Run a football squares fundraiser online, for free.

Football squares is the fundraiser your supporters already know how to play. GivingBlox gives your booster club, team, or nonprofit a 100-square board you can set up in minutes and share by text or email. Supporters donate to claim squares, the digits are drawn after sales close, and the board is ready for the game.

Football Squares board on a phone, with squares on sale before the digits are drawn

Watch the walkthrough

How a football squares fundraiser works

1. Build the board

Type in the two team names, pick a color for each, and set one flat price per square. Every square costs the same. 100 squares at $10 each is a $1,000 fundraiser.

2. Share the link

Publish the game and send the link out by text, email, or social. Supporters donate from their phone, can take more than one square, and never create an account.

3. Close sales and draw

Before kickoff you close sales, and each axis is assigned a random ordering of the digits 0 through 9. Until that moment the digits do not exist at all.

4. Enter the scores

Enter the score at the end of each period you are tracking. The board reveals results period by period, and supporters watch their own squares as it goes.

A square takes a period when its row digit matches the last digit of the row team's score and its column digit matches the column team's, at the end of that period. Default periods are Q1, Half, Q3, and Final.

What your donors see

Before kickoff. The digits are still question marks, because they have not been drawn yet. Donors pick a quantity and the board assigns the squares.

Football Squares board while squares are on sale, showing the quantity picker

During the game. The digits are set, and each donor sees their own squares with a live status — winning right now, still live, or won a period.

Football Squares board during the game, showing a donor's own squares and their live status

Sample boards. Team names, colors, and donor names shown are illustrative.

Watch a full walkthrough

Setup through final score, start to finish. Silent screen recording.

There is no bad square

This is the part that surprises people. Because the digits are assigned after sales close, there is nothing to look for while squares are still on sale. Every open square is exactly as good as every other one. Nobody can cherry-pick, and nobody can get stuck with a dud.

So the board starts with a much simpler question than a grid hunt: how many? Take 1 square — $10, and GivingBlox assigns the squares for the donor. Anyone who would rather choose their own can still tap open squares on the board directly — it does not change the outcome. The quickest way to give is also the simplest.

The board is sport-agnostic, too. Football is the default and the reason most groups run it, but the same 10 by 10 grid works for basketball, baseball, hockey, or any game with a score and periods.

Prize options: you pick one

Recognition only

No prize at all. Squares are for bragging rights and the fun of following the game together. This is the default, it is the least work, and it is how we suggest most groups start.

Non-cash prizes

Goods rather than money: a signed ball, team gear, a gift basket donated by a local business. You decide what each paying period gets and you hand it over yourself.

Cash prizes

A fixed dollar amount that you declare up front for each period you choose to pay. You pay it directly, separately, out of your own funds.

Prize amounts are fixed figures you declare when you set the board up. They are not a share of what the board raises. If you choose cash or non-cash prizes, GivingBlox asks you to confirm in the setup form that you understand you are the one awarding them.

Prizes and your responsibilities

About the prizes. GivingBlox does not hold, manage, or pay out prize money. Any cash prize is paid separately by the organizer from their own funds, and the organizer is solely responsible for compliance with all applicable charitable-gaming, raffle, tax and licensing laws, and for all resulting liability.

What GivingBlox does is process donations to your cause and run the board. It does not administer prizes of any kind. Rules on this differ from state to state and from one type of organization to another, and we are not in a position to tell you what applies to yours. If you would rather not take that on, run the board recognition-only — it works exactly the same way and there is no prize to administer.

Who runs football squares fundraisers

Booster clubs and youth sports

The single best fit. Your supporters are already watching the game, already in a group chat about it, and already used to being asked. A board is one link instead of a table in the lobby and a stack of order forms.

See the full guide for schools and booster clubs

Schools and PTAs

Homecoming, rivalry week, or the championship game in February. A board runs alongside whatever else you have going without any extra volunteers on the day.

Churches and community groups

Recognition-only boards give a youth group or a mission trip fund something to rally around on a game night, with no prizes to organize.

See the full guide for churches

Any nonprofit with fans in it

Company leagues, alumni groups, animal rescues with a staff rivalry. Free-text team names and a color picker mean you are not limited to real teams at all.

Browse more fundraising ideas

Football squares fundraiser FAQs

Nothing. There is no platform fee and no subscription. GivingBlox is supported by an optional tip donors can choose to add, and payment processing fees are collected by Stripe or PayPal. Full detail is on the FAQs page.

Yes, though most won't want to. By default a donor picks a quantity and the board assigns the squares, because before the draw there is nothing to be gained from choosing one square over another. Donors who would rather pick their own can tap open squares on the board directly. Once the digits are assigned, donors see their own squares highlighted either way.

Neither. The board runs in a phone browser. Donors can see which squares are theirs and follow a live status list for each one — winning right now, still live, or won a period — without signing up for anything. Squares can show a donor's name as "First L." or as Anonymous.

You run the board anyway. Unsold squares belong to the organizer, so if a period lands on one, the organizer takes it. There is no need to fill the grid before you can start.

No. There is no live score feed. The organizer enters the score for each period, and the board reveals that period's result when they do. Reveal is tied to your score entry rather than to a clock, so a delayed entry does not break anything.

You do not have to offer one. Recognition-only is the default. If you do choose to offer a cash or non-cash prize, you set it and you award it directly. GivingBlox does not hold, manage, or pay out prize money, and the organizer is solely responsible for compliance with all applicable charitable-gaming, raffle, tax and licensing laws.

Yes. The engine works for any scored game with periods, including basketball, baseball, and hockey. Team names are free text and each team gets its own color, so there is no league data or logo to look up.

You choose which of the four periods pay out and declare a fixed amount for each. You can add a sponsor slot and a header image. Two further options — reverse squares, and a re-draw of the digits between periods — are available and switched off by default. Leaving both off gives you the simplest board to explain.

Read more about the new Football Squares game · See all fundraising games

Get a board up before the next kickoff

Football season, homecoming, or the championship game in February — setup takes minutes, and it's free for teams, booster clubs, and nonprofits of any size.