Northampton Saints Foundation launches several fundraising schemes to get around coronavirus challenges

Northampton Saints Foundation has launched several fundraising schemes to get around the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The club's charitable arm relies on collections from fans during matchday but the lack of the usual 15,000 supporters at Franklin's Gardens has left a hole in its income.

Among the new initiatives is the chance for businesses to become a long-term partner as well as student sponsorships, the return of the friends scheme, a text raffle and auctions.

Sue Wright, from the charity, said: All money raised through these new initiatives will help to ensure that we can continue to develop and grow, to support more and more young people within our community."

The Founder 15 scheme gives companies a three-year partnership with the foundation as long as they pledge to donate £5,000 a year.

The money will make a huge difference to the lives of young people in the area as the charity works to reduce the number of NEETs (not in education, employment or training) and instances of anti-social behaviour, crime and gang membership.

In return, the charity can offer invitations to its inaugural dinner with player ambassadors and free training opportunities with its volunteer leadership and development consultants.

Another new initiative is Support a Student: a £1,000 donation will give a young person 12 months of learning and help them on their way to employment.

While the Friend of the Foundation scheme is being relaunched, giving individuals the chance to support the charity for £10 a month.

In return, friends will be kept up to date with the charity's work and the difference it makes in a quarterly newsletter.

The schemes come on the back of a summer of raffles and auctions for the charity.

A text raffle for a signed Saints shirt raised £1,500 in July before multiple auctions on other memorabilia has raised thousands of pounds for the foundation.

William Makower, a trustee at Donate which organised the raffle, said: "The amount raised by the Northampton Saints Foundation via our text raffle is testament to the changes in the way we all donate, particularly post-lockdown.

"We've seen a huge rise in the number of charities go digital with their fundraising with innovative campaigns which is great to see, especially with engaging text raffles like this one, in which £1,500 was raised."