Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Best Diving Meet Fundraising Idea

Hosting a diving meet can be a great way to raise funds for your team. It takes a great deal of work but can be very profitable. I have run numerous diving meets over the years including the 1996 U.S. Diving Senior National Championships at the then brand new Corwin Nixon Aquatic Center on the campus of Miami (OH) University. The Cincinnati Stingrays Parent's Group put on one heck of a show and I still get coaches complimenting me (and the team) on what many consider to be the best Nationals ever held.

The meet had pomp and circumstance, huge crowds, incredible food and hospitality for the coaches, divers and volunteers as well as great media coverage from the local and national press.

How was it done -- especially the incredible amounts of food that was served? The meet planning committee made a spreadsheet list of every single thing we thought we would need to run a first class diving meet -- down to the last potato chip and paperclip. Then the parents went to people and businesses they knew and asked for a NON-CASH donations. We asked for a donation of product or service instead of asking for cash. We updated the spreadsheet regularly so potential donors could see how many people and businesses were helping us with our endeavor. Most businesses will gladly donate product in lieu of cash and we credited them for the value of their product donation as if it were a cash donation.

When all was said and done, we figure that the value of the donations we received (mostly products and / or services) totalled nearly $50,000 and with this you can put on one spectacular diving meet!

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