I used Vertical Raise for the first time this past September through the Dance Team’s fundraiser. I was initially shocked at how easy the platform was: after I inputted emails and phone numbers of family and friends, messages were automatically sent asking for donations. However, during the next few weeks as I heard updates of how much the Dance Team had raised, there was always a caveat attached. Vertical Raise wasn’t all it was chalked up to be because of its dark secret: the 20 percent fee.

Vertical Raise is an online fundraising platform that ELHS sports teams and clubs can use to raise money for their organizations. A big benefit of Vertical Raise is that it streamlines the fundraising process. Donation requests can be sent to people across the globe who can then donate any sum of money with the touch of a button on the Vertical Raise website without having to buy a product they might not actually want. 

However, while Vertical Raise is an efficient mode of fundraising, the merits of the platform are outweighed by the negatives–sending messages to family and friends can be awkward, it isn’t a very creative form of fundraising and Vertical Raise taxes a significant amount of the money collected. 

For the fundraiser, students are asked to send 20 emails and 10 texts to friends and family. This can be incredibly awkward, especially with the nature of how Vertical Raise sends its messages. Instead of the emails/phone numbers being added into a mass email/text, the texts and emails are individual messages that ask for money.

Many students feel as if they are pressuring the receiver to donate, which can be uncomfortable, especially when they’re asking for money from family members that they don’t talk to often. Furthermore, students who are in multiple sports have to do multiple Vertical Raise fundraisers, which can further increase the awkwardness. 

Vertical Raise also takes away from the fun and creativity of fundraising. There are so many interesting fundraising methods like bake sales, penny wars or pay to play events that would draw in participants outside of people’s families. Fundraisers could also align with what the team/club is about. The Band and Orchestra does this through Night Out, where they raise money by going to people’s houses and playing music for them. In addition, entertaining fundraisers have the benefit of being a team bonding opportunity. 

But in my opinion, the biggest disadvantage to Vertical Raise is that they take 20 percent of the money that is raised. For example, according to the Vertical Raise website, the football team made $17,812 through Vertical Raise this year but they only had a profit of $14,249, due to the 20 percent fee. Although the football team raised three thousand more than Band and Orchestra, because Band and Orchestra didn’t use Vertical Raise, their profit ended up more than the football team’s. This 20 percent sacrifice is also not advertised at all on Vertical Raise’s website, nor explained to donors. This is especially disheartening for families that might not have the funds available to send a large donation, but still do to support their child.

We have to ask ourselves if Vertical Raise is really the best fundraising method when there are so many better opportunities for fundraising that are more creative, less awkward, and allow teams to keep all of their money earned. Even with all of Vertical Raise’s flaws, many clubs and teams still opt to use the platform out of desperation because it allows them to raise necessary funds. However, if the main priority is to raise a large sum of money, clubs and teams can do that through other websites like Schoolfundr or GoFundMe, which don’t have any platform fees. Let’s raise the bar and stop using Vertical Raise.