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Post by shocktroop34 on Nov 23, 2013 11:08:33 GMT -6
I'm not sure exactly where you are located, but years ago I knew of a team that cleaned up the bleachers after a Nascar race. It was a quick $1,000. Might be more now.
I find it interesting that the lift-a-thon made so little. You might want to consider setting it up differently. I bought cheap t-shirts and anyone who turned in $75 dollars of pledges or money got a shirt. Kids will do anything for a shirt. With about 30-35 kids I cleared over 3k.
One thing that went big for me was doing a lift-a-thon vs. another school in the area. We had a trophy for it, too. It really enhanced the competitive spirit in the off season. Most total $ + Most total weight lifted by each team took the prize. Parents were running out of the stands with donations to help us win. Music, MC, 50/50 raffle, silent auction for a signed jersey all went on during the competition. Very minimal effort and little overhead. Both (small) schools cleared over 5k.
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Post by coachbdud on Nov 23, 2013 11:30:06 GMT -6
The liftathon thing I don't get
That means your kids are flat out saying no they refuse to help
It costs Zero money up front
We tell every kid they need to bring in 100
We don't get that bit we still make 6k or so every year
Our other big fundraisers...
Crab feed (6-7k)
Car washes (1-2k each but we do 3 of them. This all goes for kids transportation fee)
But the biggest is my football camp (14-15k)
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Post by utchuckd on Nov 23, 2013 11:42:05 GMT -6
Declined concession money and didn't want to bother with merchandise? We would kill to get the concession stand money here, it would almost single-handedly fund our entire program. I know you've gotten this before, and maybe I missed the answer as to why you stay, but at some point you're gonna get tired of trying to do this guy's heavy lifting while he throws more weight on the bar.
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Post by coachbdud on Nov 23, 2013 11:43:49 GMT -6
The liftathon thing I don't get That means your kids are flat out saying no they refuse to help It costs Zero money up front We tell every kid they need to bring in 100 We don't get that bit we still make 6k or so every year Our other big fundraisers... Crab feed (6-7k) Car washes (1-2k each but we do 3 of them. This all goes for kids transportation fee) But the biggest is my football camp (14-15k) I'm not sure how the lifathon was put together, exactly. I'm going to look into other ways to do it. Our HC has decided we're never doing another one after that failure. It's hard to raise money inside the community with the economics--our median income family income is only $24,000 (much of that from welfare or disability checks) and we're very spread out through mountains. People don't have much to spend in the first place and we're 90%+ free lunch. Most people here expect to have everything handed to them with no work on their end--a big problem for us in lots of ways. Crab feed... something like that might have potential. I've thought about chili cookoff, burgers, etc. We'll see how that works out. I wish we could do our own football camp, but that's not going to happen. How many kids do you have in your program? I believe your school and program are a lot bigger than us. about 100-120 each year 3 levels, between 30-40 on each team |
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Post by Coach Huey on Nov 23, 2013 12:02:57 GMT -6
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Post by coach2013 on Nov 23, 2013 12:08:10 GMT -6
Try raffling off some sneakers, Xbox or whatever.
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Post by coachd5085 on Nov 23, 2013 13:02:15 GMT -6
shocktroop34, thanks! We're about 3 hours from a NASCAR track, so that might be doable in the spring if we can get the transportation lined up. I've thought about that, actually. I grew up about an hour from Bristol and a lot of different groups would work those races and sell concessions or merchandise to raise money. Cleaning up may be an option, too. I wasn't here for last year's lift-a-thon so I don't know exactly how it was handled. I do know that we only had about 6 or 7 kids participate, with about 18 on the roster. In the past, we haven't done much with shirts. I'm hoping to change that. @coacharnold STOP. JUST STOP. You are not the HEAD COACH and you are treading in his turf. Granted, according to all you have written (if true, which with each writing becomes more and more suspect) , he does not care about such things, BUT you are STILL acting in a very unprofessional manner in my opinion. |
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Post by PIGSKIN11 on Nov 23, 2013 15:27:38 GMT -6
an assistant willing to take on such tasks would be welcome on my staff any day... AND!!! he was willing to go to other coaches via CoachHuey to get help? Are you f'n kidding me? that is awesome... dude, @coacharnold, you are a stud - keep doing what is best for your kids and program... coachd5085 - I usually agree with a lot of what you say but I beg to differ here... |
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Post by coachd5085 on Nov 23, 2013 17:10:13 GMT -6
an assistant willing to take on such tasks would be welcome on my staff any day... AND!!! he was willing to go to other coaches via CoachHuey to get help? Are you f'n kidding me? that is awesome... dude, @coacharnold, you are a stud - keep doing what is best for your kids and program... coachd5085 - I usually agree with a lot of what you say but I beg to differ here... In a singular event, I would totally agree here. However, the ongoing drama that @coacharnold has been describing changes things greatly. |
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Post by PIGSKIN11 on Nov 23, 2013 17:19:10 GMT -6
an assistant willing to take on such tasks would be welcome on my staff any day... AND!!! he was willing to go to other coaches via CoachHuey to get help? Are you f'n kidding me? that is awesome... dude, @coacharnold, you are a stud - keep doing what is best for your kids and program... coachd5085 - I usually agree with a lot of what you say but I beg to differ here... In a singular event, I would totally agree here. However, the ongoing drama that @coacharnold has been describing changes things greatly. Makes sense... I am not up to code on his drama... thanks for the reply... |
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Post by CoachHess on Nov 24, 2013 9:20:42 GMT -6
You're geographical/socioeconomic situation sounds like mine. Sell trash bags. We clear 5K yearly with minimal work on my part. Set an individual goal, each kid who reaches that goal (ours is 20 rolls) has their name entered in a drawing for x amount. Top sellers get a little something on top of that.
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Post by shocktroop34 on Nov 24, 2013 10:54:35 GMT -6
I understand exactly what you are dealing with. I was at a similar type of environment at my first stop. Here's another couple of ideas that are of little effort on your part that can bring in a few bucks.
Take a rejected reconditioned helmet, buff it out, put some new stickers on it, have the kids sign it...boom. Parents love that. Do the same with a jersey, kids sign it, do a silent auction. With your population, if you did two car washes and brought in $500 a piece, that's a good haul. Timing is everything with car washes.
A phone-a-thon. Create a www.gofundme.com account. Bring the entire program (including parents) into the cafeteria. Buy some pizza and soda. Tell each kid that they are going to call five relatives or friends. Tell them have a prescribed list (so you don't cross call people). They all make calls to people and ask for donations. They read from a short script on what to say. Eventually you will see people talking to folks they haven't talked to in years. It becomes a great time and you start to bring the community together. With again, very little effort on your part. The idea is to reach outside of the already small community.
If the phone idea is too much, do a letter drive. Create a form letter to be mailed out. Explain to people what the purpose is and that "little johnny" is trying to have a great upcoming season with their support, type of thing. Have each player bring in 5-10 addresses of relatives or friends. They are taxed enough. Hit up some new money. (This was my biggest fundraiser at my last school, but another school messed it up for our area and it got shut down. On the letter they "trashed" the school board by putting in the letter about what we didn't have, the condition of the equipment, etc. It made them look very bad-though I don't think it was their intention. However, we all know how sensitive board members can be.)
Now in regard to the concessions, I think myself and other coaches are kinda scratching our heads a little on that one. I understand the HC's mindset about asking parents to miss games, but unless you only have one team the solution is relatively an easy fix. Ask varsity parents to work the JV games and the JV parents to work the varsity games. At a smaller school you only need about 4 people to work each week. That's like two, maybe three, different families. With full parent participation, they would only have to work 1-2 games out of the 4-5 homes games that you would have.
Sorry this was so long, but I feel your pain, brother.
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Post by Coach Goodnight on Nov 24, 2013 20:47:52 GMT -6
I am failing to see the drama in which you are talking about, please expound....
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Post by coachd5085 on Nov 24, 2013 21:18:09 GMT -6
I am failing to see the drama in which you are talking about, please expound.... The drama is not discussed in this post coach. Sorry for the confusion. I don't feel it is my place to repeat the dirty laundry, but suffice to say that coacharnold has posted many times in the last 9 months or so describing the action (or inaction) of his HC. |
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Post by hsrose on Nov 24, 2013 22:16:00 GMT -6
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Post by Coach Goodnight on Nov 24, 2013 22:20:29 GMT -6
I am failing to see the drama in which you are talking about, please expound.... The drama is not discussed in this post coach. Sorry for the confusion. I don't feel it is my place to repeat the dirty laundry, but suffice to say that coacharnold has posted many times in the last 9 months or so describing the action (or inaction) of his HC. Gotcha. Just thought I may have missed something. Thanks for clarifying... |
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Post by tango on Nov 25, 2013 7:57:26 GMT -6
Our QB Club sales parking spots for $100. We have a sign board for different amounts. We sold tickets for a bench with the players signatures on it this year. This is all we did this year. We have sold grouper plates before. Pancake breakfast went over well. Sold tickets for a deep sea fishing trip. We raise between 15 and 20 thousand each year. Normally around 50 kids varsity and JV.
Anytime we have a scrimmage game that is free we ask for donations in the form of detergent, febreeze, towels, Lysol, and other things. We have not bought anything in three years. Former parents still bring stuff!
Our local churches have been taking care of our pre game meals.
The only time we use our players was to sell tickets. We do not like to ask them to do anything. We have a good people in the booster club.
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Post by shields on Nov 29, 2013 8:27:56 GMT -6
The liftathon thing I don't get That means your kids are flat out saying no they refuse to help It costs Zero money up front We tell every kid they need to bring in 100 We don't get that bit we still make 6k or so every year Our other big fundraisers... Crab feed (6-7k) Car washes (1-2k each but we do 3 of them. This all goes for kids transportation fee) But the biggest is my football camp (14-15k) Coach bdud, what are the specifics of your football camp? What do you charge? How many days? What do the kids get (t-shirt)? I am just curious. We do a camp for our feeder programs (ages 7 to 8th grade), for three days, but we usually only make around $950. We are in a rural setting so I only charge $20 per kid. Curious if I need to charge more. We started an annual golf tournament last year and brought in $14,500. Tons of work, but it was totally worth it in the end. |
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Post by blb on Nov 29, 2013 8:59:45 GMT -6
We are at a small (408) school where most kids play multiple sports, have to Pay to Play, and do fund raisers for each.
We have done a Junior Camp for 5th-8th graders (charged $20) and HS Camp ($40). Each kid gets a T-shirt. I pay coaches $10 an hour. Whatever is left over goes towards coaches' apparel.
We do a Lift-a-Thon as our lone fund raiser. Kids who bring in $50+ get T-shirt and shorts, $100 or more hoodie too.
Most of our kids bring in at least $50 and over half $100 but you cannot force them to - that would be extortion. Some of them come from tough economic circumstances and as I said they have to PTP, buy shoes, pay for physical, camp, raise money for other sports, etc.
We do have an All-Sports Booster Club that helps (they get $ from concession stand).
But our new Superintendent just cut our athletic budget to $0. So we'll see what is going to happen. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Nov 29, 2013 9:25:22 GMT -6
But our new Superintendent just cut our athletic budget to $0. So we'll see what is going to happen. Gotta pay for testing somehow  . I am surprised that the cost of testing has never come up as a viable argument against it. |
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Post by Coach Huey on Nov 29, 2013 9:53:05 GMT -6
But our new Superintendent just cut our athletic budget to $0. So we'll see what is going to happen. Gotta pay for testing somehow . I am surprised that the cost of testing has never come up as a viable argument against it. In general, an entire athletic budget makes up about 2% of the overall operating budget of a school district. Not to mention, athletics is one of the few departments that does return some of that money to the operating budget through revenue. Depending on travel involved to games, the percentage may be even lower since equipment costs, staffing, and maintenance are relatively fixed expenses. Let's not fail to mention that statistically, graduation rates of athletes are 5-7% higher than those of non-athletes. Typically, standardized test scores are higher for athletes vs non-athletes. Oh, and how do many schools - at least in Texas - get funding? Yep, attendance. Athletes high a higher attendance rate than non-athletes, meaning they are more likely to be in school, meaning the ADA is higher, meaning more funding from the state. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Nov 29, 2013 10:15:55 GMT -6
Gotta pay for testing somehow . I am surprised that the cost of testing has never come up as a viable argument against it. In general, an entire athletic budget makes up about 2% of the overall operating budget of a school district. Not to mention, athletics is one of the few departments that does return some of that money to the operating budget through revenue. Depending on travel involved to games, the percentage may be even lower since equipment costs, staffing, and maintenance are relatively fixed expenses. Let's not fail to mention that statistically, graduation rates of athletes are 5-7% higher than those of non-athletes. Typically, standardized test scores are higher for athletes vs non-athletes. Oh, and how do many schools - at least in Texas - get funding? Yep, attendance. Athletes high a higher attendance rate than non-athletes, meaning they are more likely to be in school, meaning the ADA is higher, meaning more funding from the state. I agree coach. Not sure if my post came across clear. To clarify, I was saying I am surprised that REDUCING TESTING (or eliminating it all together) to provide a source of funding to put INTO athletics/ the arts/ programs etc has not caught any momentum as a grassroots movment. Instead we see reducing athletic budgets to zero, requiring pay to play, increasing fundraising burdens which are all things that probably reduce the number of students involved in activities and thus student achievement. |
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Post by blb on Nov 29, 2013 11:01:32 GMT -6
Gotta pay for testing somehow . I am surprised that the cost of testing has never come up as a viable argument against it. In general, an entire athletic budget makes up about 2% of the overall operating budget of a school district. Not to mention, athletics is one of the few departments that does return some of that money to the operating budget through revenue. Depending on travel involved to games, the percentage may be even lower since equipment costs, staffing, and maintenance are relatively fixed expenses. Let's not fail to mention that statistically, graduation rates of athletes are 5-7% higher than those of non-athletes. Typically, standardized test scores are higher for athletes vs non-athletes. Oh, and how do many schools - at least in Texas - get funding? Yep, attendance. Athletes high a higher attendance rate than non-athletes, meaning they are more likely to be in school, meaning the ADA is higher, meaning more funding from the state.
Our new Superintendent used to coach Football. But it isn't athletics that butters his bread in this climate. It's standardized test scores, graduation-drop out rates, and balanced budgets.
So you know which gets cut first and most.
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Post by Coach Huey on Nov 29, 2013 11:23:35 GMT -6
In general, an entire athletic budget makes up about 2% of the overall operating budget of a school district. Not to mention, athletics is one of the few departments that does return some of that money to the operating budget through revenue. Depending on travel involved to games, the percentage may be even lower since equipment costs, staffing, and maintenance are relatively fixed expenses. Let's not fail to mention that statistically, graduation rates of athletes are 5-7% higher than those of non-athletes. Typically, standardized test scores are higher for athletes vs non-athletes. Oh, and how do many schools - at least in Texas - get funding? Yep, attendance. Athletes high a higher attendance rate than non-athletes, meaning they are more likely to be in school, meaning the ADA is higher, meaning more funding from the state.
Our new Superintendent used to coach Football. But it isn't athletics that butters his bread in this climate. It's standardized test scores, graduation-drop out rates, and balanced budgets.
So you know which gets cut first and most.
Sounds like most administrators & community members ... ill-informed. Cutting a minuscule factor on the big picture & potentially doing the exact opposite of what they want - reducing athletics could, in fact, reduce attendance, graduation rates, and test scores. I always love the "let's cut the athletic budget" to make up our deficit. It's akin to saying "I need to buy a new house at the end of the year, I shall stop our monthly dinner & a movie... that $75 each month will definitely make up the difference I need." Many schools are in a constant 'battle' with their administration. They see the "ooh, we can save $1,200 if we eliminate this team" but don't realize that $1,200 in 'savings' isn't making a huge dent AND they are actually cutting things from the students, not the budget. In most places, nearly half of a school's finances are tied up in salaries... many of which are going to the "director of this" and the "deputy supt. of that". Similarly, several of these districts could, by combining just 2 administrative positions, save a school $100,000.... which, is likely your entire budget anyway. But.... you know why that ain't happening. |
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Post by coachbdud on Nov 30, 2013 22:28:37 GMT -6
The liftathon thing I don't get That means your kids are flat out saying no they refuse to help It costs Zero money up front We tell every kid they need to bring in 100 We don't get that bit we still make 6k or so every year Our other big fundraisers... Crab feed (6-7k) Car washes (1-2k each but we do 3 of them. This all goes for kids transportation fee) But the biggest is my football camp (14-15k) Coach bdud, what are the specifics of your football camp? What do you charge? How many days? What do the kids get (t-shirt)? I am just curious. We do a camp for our feeder programs (ages 7 to 8th grade), for three days, but we usually only make around $950. We are in a rural setting so I only charge $20 per kid. Curious if I need to charge more. We started an annual golf tournament last year and brought in $14,500. Tons of work, but it was totally worth it in the end. Our camp is different than what most people do A lot of people on here have asked about mine here in our part of CA we have no restrictions to our summers... we can go full pads and against other teams all we want so my camp isnt for youth kids, it is a HS team camp other schools bring their Varsity (and JV if they have the numbers) to my school for 3 days and we do 7on7, OL 1on1s, and scrimmaging against each other for 3 days the camp runs 3-8PM... with an hour dinner in the middle we give everyone t shirts we charge $40 per player for everyone involved this past summer we had 8 varsity teams and 6 JV teams (counting my program) we had roughly 500 players... took in roughly 20k, spent roughly 5k for food, shirts, insurance, getting fields lined |
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Post by shields on Dec 3, 2013 10:46:35 GMT -6
Coachbdud, that may be the coolest thing I have ever heard! Right on brother!
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. I am surprised that the cost of testing has never come up as a viable argument against it.