Minnesota Aurora FC, the Eagan-based pre-professional women’s soccer club, said it raised $895,000 in its second fundraising campaign that closed Friday.

The campaign, carried out on crowdfunding platform WeFunder, means the team is now owned by individuals across 50 states and 19 countries.

Andrea Yoch, a co-founder and board member of Aurora, said she believes there is a sense of pride each investor gets when giving to the team.

“You are part of something bigger than you, and something that has become important for the community,” Yoch said.

The amount raised last year is almost the same as this year, Yoch said. The difference is there are plenty of new people who have donated, though many existing owners re-upped their investment.

In the days just before the latest fundraising round closed on Jan. 31, the team said it was owned by over 5,000 community members, up from around 3,000 from its first fundraising round back in 2021. In a Jan. 23 press release, the team announced that it had already become the largest independent community-owned women’s team in the United States.

Over the summer, Aurora leaders told the Star Tribune they had hoped to add as many as 7,000 new owners in the second round, with the goal of bringing the total number of owners to 10,000. The team gained 2,257 new owners in their second round.

Regardless of how many new owners have come on board, Yoch said that the new investments show that community members “still believe in what we’re doing, their contact with the team has been positive, and they want to be more invested in the team.”

Community investors, no matter how much money they gave, can vote for two members of the board of directors and participate in other decisions the team may have to make.

There are perks for the levels of investment, Yoch said. For example, if someone invests $1,000, they are given two general admissions tickets for the upcoming season.

The money given by the community is used to provide housing for players who are coming from out of state. Though team members don’t get a salary, community investments are used to pay for each player’s U.S. soccer registration, game day operations, and anything needed for their front office.

Yoch said the money gives young women the opportunity to professionally play soccer. She said without these funds, most of these women would not have the money to be a part of the team.

Mariah Nguyen has been a part of the team since the beginning in 2022 and has seen how the community has supported the players. During the off season, Nguyen finds herself coaching at youth camps and helping wherever she can with youth.

Other players often do the same, Nguyen said.

A second team was created in affiliation to Aurora in 2023: Aurora 2. The second team’s first season started May 2024 where they were undefeated but lost in the championship. Yoch said the team is composed of local Minnesotans, mostly college and high school women.

Plans to join a professional league, meanwhile, remain on pause. Yoch said the long-term goal is for the team to become professional, but there’s no rush. In an interview with Fox-9 in August, she confirmed that the team won’t be mounting another bid to join the National Women’s Soccer League in 2026. The team first submitted a bid to join NWSL back in 2022.

“Someday somebody’s going to find us, and it’s going to be the right person,” Yoch said. “In the meantime, what we want to do is keep building on the foundation that keeps Aurora strong.”

Aurora’s 2025 season kicks off in May, and, for now, Yoch said her focus is winning the championship.

“It was an idea of how people without big checkbooks can bring a team to life, and it worked,” Yoch said. “This team proves that when people are working together for a common cause, you can get a whole lot done.”