If there's one thing kids love, it's making adults look silly. The dunk tank at the Livermore Bulls Football League's Jamboree Kickoff in Livermore, California, accomplished just that. "It was the icing on the cake," says Ms. Ebony Bains, fundraising coordinator and board member for the Livermore Bulls. "The kids got really excited and huddled around the dunk tank, trying to get a turn."

Ms. Bains first heard about PledgeStar through a fellow Bulls board member who works for the school district. "Before, all we did was T-shirt sales and swag, and we raised about $9,000," she says when speaking of the Bulls' previous season's fundraising efforts. "So, this year, we wanted to branch out and try to raise money in a different way."

As it turned out, this was the right call. This season, with the help of PledgeStar, the Bulls raised about $19,000—and additional donations are still rolling in. It goes without saying that Ms. Bains plans on using the PledgeStar platform again next year.

Prior to PledgeStar, the Bulls had just used word of mouth and social media to generate hype for their annual fundraisers. But PledgeStar's platform presented them with more effective and less labor-intensive methods to spread the word. "The platform's just so easy to use," says Ms. Bains. "Being able to input emails instead of reminding people ourselves was really great. PledgeStar's templates wrote the emails for us, which was much easier. Plus, parents could share the link through work, Facebook, and company matching."

As the administrator of the Bulls' website, Ms. Bains knew she could count on PledgeStar to track which players raised how much money, which saved a lot of time for the Bulls' board. "When we were passing out prizes, we just did a quick download of the reports, filtered it, and it was good to go," says Ms. Bains. "It's really straightforward–kinda hard to mess up!"

The sponsor page that PledgeStar helped the Bulls create was another standout feature of the platform for Ms. Bains. "We built it into our website," she explains. "It made it easy for people like the food truck companies or community members who are not affiliated with the teams to donate."

The Jamboree itself was a big success. "We had it right before the start of the season," says Ms. Bains. "At the end of the kickoff, we had a bunch of food trucks and made it a family day."

If there's anything kids love more than making adults look silly, it's prizes. "Anyone who participated in any way with the PledgeStar program—even if it was just a dollar or two—got a branded water bottle, a bracelet and a rally towel," says Ms. Bains. "For each division's top earners, we gave them a gift card."

The $19,000 the Bulls raised this season will be going to good use. "We used it to buy more things for the team and the end of the year party," says Ms. Bains. "For instance, we were able to get new helmets and certifications for next year. Overall, the fundraiser was a great experience and we were really happy with PledgeStar."