Funds2Orgs shoe drive fundraiser opens back-to-school season
Funds2Orgs has opened its 2026-27 back-to-school season, reintroducing mascot Sneakster for its shoe-collection fundraising model.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
Funds2Orgs has opened its 2026-27 back-to-school season and reintroduced Sneakster, its official shoe-shaped mascot, for the Funds2Orgs shoe drive fundraiser. The launch puts attention on a fundraising model the company markets to schools, PTAs and nonprofits as one without upfront costs or product sales.
The announcement was issued Aug. 11 from Orlando, Florida, and later carried as GlobeNewswire material by The Manila Times. Sneakster is the public face of the company’s shoe-drive program, which is also aimed at sports teams, churches and other community groups.
How does a Funds2Orgs shoe drive fundraiser work?
Groups collect gently worn, used and new shoes from people in their communities. Funds2Orgs says it picks up the collection and pays the group according to its total weight.
The company says participants do not need to sell merchandise, store inventory or pay an upfront fee to begin. It also says organizations keep the money generated by their collection, describing the arrangement as a “100% profit” fundraiser.
That structure shifts the activity from selling an item to organizing a local collection. For school groups preparing annual budgets and teams seeking money for fall activities, the practical considerations are collecting donations, arranging a pickup and the eventual weight-based payment rather than handling orders and deliveries.
What role does Sneakster play in the program?
Sneakster represents the program in the company’s outreach to PTAs, PTOs, booster clubs, scout troops and nonprofit groups. Funds2Orgs says the mascot appears at school events, PTA state conventions and back-to-school expos, and that partner organizations may use its image for their own campaigns.
Founder Wayne Elsey framed the mascot as an alternative to product-based fundraising in the company’s announcement. He said the shoe-drive model can provide proceeds to participating groups while moving usable footwear into reuse channels.
Funds2Orgs says collected footwear enters a global reuse economy rather than going to landfills, extending the usable life of shoes and supporting micro-businesses abroad. Those environmental and economic effects are company claims; the announcement provides no figures on shoes collected, payments, participating groups or the claimed impact.
The company’s shoe-drive fundraising website describes the same collection, pickup and weight-based payment process and lists school groups, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, families, animal rescues and corporate social-responsibility programs among its participant categories.