2. Field Hockey Canada ran an online
fundraising campaign to raise money for
the Junior Women's team travel to the
Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile.
The purpose of this report is to discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of the
campaign and to highlight the areas that
could have been improved.
3. The idea presented was to offer
supporters the opportunity to sponsor a
jersey of one of the athletes.
Each Jersey sponsorship was priced at
$75.00 and included a limited edition
commemorative -T-shirt, a lanyard, a
signed picture of the team, a 6x4 picture
of the athlete sponsored and a $20 tax
receipt.
4. Other levels of sponsorship were added;
$50.00 for a Maple Leaf Member (did not
include tax receipt).
T-shirt Only for $20.00
Lanyard Only for $7.00
5. The Jersey sponsorship was the biggest
seller with over 40 sales at this level of
sponsorship. The costs incurred included
some updates to Field Hockey Canada's
already existing web store, the cost of t-
shirts and printing. Shipping, taxes and
the cost to process credit card
transactions were included in the flat rate
of $75.00 as well so these costs had to
be accounted for.
Strengths of the program:
6. Timeliness: The fundraiser was
designed around a specific event, the
Junior World Cup and the timeliness of
the event created a sense of urgency
amongst supporters.
Offered Different Giving Levels:
Response rates increased because the
supporters had a choice of what level
they wanted to give at: $75.00 Jersey
Sponsor, $50.00 Maple Leaf Member,
$20.00 t-shirt or $7.00 lanyard.
7. High Margin: The cost to put together
the each Jersey Sponsorship package
was about $20.00 with all expenses
factored in (printing, shipping, t-
shirts, lanyards and credit card
processing.) The product was marked up
by almost 300%. The high intrinsic value
of the package allowed for such a high
mark-up.
8. High Intrinsic Value: The sponsorship
worked well because of the intrinisic
value felt by sponsoring an individual
athlete.
The sponsorship was made more
personal to the supporters because of the
interactivity of sponsoring an individual
athlete.
9. Field Hockey Canada E-news Service
and Web Site: The team was able to
promote the fundraiser on the Field
Hockey Canada web site and even more
effectively via the Field Hockey Canada
e-newsletter.
It was a simple, fast, and effective way
to promote the fundraiser to everyone in
the Field Hockey Canada's email
database. They were able to reach 800
supporters with the click of a button.
10. Recognition of Supporters: A
supporter page was created to recognize
those who supported the team.
Supporters enjoyed being recognized for
their contribution and having their name
displayed on the Field Hockey Canada
web site.
11. Weakness of the Program:
Amount of Time & Effort Involved:
There was a lot of time, energy and
effort involved in making the fundraiser a
success. Each purchase through the
online store had to be manually
packaged and sent to each supporter.
Additionally, all of the credit card
transactions had to be approved
manually.
12. Left-Over Inventory: The T-shirts had
to be purchased in mass quantities so
unfortunately there was some leftover
inventory.
These items can still be sold but at the
moment they are sitting in inventory as
unsold items and included as an expense
of the fundraising effort. The unsold
items reduced the profitability of the
campaign.
13. Logistics: It was impossible to anticipate
the success of the program or know what
quantities of each size of t-shirt to
purchase. As a result a number of the t-
shirts went on backorder when the
popular sizes sold out.
There were numerous headaches
involved with the ordering and
distribution of the t-shirts and lanyards.
14. The goods were purchased in Vancouver
and then had to be sent to the head
office in Ottawa and then onto the
supporters.
There were delays in shipping the items
to the supporters and a number of orders
were cancelled because of these
unfortunate circumstances.
15. Limited Promotions: The team didn't
use every avenue at their disposal to get
the word out about the campaign. Most
of the promotion was aimed at Field
Hockey Canada's membership and word
of mouth.
If each of the girls had run their own
email campaign the results could have
been substanially improved for little or
no cost.
16. Suggested Improvements:
There are free services available online
that can offer an organization the ability
to create a custom storefront. These free
services also offer fullfillment of the
products you place in your custom store.
They stock your store, handle the online
transaction, print and create the items
you want in your stores and they even
handle the shipping directly to your
supporters.
17. There is no risk on the team's part of
excess inventory and there is no cost at
all to the team for the shirts. Most are US
based but can ship items worldwide.
Find the best fundraising ideas for sports
teams and learn how to start your own
hockey fundraiser here:
http://www.instepfundraising.com/