Why We Exist
Driven by Purpose, Powered by Raffles
Our Story: Building a Stress-Free, Risk-Free Fundraising Solution.
G’day!
We’re Craig, Zlatko, and Dr. Sash, three rugby mates with a shared passion for making fundraising easier for everyone.
This journey began with Zlaty and Craig, who spent years serving on their rugby club’s committee, wearing many hats: treasurer, vice president, club captain, sponsorship lead, and most importantly, fundraisers.
After countless raffles and fundraising events for our club, people began seeking our advice. Zlaty, being a printer by trade, noticed one big problem: so many raffles were failing because clubs either overshot their prizes or didn’t sell enough tickets in time to cover costs. Every time we were asked for help, Zlaty would hand over his checklist of must-haves and say, “Sort these out, and I’ll print your raffle tickets for free to get you started.
Even with this roadmap, though, many clubs felt overwhelmed, and these incredible fundraising opportunities never really took off. Over the years, Craig and Zlaty became obsessed with one question:
How can we create a raffle that’s free, instant, and fail-safe?
That’s when we decided to take a leap. We left our long-time jobs to turn this idea into reality. But being the big, bustling forwards from our rugby club, we knew we needed a brainy winger to bring this vision to life. Enter Dr. Sash, who joined the team to help build a platform that’s not just easy to use but also packed with tools, resources, and expertise to make fundraising accessible to everyone.We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built: a platform where you can simply join Bolsta Raffles to fundraise.
Our passion lies in two areas: supporting Aussie athletes and empowering organisations.
For athletes: we make personal fundraising simple and accessible. Whether it’s for travel, gear, or tournament fees, we’ve got the tools to help you focus on your sport while we handle the fundraising details.
For organisations: we provide the resources clubs, schools, and charities need to thrive. From keeping players on the field to funding school projects or community-driven causes, our platform ensures fundraising is straightforward and effective.
This isn’t just our vision: It’s our passion, and we’re excited to share it with you!
Zlatko Manovski
Director
Craig Franklin
Director
Sash Neser
Director
iAccelerate is a unique business accelerator and incubator program run by the University of Wollongong (UOW). It’s a thriving community of likeminded entrepreneurs with vision, purpose and passion, growing their impact through exceptional education, mentoring and support among inspiring surrounds.
Who do we help?
Schools
Athletes & Sporting Clubs
Leisure Groups
Charities
How do we help?
We help Aussie athletes and volunteer-led organisations to raise the funds they need to succeed by providing a range of tools, resources, and support.
Our mission is to empower by:
- Offering a state-of-the-art raffle platform for risk-free, on-demand fundraising.
- Creating helpful tools designed to streamline fundraising activities and make them more effective.
- Sharing real stories, experiences, and testimonials from other organisations and athletes who have successfully fundraised.
- Providing reports and insights from leading bodies to keep you informed and on track.
- Creating forums where everyone can support and learn from one another.
- Sharing valuable digital content based on our years of volunteer experience since 1996.
- Offering sales guidance and coaching to thrive in a highly sales-driven industry.
Whether you’re a club, school, charity, or an athlete chasing your dreams, we are here to make your fundraising journey easier, more innovative, and profitable. We are committed to helping you raise the funds you need with less stress and more success.
Our Values
The main benefit of creating our social enterprise later in life (we are all founders in our forties), is we have both business and life experience. We strongly believe a healthy culture is based on a purposeful and practiced set of values. Our very first action was to create a meaningful set of values to guide every decision we make.
We recruit staff and key partners who share these principles and compliment our culture.
Show Kindness
Simple!……Kindness is expected! It starts with being kind to ourselves and the rest is duck soup.
Our Better Selves
Our own physical and emotional wellbeing is a priority. We are better able to benefit and enrich the lives of others, when we are our better selves.
Community
Strengthen and support one another. We are pleased to support volunteers who are making differences in their communities, and we are grateful for their support in return. We are all in this together!
Appreciate Our Differences
The key to ‘getting along’ is accepting we are, and will always be different from one another. In fact, we think these differences are to be embraced.
Own It!
Our lives are shaped by the choices we make. We can’t control everything, but we should be expected to take resposibilty for our own decisions.
Let’s Play!
The time we spend at work should be enjoyable, memorable, rewarding and motivating. Work hard at having fun!
Our business name: Bolsta Fundraising Pty Ltd
‘BOLSTA’is an adaptation of the word Bolster. Meaning: To strengthen or support
