more complex accounts. Marketing is content-driven via an extensive blog, free downloadable e-book, customer testimonial videos, and active social media presence across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. Distribution is direct through pledgestar.com with no app installation required; donor giving is processed via PayPal or credit card, and PledgeStar does not handle donor financial data directly.

The company is founder-controlled with no evidence of institutional capital, M&A activity, partnerships, or leadership changes since founding. Operating geographies remain limited to the United States and Australia. The platform is described as enabling schools to raise 2–3x more than traditional fundraisers, with an average of $175 raised per student and over 50% of pledge requests converting to donations.

Name

Pledgestar

Legal name

PledgeStar, Inc.

Website

https://pledgestar.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

PledgeStar is a bootstrapped SaaS platform that helps elementary schools, youth sports teams, booster clubs, and non-profits run pledge-based online fundraisers. It serves 20,000+ US/Australian schools with personalized donation pages, automated communications, and donor fee coverage.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

School and Non-Profit Fundraising Software

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Sports Fundraising & Development Services (Foundations, NIL Collectives Support) (MPAKAKAK)

Keywords

• School fundraising software
• Pledge drive platform
• Peer-to-peer fundraising
• Online donation management
• Youth sports fundraising

Headquarters

HQ city

Lake Forest

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Platform Fees: Schools pay platform fees to use PledgeStar. The company states no school paid more than $1,195 for the service.
2. Transaction/Processing Fees (Optional Coverage): Credit card processing fees can be covered by donors voluntarily through the fee coverage option. Schools can run fundraisers at zero net cost when donors opt to cover fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PledgeStar is a cloud-based SaaS fundraising platform that enables elementary schools, youth sports teams, high school booster clubs, and non-profits to run pledge-based fundraisers such as jog-a-thons, read-a-thons, and walk-a-thons. The platform provides personalized participant donation pages, social sharing tools, automated reminders, real-time tracking dashboards, corporate donation matching, and a donor fee coverage option that can reduce or eliminate platform costs for the organization.

Product overview

PledgeStar is an all-in-one online fundraising platform designed for schools, youth sports teams, booster clubs, and non-profit organizations. The core platform supports various pledge-based fundraising event types including walk-a-thons, jog-a-thons, read-a-thons, and other activity-based fundraisers. The platform provides specialized solutions for different organization types: School Fundraising for elementary schools, Youth Sports Fundraising for teams, Booster Clubs Fundraising for high school organizations, and Charities/Non-Profits/Churches Fundraising. Key platform features include social sharing tools, corporate donation matching, fee coverage options, multi-language support, real-time tracking, automated reminders, and thank-you note automation. The platform has facilitated over $150 million in fundraising across thousands of schools in the United States and Australia since its launch in 2013.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• School Fundraising Platform A specialized pledge-based fundraising solution for elementary schools, supporting jog-a-thons, read-a-thons, and walk-a-thons. Enables schools to raise 2-3x more than traditional fundraisers through digital donor networks and family outreach.
• Youth Sports Fundraising Platform A fundraising solution for youth sports teams (Pop Warner, Little League, soccer, and others) that enables custom campaigns without product selling, allowing families to collect donations online for equipment, travel, and team needs.
• High School Booster Clubs Fundraising Platform A fundraising solution for high school booster clubs supporting sports teams, band, drama, cheer, and academic clubs, with tools to engage families, fans, and the local community and to fund uniforms, travel, and program costs.
• Charities, Non-Profits, and Churches Fundraising Platform A fundraising solution for charities, churches, and camps that supports camp scholarships, equipment drives, and seasonal fundraising initiatives, with community and congregation engagement tools.

Quantifiable outcome

• Schools raise 2-3x more than with traditional fundraisers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 99Pledges: 99Pledges is a direct competitor focused on pledge-based a-thon fundraising for schools, sports teams, and nonprofits. Closest functional peer to PledgeStar with overlapping jog-a-thon, read-a-thon, and walk-a-thon use cases.
• CauseVox: CauseVox focuses on peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaigns for nonprofits. Overlaps with PledgeStar's family/friend-driven pledge drive model.
• RallyUp: RallyUp is an online fundraising platform for schools, sports teams, and nonprofits running raffles, sweepstakes, a-thons, and donation drives. Closely aligned with PledgeStar on school and youth sports fundraising formats.
• Givebutter: Givebutter is a leading free online fundraising platform for nonprofits and schools offering donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns, and events. Competes with PledgeStar on school and youth nonprofit fundraising, especially via zero-fee positioning.
• Donorbox: Donorbox is a donation and event fundraising software widely used by schools and nonprofits. Provides recurring donations, peer-to-peer, and event ticketing that overlap with PledgeStar's a-thon and pledge drive offerings.
• Funraise: Funraise is a nonprofit fundraising platform offering donation forms, events, peer-to-peer, and CRM features. Targets schools and nonprofits with similar donor engagement and campaign tools to PledgeStar.
• Qgiv: Qgiv provides online donation, event, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits and schools. Offers comparable donation pages, thermometers, and event ticketing features to PledgeStar.

Broad incumbents

• Bonterra (Network for Good): Bonterra (formerly Network for Good) is an established nonprofit software suite offering donation forms, CRM, email marketing, and event fundraising. Competes with PledgeStar in the school and nonprofit donation-software category as a broader incumbent.
• GoFundMe Charity: GoFundMe Charity provides free and low-cost fundraising pages and donation tools for nonprofits and schools, including peer-to-peer campaigns. A broader, consumer-brand incumbent that overlaps PledgeStar's donor-network-driven model.

Emerging players

• Zeffy: Zeffy is a free fundraising platform for nonprofits and schools with zero platform fees, leaning on optional donor tips. Directly competes with PledgeStar's fee-coverage, zero-cost school positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@PledgeStar
• Facebookfacebook.com/pledgestar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pledgestar
• Instagraminstagram.com/pledgestar
• TikToktiktok.com/@pledgestarfundraising
• Xx.com/pledge_star

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pledgestar