Barrier Free Sports is focused on providing scalable solutions to improving the accessibility of triathlon and related endurance sports. Because of the large fixed costs of each triathlon (bordering $3,000 for an Ironman), raising $6,000 may only serve to fund the goals of a few people. While this is still a net positive, there are three other main financial considerations to be aware of.

1. The amount needed to be spent in marketing and administrative costs in order to raise this money. 

   • The Public Support Test (known as the 33% rule) requires that a public charity must receive at least one-third of its financial support from external sources, generally seen as members of the general public not affiliated with the charity.

   • In order to raise $6,000, an organization will need to spend time and money in order to educate others on the charity's mission, convince donors that the organization is trustworthy, and deal with the administrative paperwork required for accepting donations.

2. The financial and legal infrastructure needed to adequately process financial transfers.

   • A team would need to be hired to investigate grant requests, approve funding of individuals equipment or entry costs, and wire money to said individuals.

   • Because of the potential for abuse (people applying for grants despite not needing them), the organization would need to view sensitive financial information in order to approve grants.

In order to adequately ensure fairness and safety, financial and legal expertise would need to be consulted. In order to raise enough money to have an impact, the organization would need to spend time and resources campaigning for funding. Given the high fixed costs of each race, unless the organization reaches a large size (likely over $50,000 in funding per year), the payments required for legal, financial, and administrative tasks would outstrip the payments made to people requesting grants. 

This is a problem. An effective charity should minimize the amount of legal and administrative costs it incurs, and it should minimize the legal and compliance risks it faces. It should stray away from accessing the sensitive financial information of grantees, and it should ensure fairness and accountability. Every small nonprofit faces these trade offs, but most of them decide to fundraise anyway, leading to a situation where a large portion of donations feed marketing, administrative and legal costs.