KidsCanBall is a nationwide peer-to-peer fundraising challenge — a Handball-a-thon (aka four square) — created by KidsCan to help Kiwi kids living in hardship get essentials like food, warm clothing, and shoes.
We built the KidsCanBall challenge website on Funraisin, giving the campaign a flexible, modern platform to support schools, workplaces, and communities to fundraise, play, and share.
The brief
KidsCan needed a platform that could:
- Support multiple user types (schools, workplaces, community groups) engaging in the same event, each with their own teams and fundraising goals
- Enable parents and guardians to sign up for multiple accounts for young people, with one simplified registration and login process tied to their one email address
- Display live leaderboards to show progress for individuals and teams
- Let participants and supporters donate, sign up, and share their efforts easily
- Offer easy-to-manage fundraising resources, prizes, and promotional materials
- Be easy for the campaign admins to update and manage participants and page content
What we delivered
Mobile-responsive design
The site was designed to perform flawlessly across all devices, from desktop screens to tablets and mobiles. With many participants and donors accessing the site from their phones, it was crucial to create an interface that was simple to navigate, fast to load, and made sign-ups and donations a frictionless process.
“Move up the court” gamification feature
We created a dynamic, animated fundraising progress feature where participants move up a virtual handball court, progressing from being a Joker ($1+ raised), through to Jack, Queen, and lastly King ($5,000+ raised). This ties in directly with the handball aspect of the fundraising challenge, and encourages participants to visit their fundraising dashboard often to see how they’re going on the virtual court.
Move up the court: This interactive progress tracker brings a virtual handball court to life as the fundraiser reaches preset goals/ima
Team & individual leaderboards
Leaderboards were implemented to display live updates for both teams and individuals. Schools, workplaces, and community groups can see their progress in real time, alongside individual fundraisers. This feature encourages healthy competition and motivates participants to raise more, which ultimately drives higher fundraising totals for Kiwi kids.
Flexible fundraising signup
We built a streamlined registration system that allows people to sign up as a school, workplace, or community group. Each pathway tailors the experience to the type of fundraiser, making it easier for different audiences to get involved and start raising money straight away.
Managed accounts for parents and guardians
A key requirement was enabling younger fundraisers to take part, even if they don’t have their own email address. We introduced a managed accounts system, where adults can create one master account using their email, then add multiple sub-accounts for children or young people. This simplifies account management for parents and guardians, while ensuring every participant has their own individual fundraising page that they can share with friends and family.
Custom avatar picker
We designed and built a bespoke avatar picker to give younger fundraisers a fun and inclusive way to represent themselves online. Instead of uploading a photo, kids can choose from a library of 160 different avatars, including playful add-ons like illustrated octopus hats and alien ears. The set features a diverse range of characters and skin tones, making sure everyone can find an option that feels like them. This not only keeps the experience light-hearted but also adds a layer of privacy and safety for younger participants.
Campaign Monitor integration
We integrated KidsCanBall’s Funraisin website with Campaign Monitor to handle all supporter communications. A major challenge was building out the managed and sub-account functionality so that the right emails reach the right person — whether that’s a parent or a child participant — at exactly the right time. This was a technically demanding piece of work, but we nailed it. By implementing custom fields and smart logic, we enabled hyper-personalised journeys, where content can be segmented and even hidden or shown automatically based on each recipient’s profile.
Showing the impact of donations
We designed the donation experience to go beyond simple payment processing by highlighting the real-world impact of each contribution. Supporters are guided through clear tiers that show exactly what their gift provides — whether it’s food, warm clothing, or a pair of shoes for a child in need. By making this link visible at the point of donation, fundraisers can demonstrate how every dollar makes a tangible difference. This approach not only builds trust but also strengthens the emotional connection between donors and the cause, encouraging generosity and repeat giving.
Fundraising tools & resources hub
To support fundraisers, we created a resources hub where schools, workplaces, and community groups can access everything they need — from downloadable posters to FAQs and how-to guides. This hub makes it easy for organisers to engage participants and run fundraising activities confidently. Pre-made images for posting on social media gives participants a quick way to share—and encourage donations to—their fundraising page.
Prize incentives
To boost motivation, the site includes prize structures for top-fundraising teams and individuals. In addition to tangible rewards, high performers gain visibility on leaderboards, which provides recognition and builds momentum throughout the campaign.
KidsCanBall 2025 is in progress at the time of writing, with an overall fundraising goal of $1 million NZD.
Project highlights
- Interactive peer-to-peer fundraising challenge
- Fully built on Funraisin for multi-group fundraising
- Responsive design across all devices
- Move up the court — animated, gamified fundraising progress
- Leaderboards for both teams and individuals
- Managed sub-accounts for children and guardians
- Custom avatar picker with 160 fun and inclusive options
- Campaign Monitor integration for automated, segmented supporter journeys
- Impact-driven donation flows that show supporters exactly what their gift provides
- Resource hub to support fundraisers
- Prize incentives for top performers
- Visit KidsCanBall
Expertise we provide for KidsCan
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