For several months, many of the 360,000 sports associations in the country have suffered economically from the cessation of competitions. According to a study by the Sport and Citizenship think tank and the La Centrale du sport start-up, the average losses per amateur club amount to 6,800 euros. And an average of eight events, such as tournaments that provide revenue, were canceled at each club between March and May. Hence the establishment of the online platform "Support your club", "an important tool to allow sports clubs who are in difficulty to be able to recover a little cash to prepare for the next season", explains Friday on Europe 1 Thierry Braillard, president of the Fondation du sport français, which is at the origin of the initiative.
Arrow donations to a club
The former Secretary of State for Sports explains how the platform works: "Any natural person or company wishing to make a donation that will be subject to a tax deduction of up to 66% can do so on 'Support your club "This donation, donors can mark it. That is to say that rather than going to a collective work, they can choose themselves the sports club to which they want to make this donation."
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For the moment, 3,600 sports associations have registered on the platform, but new ones join it every day. To be able to make a donation to your heart club, it must have taken steps to notify itself to "Support your club". In total, 350,000 euros have already been collected.
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"Of course it is necessary that the clubs take ownership of the operation," warns Thierry Braillard. "If it is successful, it is because the clubs will have appropriated it and will seek donors themselves."
"The hole in the racket is the clubs run by volunteers"
"The hole in the racket is indeed the clubs that are run by volunteers. And the support fund 'Support your club' is truly the tool that will allow us to respond to all these clubs run by volunteers and who have lost a lot of their revenue, "says Jean-Paul Omeyer, vice-president in charge of Sports for the Grand Est region, at the microphone of Europe 1.
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The "Support your club" platform also gives the possibility of funding a solidarity fund. At the end of the operation, it will be fully distributed to sports associations which have not received donations and / or will still be in difficulty.