fundraising for your team

[shylar]

first, let me say the way the buzzstrong bracelets idea came about is a fantastic display of democratic processes at work. long live free thinking.

second, let me say up front that i would personally benefit (through my business) from the following proposal (which is intended more for coaches than players, but i'm sure students are reading this more than most coaches):

if any team is in the need of an excellent, long term fundraiser, i can help. in addition to coaching an academic team in maryland, i am a business owner with a national health care company. we provide discounts to over 1.8 million americans across the country. we save our members up to 80% on their various health bills. our program is accepted at over 100,000 providers nationwide, including national chains.

anyway, as a fundraiser, i would entertain discussions with your team's sponsor or parent volunteer to donate proceeds from membership enrollment to your school. this would be either in the form of up front payments to your school ($12 or $20 for each member), or 20% of each members' monthly fee for the life of their membership ($2.30 or $3.90/month for each member).

(for example, if your group enrolled 30 members during the course of a 3 month period, your group could either receive between $360-600 up front, or $69-$117 month after month, into the forseeable future).

i will not be able to provide these payments to any group without first clarifying with the sponsor how we track members enrolled from your group (so that your group gets what it deserves), and which of the above fundraising options you would prefer, which depends on the time frame of your fundraising efforts.

information about these benefits is well-detailed here: http://www.mybenefitsplus.com/shylar and here:
http://shylar.onesimplecard.com/hsqb.

contact me directly at [email protected].

[ASimPerson]

1) This seems like spam.
2) The most effective quizbowl fundraisers are usually hosting quizbowl tournaments.

[shylar]

tournaments are definitely a great way to raise money, and our team has hosted 6 so far that have done well for us. however, it takes a lot of energy and collaboration from many different people to make them well-run, enjoyable for the teams, and educational. many teams are simply not equipped to run a tournament, or they are in an area where a glut of tournaments already exists.

i offer the fundraiser as a business person, as well as an academic team coach whose reputation and integrity is well known in the maryland, d.c., and virginia area. as i stated very clearly, my business will benefit--but as with any fundraiser, the partner you fundraise with is going to benefit. just like the people who manufacture the buzzstrong bracelets will benefit.

my company is a member of the better business bureau and member of the u.s. chamber of commerce. i appreciate the concern about spam, as we do live in a dangerous time online. but i have been a member of this board for a long time, and would not risk my reputation as a coach with spam.

i would be happy to talk with any coach that is concerned about this post or this fundraising idea. i would also be happy to discuss using this as a fundraiser for hsquizbowl.org, or to contribute to hsquizbowl.org from successful fundraisers originating from this board.

(i should have included my name and physical address of my business in the last post--i apologize. bob jenkins, p.o. box 8032, elkridge, md, 21075)

[dtaylor4]

I have to agree that the biggest problem with running tournaments is the man-power. Why not do something along the line of having people donate based on the performance at a tournament, i.e. one cent per point scored by the team throughout the day?

[shylar]

i like the idea of a buzzathon a lot. the only problem we may have with that is the collection of actual cash is frowned upon by our school system. certainly workable, though. and obviously tied to the game itself. great idea!

[dtaylor4]

Why not do something involving a match against the faculty? I'm sure the students would love to see their teachers made to look like idiots by other students.