🏒 Raffle tickets. Chocolate bars. Coupon books. Car washes. Poinsettias. If you’ve spent enough time around youth hockey, chances are you’ve been asked to sell at least one of them. But does fundraising still have to work that way?
On this episode of Our Kids Play Hockey, Lee Elias, Mike Bonelli, and Christie Casciano Burns sit down with Ryan and Justin from Hero Picks to explore how technology could reshape fundraising for hockey teams, charities, and communities.
Hero Picks was created around a simple question: What if fundraising felt less like asking people for money—and more like inviting them to be part of something?
Ryan and Justin explain how their platform combines fundraising with prediction games, friendly competition, leaderboards, prizes, unique experiences, and social engagement. Instead of simply sending another donation link to the same friends and relatives, teams can potentially create an experience that gives supporters a reason to follow along, participate, and stay connected.
🏒 In this episode, you’ll hear about:
Why traditional youth sports fundraising can create donor fatigue
💡 How Hero Picks is trying to make fundraising more interactive
Why community and connection may be just as important as the money raised
How individual players and families can participate through personalized fundraising links
How leaderboards, prizes, and unique experiences can motivate participation
The difference between sports betting and Hero Picks’ prediction-based fundraising model
How supporters can potentially engage with a team even when they live across the country
Why transparency matters when teams are collecting and distributing money
How technology and AI can reduce administrative work while keeping a human element
Ways teams can raise money not only for themselves, but for charities and access-to-hockey initiatives
Why Ryan and Justin believe fundraising could become far more experiential in the years ahead
The conversation also goes beyond hockey. Ryan and Justin share how the same model is being explored with veterans, first responders, nonprofits, combat sports, and other charitable efforts—and why they believe experiences people can’t simply buy may become an increasingly powerful fundraising tool.
And yes, the group also asks the most important question of all:
Can we finally retire the poinsettia fundraiser? 🌺
🎧 Listen now for a conversation about innovation, community, youth sports costs, and what fundraising could look like when the experience becomes part of the reason people participate.
📖 Want a written version you can reference anytime? Check out our companion blog: Prepare, Believe, Reset: Is There a Better Way to Fund Youth Hockey?
If your hockey organization is looking for new fundraising ideas, this episode may give you a very different way to think about the possibilities.
#OurKidsPlayHockey #YouthHockey #HockeyFundraising #YouthSportsFundraising #HeroPicks #HockeyParents #YouthSports #HockeyCommunity #SportsTechnology #HockeyTeams #NonprofitFundraising #FundraisingIdeas
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