The national governing body is looking for 24 people to donate AUS$10,000 (£5,500/$7,000/€6,200) as part of its "24for20" scheme, designed to help the country's preparations for the baseball tournament at Tokyo 2020.

Australia's men, silver medallists at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, are seventh on the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) baseball world rankings.

Baseball Australia chief executive Cam Vale said the organisation was aiming to use the money to "close the funding gap" to other nations at the Games.

"Australia is ranked seventh in the WBSC world rankings and only five other national teams will join host country Japan at the Olympics," said Vale.

"We rank 32nd out of 35 Olympic sports for funding per athlete and an extra AUS$10,000 per athlete would help close the funding gap and allow us to purchase the world-class technology we need to match it with baseball’s big nations.

“Donations to these projects will help us chase our goals over the next 18 months and help attract a new generation of baseballers – boys and girls – to take the sport in Australia into the future."

Baseball Australia is also seeking donations to create a domestic league for women.

Entitled "A League Of Her Own", the scheme, launched in conjunction with the Australian Sports Foundation, aims to raise AUS$250,000 (£137,000/$174,000/€155,000).

"We are looking to create a pathway for our elite women baseballers and create a domestic league with international reach," said Vale.

"This league would increase junior girl’s participation throughout Australia and give women an equal platform to showcase their talent.”