How Pearland High School Football Raised $71,290 in One Hour

In 2026, the Pearland High School football program in Pearland, Texas, sat its players down for one hour of texting and calling. When the hour was over, the program had raised $71,290 from 1,391 donors.

It’s the largest single-program result on our results board, and coaches ask about it constantly. This case study breaks down what actually happened, what the numbers reveal, and which parts of it any high school football fundraiser can copy, whether your roster is 30 players or 130.

Pearland football fundraiser at a glance

Program	Pearland High School Football (Pearland, TX)
Event format	One-hour Hour-A-Thon: athletes text, then call, people they know
Participating athletes
Total raised	$71,290
Donors	1,391
Average donation	$51.25
Funds used for	[INSERT WHAT FUNDS PAID FOR]

The challenge: funding a Texas football program

Texas high school football runs on a scale most states don’t see. Bigger rosters, bigger schedules, and bigger expectations all come with a bigger bill: equipment and helmet reconditioning, travel, camps, meals, and facility upgrades that district budgets rarely cover in full.

For Pearland, the goal was [INSERT WHAT FUNDS PAID FOR]. The traditional options (discount cards, product sales, a golf tournament) each ask for weeks of volunteer time and typically raise a fraction of what a large program needs. The program wanted something that would move the needle without turning coaches and parents into full-time salespeople.

How the hour worked

Pearland ran the same one-hour format every Hour-A-Thon program uses. Nothing about it was custom or complicated, which is a big part of why the result is repeatable.

1. 1. Prep before the event. An Hour-A-Thon fundraising specialist worked directly with the coaching staff on scheduling and setup. Each athlete built a list of people who’d want to support them: parents’ friends, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors, former coaches.

1. 1. The whole team in one room, one hour. Every player worked their list at the same time. That shared window is what creates the energy (and the friendly competition) that a take-it-home fundraiser never does.

1. 1. Text first, then call. Each athlete sent a short personal text with a donation link, then followed up with a quick phone call. The text gets read; the call is what turns “I’ll do it later” into a donation on the spot.

1. 1. Funds delivered fast. Donations were processed through the platform and paid out to the program in days rather than at the end of a month-long campaign.

If you want the mechanics in more depth, our guide to text message fundraising for sports teams walks through each step, including a sample message athletes can adapt.

What the numbers actually tell you

The headline is $71,290, but the more useful number for other programs is 1,391.

Pearland’s average donation of $51.25 is solid but not unusual. Several programs on our results board have higher averages. What set Pearland apart was breadth: nearly fourteen hundred separate people chose to give. The money didn’t come from a handful of big checks. It came from a very large number of ordinary, personal asks, each one from a player to someone who knows him.

That matters for your planning, because it means the ceiling on a one-hour fundraiser is set mainly by two things you control: how many athletes participate, and how complete their contact lists are. Donor count scales with roster size and preparation. Average gift size mostly doesn’t.

How Pearland compares to other programs

To keep this honest: $71,290 is the top single-program result on our board, not a typical one. Here’s how it sits next to other high school programs that ran the same format:

Program	Raised	Donors	Avg. donation
Pearland HS (TX)	$71,290	1,391	$51.25
Boswell HS (TX)	$25,271	461	$54.82
Iona Prep (NY)	$21,142	291	$72.65
Westview (OR)	$19,512	331	$58.95
Emporia HS (KS)	$19,104	449	$42.95
Lakeridge HS (OR)	$18,846	296	$62.98

Notice the pattern. Average donations cluster in roughly the $43–$73 range across very different communities. The totals diverge because of donor count. Pearland simply reached three to four times as many supporters as most programs, which tracks with a large Texas football roster doing its prep thoroughly.

So a realistic expectation for most single high school programs is the $15,000–$25,000 range, with larger rosters and well-built contact lists pushing well past that. Our fundraising estimator will give you a number specific to your program and community.

Four lessons any football program can take from Pearland

1. Get the whole roster in the room

Every athlete who participates adds their own network of supporters. A player who skips the event takes that entire network with him. Treat the hour like a mandatory team event, not an optional one.

2. Build contact lists before the event, not during it

Since donor count drives the total, the prep work is where the money is made. Players who arrive with 25 names ready will outperform players scrolling their phones trying to think of someone.

3. Don’t chase big gifts

Pearland’s result was built on a $51 average. A $25 or $50 gift from a family friend is exactly what this model is designed to collect, many times over. Keeping the ask small and personal is what lets donor count climb.

4. Make the follow-up call

The text gets attention; the call gets the donation. Programs that skip the call step leave a large share of their potential on the table.

Looking for more options to pair with a one-hour event over the season? See our full list of football fundraising ideas and our guide to booster club fundraising ideas.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Pearland High School football raise?

Pearland High School football raised $71,290 from 1,391 donors in a single one-hour Hour-A-Thon event, with an average donation of $51.25.

How much can a high school football team raise with a fundraiser?

It depends mostly on roster size and preparation. Many single high school programs on our results board raise between $15,000 and $25,000 in one hour, and large, well-prepared programs like Pearland have raised over $70,000. A useful planning figure is $200–$300 per participating athlete.

Can a smaller football program get results like Pearland’s?

A smaller roster will usually raise a smaller total, since total raised tracks the number of donors reached. But the per-athlete math holds up well across program sizes, so a smaller team running the same process can expect proportional results.

Do football players have to sell anything?

No. There’s no product, no inventory, and no door-to-door selling. Athletes send personal texts and make short follow-up calls to people they already know, asking for direct support for the program.

How long does it take to get the money?

The event itself lasts one hour, and funds are typically delivered to the program within days, not at the end of a multi-week campaign.

Who runs the event, the coach or Hour-A-Thon?

Both, together. A dedicated Hour-A-Thon fundraising specialist handles setup and runs the program alongside the coach, so the coaching staff isn’t left managing the platform or the donation process on their own.

Run your own one-hour fundraiser

Pearland didn’t have a secret. They had a full roster, prepared contact lists, and one focused hour. Your program can run the same playbook.

Start your team’s Hour-A-Thon →

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See more real results from teams, learn why the one-hour model works, or compare your options in our guide to the best Snap! Raise alternatives.