Does anyone have any experience raising money for any cause, particularly for badminton? This fund is envisioned to be used to offset our junior players travel costs from one region to compete in another region. I'd like to hear your experience, good or bad, DO's and DON'T, key things to think about, how much you can raise, etc.
do we have a ballpark figure on the amount you are looking for? travelling is expensive. going across the country for a weekend tournament could cost upwards of $800+ with airfare and hotel. how many people is in the group and how many times a year?
Number of people traveling depends on where the tournament may be. Given the demographic distribution with about 50+% of competing juniors in Bay Area, it could incur a lot more if the tournament is in the east coast. For Junior National, for example, if we host it here in Bay Area as it will be in 2013, I estimate about 200+ players from Bay Area alone, and another 100 from outside. I talked with a colleague who did some fund raising for her kid's middle school. She told me it was possible to raise $10K. But then that's for a school. The students are expected to live close by. For tournaments, since people could come from a much scattered places, negotiation power (in terms of what this crowd can offer to our sponsors) may diminish.
Interest to know how our Canadian Neighbors Do it Any Canadian juniors/pros and/or tournament organizer here that can share their success stories?
Raymond, When you write 'our junior players', who are you referring to exactly? Look at it from a sponsors point of view. 'Our junior players' can mean anybody. So what do you have to offer a sponsor. Having fundraising events are different so perhaps your club can organise a fund raising event. Given that funds are limited, some sort of priority scheme might need to be considered.
Good point, Cheung. Even in my mind, "our junior players" could refer to all juniors in U.S. during national events, or juniors in our locale (high % of national number), selected representative players for international events.
if i were the sponsor, i would ask you some specific questions. who are you representing? "could refer to" is very vague and open to many interpretation. it almost sound like the sponsor is sponsoring the US junior national team. but in reality, it doesn't sound like that is the case. the definition of the entity being sponsored is important. if someone were to give out thousands of dollar to sponsor something, they want to know exactly where the money goes to and what type of exposure that will give. a vague definition is not some that you want to start with. and with that, if there is indeed an organization, there is obligation for the player who belong to the organization obey the rule of the sponsorship, be it the use of equipment (if equipment sponsor), or the display of the sponsor's logo on the player's jersey during tournament, etc.
In the third post, it's mentioned a school raised $xxxxx. That's an organisation I agree with Kwun about clear definitions. You have to be clear in yourself in order to convince other people. Even when I asked about who exactly these juniors were, the answer is came back with the word 'could', not 'are'. Subtle difference. What is the criteria for one of these juniors to receive assistance?
If you can write a clear proposal and have clear objectives/targets on the use of the funds, it will go a long way. Otherwise, you will have to rely on your own personal contacts and the trust in your relationship with them.
I haven't worked out the details of any proposal, though I've a few ideas in mind. That's why I asked for other people's experience, DO's and DON'Ts. Rest be assure that when THE proposal is written, the language used would be a lot more concrete than here as I'm gathering ideas. The fund raised for a school I referred to earlier was done by parents... I think they could raise some of the big money was because students/parents from a school tend to stay in the neighborhood of the school. If you go find business in that neighborhood, there's a strong correlation. Case in point - I was told just 1 dentist could donate $1K!! The case for players may be somewhat different - they scatter.
I'm thinking - 1. Age (e.g. older age groups only, instead scattered to younger age group) 2. Do well in tournament (e.g. 1st, or even 2nd place). 3. Potentially only for visiting players from another region (i.e. not local players).
Of course! It's publicity for the dentist and donating to a local cause. How can a circumstance like that be translated to your situation?
Having given this some thought and asked around, it's very difficult to raise sponsorship unless the sponsoring person/organisation has some specific interest in badminton. We have to admit that we are a poor sport. I was rather surprised that the equipment sponsorship for players is very difficult (unless you are very highly ranked). We have good players in HK get equipment sponsorship. A good equipment sponsorship for a player would be racquets and equipment, and airfare to two tournaments. That's over a year.
Thanks for the thought... I've given up on the fund-raising idea for now. If anything, I'd focus on individual sponsorship, if I could get one for my kid.
it seems that junior players over here have an easier time getting equipment sponsorships if they have some achievements in the junior tournaments. raymond are you able to fill in some details regarding that?
I can't compare it with anywhere else. In my kid's first club, a few years back, not all kids got sponsorship. Everyone needs to fill out an application. Yonex then would decide who to give to etc, based on what tournaments you claimed you will play in upcoming year. They may check your placements in recent tournaments, though I can't be sure. You got shoes, rackets, perhaps every year. Fast forward a few years (but still 1-2 years ago), she joined a new team. It's then based on team sponsorship. Everyone got the same thing - 1 racket (life-time, i.e. no more), a pair of shoes a year, a T-shirt (a year?). I'm not sure if the team coaches might also get some other sponsorship, e.g. free training shuttles (e.g. AS-20) for the team. Fast forward to now I heard more and more people get sponsored, so Yonex actually cuts back and people would get even less. Last night, we had a brief discussion on this topic with a coach. Apparently, you may still be able to apply for individual sponsorship, based on your achievement, and get more. Nevertheless, I haven't tried that route yet. Of course, not everyone gets sponsorship from Yonex. Some get sponsorship from Victor. If you're good, and you are not constraint by any contract (e.g. contract your team coach might have signed with a manufacturer), you may apply for sponsorship from others like Wilson, Head etc. Though again, I haven't tried (and can't try due to contract). If anyone sponsors a player, they must think the player could do something in return, presumably live marketing. Being good would help draw attention from others, and would fit the bill. Just my guess...
Because she is in a team, does that mean she wouldn't be able to negiotate individual equipment sponsorship from another source?
Certainly, she can't be wearing clothing, or wielding a racket, from another vendor, during prominent junior tournaments. I'm under the impression (though I'm really not clear on details) that vendor like Yonex may send people out to verify compliance. However, she may be able to negotiate equipment, T-shirts, rackets from the same vendor (e.g. Yonex) via another source. This could be the case if this other source may be a reseller of Yonex goods, and she agrees to wear a logo for the reseller, or in some way promote their business as well. An example of this might be the Chinese National Team players. They may be wearing LiNing's clothing, but on it you can also find logo from FedEx etc. I suppose the two sponsors don't compete with each other in that case.
Yes. I believe you would be alright with that scenario of adding the retailers name as there is no conflict. In fact, she could get the equipment from both sources simultaneously without issues.
