Founding Cohort '26 · 5 SPOTS
Booster clubs. PTAs. Youth leagues. Community programs. We're picking five organizations to help us build the platform — and locking them in with free access to every paid add-on plan, forever, current and future.
The deal
The founding deal
The trade we're offering: your honest feedback for our free-forever promise.
Free. Forever.
The Core platform is free for every org on HometownLift — donors cover the 5% platform fee at checkout, so your org keeps 100% of every gift. As a founding org, you also keep free access to every paid add-on plan we ever release (Event Mode, Operations Pro, Complete, and anything we add later), for as long as you're running on HometownLift.
Founding status
Listed as a Founding Organization inside the platform and on hometownlift.com/founding. The badge doesn't expire.
Direct line
Weekly check-ins, a shared roadmap doc, and a Slack channel with the founders. We build what you tell us is broken.
Honest fit
Five spots. We're picking carefully — and being upfront about who this isn't for.
Not theoretical. You have members, you run events, you handle money week to week.
Spreadsheets, Venmo, SignUpGenius, a separate email list, paper rosters — and it's costing you hours every week.
That's the contract. If it's more, we've designed something wrong. Weekly check-ins with honest feedback.
Onboarding kicks off the week of June 15. We need an org that's ready to move, not waiting on a board vote.
Not a fit if: you're just exploring, you want a free fundraising-only tool, or you need bespoke development on day one. We're a small team picking carefully — this is the wrong cohort for those needs, but the free starter plan is open at hometownlift.com today if any of that sounds like you.
Seven streams, one place
Questions
No catch. HometownLift is a public platform — anyone can sign up on the free starter plan today. We're rolling out paid tiers across the platform right now to keep the lights on. As a Founding Cohort org, you're exempt from those restrictions — every feature, current and future, stays available to you for the life of your organization. We don't reserve the right to change it. It's in writing.
You keep using the platform. We keep building. The "beta" framing is about your level of input — not your level of access. After week 8 you can stay as engaged or as quiet as you want; the platform is yours either way.
You go on the waitlist — if a cohort spot opens before mid-July, you're the first call. The free starter plan is already open at hometownlift.com today; you can sign up whenever. We'll write to you personally with a yes or no by Friday, June 19.
A Lincoln, CA-based, veteran-owned team that's been running youth sports and community programs in our own town for years. We built this because we couldn't find it. support@hometownlift.com reaches a human.
About 30 minutes a week for 8 weeks. That's the contract. If it's more than that, we've designed something wrong.
Application
By application. Not by checkout. We'll respond personally by Friday, June 19 — five orgs in, the rest on the waitlist (first call if a spot opens).
Spots remaining live: 5 of 5. Applications close Monday, June 8.
Questions before you apply?
A real person reads every email. Reply to support@hometownlift.com with anything you'd like to know before submitting.