Brenden Paul is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunrise Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Sunrise Mountain High School badminton team began its season selling cookie dough in order to raise money for team equipment and travel costs.

They had overwhelming success, raising more than $4,000 for the team this season.

Head coach Missy Carter helped organize the online fundraiser for her team, which was completed by contacting friends and family via text message and email.

“People could click on the link sent out to them and buy cookie dough and pay online,” Carter said. “Or, if they have contacts or family out of state, they can donate without getting cookie dough, because it’s delivered in person.”

According to Carter, the ordering period was open for nine days and after all orders were completed and paid for, the cookie dough was delivered to Sunrise Mountain approximately two weeks later.

Victory Fundraising, an Arizona-based company that specializes in high school athletic fundraisers, helped the fundraiser via an app called Money Dolly, which organizes orders and payments.

Jacob Fossen, a representative for Victory Fundraising, worked with the team to organize the fundraiser and taught the girls lessons about entrepreneurship, work ethic, and having a good attitude.

“We put the girls into teams and had team captains, and let them draft their own teams,” Fossen said. “We really laid the foundation for the year by teaching them things like leadership, teamwork, competitiveness, and accountability. These are a lot of things coach teaches them on the court, and we utilize them with the fundraiser as well. In all, they raised about $200 per athlete, which totaled over $4,000.”

Fossen and his team were able to create a fundraising plan that got the team to look at the cookie dough sales from a big-picture perspective.

“The things that make you good at your sport are also the things that make you good at fundraising,” Fossen said. “It’s all about having a goal and a plan. It doesn’t matter if they’re on the badminton court, or in the classroom, or doing a fundraiser, if they have a goal, and they execute it with energy and enthusiasm, they’ll be good at anything they do.”

Carter says the fundraiser not only pays for new equipment but also builds success for the players and the future teams to come.

“It is very crucial. All the shirts you see, the girls get two shirts every year,” Carter said. “We bought some new rackets and some extra birdies so that we could practice with good birdies instead of ragged ones. I think it’s really important. We’re trying to build our program and get stronger and you need good equipment to do that.”

The impact is not only noticeable for the coaches, but for the players as well.

“I’ve been here for years both with and without fundraising, and having it done has done so much good for us,” senior Mabel Dinnell said. “Just one year of fundraising bought the team sleeves for our net poles, team shirts, and new uniforms. The impact is lasting.”

Not only did the team raise enough funds for equipment and uniforms, but they also raised extra money for a year-end celebration at TopGolf for all 23 varsity and junior varsity players and coaches.

Fossen and the team were both pleased with the outcome of the fundraiser, as Sunrise was able to haul in record-breaking numbers.

“The girls were great, they really competed and had fun,” Fossen said. “They did a good job and they were able to do better than we have ever done.”