| For 15
years I coached and played amateur
baseball in the AABC in the Atlanta area.
Stan Musial division. Adults. As the
primary coach, general director,
groundskeeper, uniform supplier, league
rep and waterboy, I knew firsthand the
problems of making budgets work. And how
hard it was funding teams when individual
revenue wasn't enough. Amateur baseball
is no doubt the toughest sport to raise
money for. Sponsors are a must. I was lucky for a while in
that one of my players' dad worked for
Wilson Sporting Goods. Being a builder, I
often traded my services for
baseballs, uniforms and equipment. And it
helped. Until I ran out of house to
remodel.
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Then one
summer I hit upon a novel idea that produced
revenue almost immediately. As chance had it, one
of my players worked at a printing company.
Since we had been fielding a team on the local
high field for several years, I was fairly
well known in the community. We were a good team
with a winning record. One of the best amateur
teams in Georgia at the time.
So one day, it occurred to me --why not use the
community to help support us? Remembering my tie
in with the printer, I went door to door to
community businesses. And for $50 and $100, I
sold advertising in half and full page increments
respectively. Any business card or camera ready
art was acceptable. My printer/player printed up
the simple brochure. On the cover we put a
photo of our team. Then on the inside a profile
page and a schedule.
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The rest was reserved for
advertising. I would walk into a
business, announce myself and my team and
solicit for advertising. NOT a donation.
I was selling a service. And for the
money, the vendors were getting cheap
advertising. We printed up 1500 brochures
and distributed them throughout the
community.
It worked. In three weeks, I raised over
$2000 in advertising revenue by MYSELF.
All I invested was time. And the service
worked. A lot of networking went
on. We got a lot of the community and
kids to attend our games. They ate from
our concession stand. And people used
coupons and ads from the brochures for
business.
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To this day, I still do
business with these people I did this for
several years until I stopped coaching.
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So
when I hear that there is no money in the
treasury for equipment, I can't help but
remember a simple effort that produced
handsomely. All one has to do is want to
succeed. Money is there. Try this.
--Michael Joy, President, The PORTA
CAGE Company.
Please see these other fundraising
ideas...
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