Memberships, council grants, the Saturday refreshment stand, the end-of-year raffle… The funding sources for an amateur sports club are well known — and often insufficient. Between competition entry fees, equipment renewal, travel costs and facility maintenance, every euro counts. What if your custom clothing online shop became a regular source of income for your club, with no investment or management on your part?
That's exactly what the piggy bank system offered by DAGOBA makes possible. In this article, we explain concretely how it works, step by step.
The starting point: a free shop, fully operated for you
Before talking about revenue, let's recall the framework. With DAGOBA, your club gets a free online shop offering personalised clothing and accessories in your colours. No setup fees, no subscription, no hidden commission. DAGOBA earns its revenue as an official distributor of the brands it offers — just like any traditional retailer.
Above all, you have nothing to manage. DAGOBA takes care of everything: hosting the shop, processing orders, online payment, manufacturing the markings (logos and flocking), individual home delivery and after-sales service. Your only job is to choose the items, place your logos and share the shop link with your members. Everything else is fully automated.
This process is described in detail in our article How to Create a Free Custom Clothing Online Shop for Your Sports Club.
Add a margin on each product
This is where the financial lever comes into play. When configuring your shop, you can choose to activate a margin system. The principle is simple: you set individually, product by product, a margin that is added to the catalogue price. This supplement goes entirely to your club.
You are completely free to make your own choices. You can add a margin on some items and not on others — for example, adding nothing on training jerseys and applying a margin on optional lifestyle items such as sweatshirts, caps or bags. The buyer sees a single final price on the shop, just like in any online store.
Sales automatically feed the piggy bank
Every time an item with a margin is ordered and paid for on your shop, the corresponding margin is automatically credited to your club's piggy bank. You don't have to do anything: no invoice to issue, no transfer to chase, no bookkeeping to maintain. The piggy bank balance updates automatically and you can track it in real time from your dashboard.
The piggy bank fills up with each sale and you can let it grow as long as you like before deciding how to use it.
It's a particularly virtuous funding mechanism for an amateur club:
It's passive. Money comes in without the volunteers having to organise anything. No cake sales, no raffle, no cheque collection.
It's regular. As long as the shop is open and members are ordering, the piggy bank fills up — throughout the season, not just during a one-off event.
It's proportional to the size of the club. The more members, supporters and sympathisers your club has, the greater the volume of sales — and therefore margins.
How to use the money in the piggy bank
This is where the DAGOBA system stands out for its flexibility. The piggy bank is not locked into a closed circuit. You have several concrete ways to use the accumulated funds, depending on your club's needs.
1. Withdraw the money by bank transfer
The most direct method: you request a transfer of all or part of the piggy bank to your club's bank account. The money arrives in your account and you use it however you see fit — pay a tournament entry fee, fund a trip, buy equipment, contribute to the running budget.
This is the ideal option when the club has a cash need that is unrelated to textiles.
2. Generate discount coupons for the shop
You can convert all or part of the piggy bank into discount coupons usable on your own shop. These coupons allow their recipients to enjoy a discount on their purchases.
A few concrete use cases:
Reward volunteers. A €10 coupon given to volunteers who staffed the refreshment stand all season or organised the annual tournament. A tangible gesture of recognition that costs the club nothing since it's funded by the piggy bank.
Encourage first purchases. Distribute a welcome coupon to new members to encourage them to place their first order on the shop.
Run promotional campaigns. Offer a discount coupon at the start of the sports season, during the club's annual celebration or on a special occasion to boost sales — and thereby feed the piggy bank once again.
3. Generate gift cards
On the same principle as coupons, you can create gift cards for a set amount, usable on the shop. The difference with a coupon is that a gift card is a credit that the recipient uses as a payment method, regardless of the price of the items.
Gift cards are particularly useful for:
Individual rewards: give a €20 gift card to the best player of the season, the most dedicated youngster or a volunteer who is leaving the club.
End-of-year gifts: distribute a gift card to each registered member at the club celebration, so they can choose the item they like best.
Competition or raffle prizes: replace traditional prizes with gift cards from the shop. Winners leave with an item in the club's colours — which, on top of that, boosts your organisation's visibility.
4. Buy textiles directly with the piggy bank
Finally, you can use the piggy bank balance to place orders on the shop yourself on behalf of the club. The piggy bank funds then serve directly as a payment method.
This is probably the most common and most valuable use for a club:
Kit out the coaching staff. Order polos or jackets for coaches and officials, funded by the piggy bank — without touching the club's budget.
Outfit the volunteers. Give a t-shirt or a cap to the people running the scoring tables, the refreshment stands or the reception desk at events.
Prepare bulk orders for the club. Order a batch of sports bags for the entire youth academy, towels for the swimming team or beanies for the winter running section.
Create items for offline resale. Order a stock of t-shirts or caps to sell at a tournament, a club celebration or a local flea market — and reinject the proceeds into the club's funds.
How to get started?
The setup is simple and quick:
Request a demo shop by clicking this link. The system generates a sample shop with your logo in just a few minutes.
Adjust the items from your dashboard: choose the products, place your logos, select your colours.
Choose the shop type with margins and set the margin amount for each item.
Share the shop link with your members, their families and your supporters.
Track your piggy bank from the dashboard and use it whenever you wish.
For full details on how the piggy bank works — how it gets credited and the different ways to use it — check the dedicated section in our help centre.
There is no commitment, no fees and no risk. If tomorrow you decide to close the shop, you do so freely. In the meantime, every sale is an opportunity to fund your club — effortlessly, with no logistics and without putting up a single penny.
