Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Tim P. Miceli · 09-30-2002, 11:14 AM

I am the President of a College Fencing Club and I was wondering if any of you guys/gals know of any good ideas for raising money other than asking the college for it.

Thanks

***Craig*** · 09-30-2002, 02:17 PM

Do what other college groups do:

- Sell T-Shirts; go door to door in the dorms selling them.
- Hit up alums that were in the fencing club
- Hit up equipment vendors for bulk/club discounts on your equipment. (It's not raising money, but will save you a few bucks.)

Tim P. Miceli · 09-30-2002, 03:47 PM

except that before last spring semester the club bairly existed as far as I know, I actually had to restart it. Because no one took over after the last president left.

the door to door sales thing sound interesting though, I will have to give it a try.

edew · 09-30-2002, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by webmaster
Do what other college groups do:

- Sell T-Shirts; go door to door in the dorms selling them.
...

Have a wet t-shirt car washing contest with some members who can, er, fill out the t-shirts, and then sell the t-shirts.

135711 · 09-30-2002, 06:27 PM

er, wear a jock strap and sell peanuts on a corner eric.

I worked in fundraising: Go with the Alumnus fund raising suggestion.

HilandDoug · 09-30-2002, 06:39 PM

Get with your Division and host a tournament. That's a great way to not only raise funds, but to increase awareness of your club and the sport.

edew · 09-30-2002, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 135711
er, wear a jock strap and sell peanuts on a corner eric.

I worked in fundraising: Go with the Alumnus fund raising suggestion.

I've tried that. Raised enough money to send me to Europe and back. But the Bay Area's too cold for constant jockstrap wearing.

135711 · 09-30-2002, 07:38 PM

what part of europe did you tour ? brrrrrrrr [how long did you stand out there? they say heat rises and that if you keep your head warm via a baseball cap, you should be able to retain enough body heat to stand there for a good portion of the day]
You know, the one's who can fill out their t-shirt were born with good genes. There's a french misconception that women without breasts are somehow smarter or in someway superior to women with them. This is based on the tanisaki school of perversity, which dictates that men should pursue young girls, a passtime that was banned some years ago, i believe during the mongolian invasions. They believe too, it has something to do with wealth. The women I've met on my block have gone through enough poop. They're hungry and they have boobs. They're for nursing babies. Take for example the bucket hat, a parisean rip off. Alas! Alas!

Kodiak Kid · 09-30-2002, 08:03 PM

As president of our small club, I've been struggling with the same issue. Since it costs $250 R/T just to fly to the mainland to compete, it can get pretty expensive to play this game with any seriousness. I've been discussing this with several board regulars recently and gotten some good ideas. This weekend we are having a multi family rummage sale. All the fencing families are donating fabulous family heirlooms (yeah sure...) to sell at discounted rates.
I've also contacted a local service club that I'm an active member of and asked them to go through their closets for stuff to sell. I'm looking at making over $1000 USD off the sale. It's not much but it'll be a step forward.
I'm also pursuing some grant money and would like to know if any others out there have had any luck (good or bad) in that department.

dreadfoil · 09-30-2002, 08:56 PM

you need to buy a calendar with all the local/divisional/sectional/national competitions laid out for you in black and white. it can't be loaded into a palm, you have to see it constantly and always in relation to what you are doing now, what others are doing, and where you want to be.
Get a big calendar, [not the entire wall nut case] just the size of a desk top. Remember that almost all salles follow the University Calendar, so begin your season when they do

All self sufficient people will stuggle: first rule is: don't trust your competition to help you alot, second rule, if you travel to other states, try to stay at a university dorm for a reduced rate, it hardly matters, since it's only 3-4 days, don't listen to anyone who screams about the hilton hotel, let them spend their money, you only need to sleep somewhere quiet with a shower and a meal for 2-3 days, then fly back, you don't need to get keyed up staying somewhere where there's a lot of noise and convention style stuff. You have to be very versitile and flexible, and able to camp out.

mfp · 10-02-2002, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kodiak Kid
As president of our small club, I've been struggling with the same issue. Since it costs $250 R/T just to fly to the mainland to compete, it can get pretty expensive to play this game with any seriousness. I've been discussing this with several board regulars recently and gotten some good ideas. [...] I'm looking at making over $1000 USD off the sale. It's not much but it'll be a step forward.
I'm also pursuing some grant money and would like to know if any others out there have had any luck (good or bad) in that department.

Well there's always the approach some California clubs use to raise funds -- some charge members between $300 and $600 for a membership ...

But if perhaps you're soliciting ideas for other ways to raise funds, it would be useful to know a little background about your club and its goals. Unless Kodiak suddenly has more than one club, I'm guessing you're with Emerald Isle Fencing -- which last time I checked didn't have a webpage and wasn't even listed in the last issue of the Alaska Division of the USFA's newsletter.

What's your membership like anyway? Since Kodiak is home to the country's largest Coast Guard base, are many members Coasties, or civilian DoD employees? If so, have you looked in to whatever the CG calls its equivalent of the Army's "Civilian Welfare Fund" program?

As for promoting fencing in Alaska in general, I've often thought a great way would be to get the kids in some of the more remote areas interested in fencing. Are you familiar with how much financial and other support the residents, businesses, local government and native corporations of towns like Barrow provide their kid's basketball and other teams? And airfares from Barrow to anywhere can make flying from Kodiak look cheap.

veeco · 10-03-2002, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mfp
Well there's always the approach some California clubs use to raise funds -- some charge members between $300 and $600 for a membership ...

This is not just a California thing... The NYAC, the NYFC, and a lot of other clubs around the world charge a fee for people to be members. It's just the normal way things are being done... If you pay a floor fee everytime you go and fence somewhere, you're pretty much paying the same thing (or even more) over the course of a year anyway...

Tim P. Miceli · 10-03-2002, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mfp
Well there's always the approach some California clubs use to raise funds -- some charge members between $300 and $600 for a membership ...

.

Ge I guess were getting off pretty cheap, we are a college club and we are charging $20 for a semester for students and $40 for non students.

But then again most of our recent funding for equipment came from the college about $2000, so far, and another $1700 hopefully on the way for some electrical equipment that will allow us to have our own electric turnaments.

Kodiak Kid · 10-04-2002, 04:53 PM

Emerald Isle Fencing has been in existence for a couple of years in Kodiak and we've been making the Alaska Circuit events pretty regularly. ACE #2 in Fairbanks next weekend. Yippee!
I've been working on getting our club listed in the Ricasso, the Alaska fencing newsletter but so far nothing's happend. I sent the meeting details etc. The ball might be in my court on that one. They might be looking for a news article... my bad. I've also been waiting over a month for our club patches to get designed and sewn up. Another frustrating experience...

My goals for the club are pretty simple. Instill the passion for the sport and help them grow to their maximum potential with the tools that we have available. I've got one kid whose dad is a coastie. I'll check it out to see if the MWR has any resources available. We used to fence out at the base in their raquetball courts... best we could find at the time.

The communities with any money are nuts for kid's sports up here. We just started a youth football league here a couple of years ago in the school and any time we want to have a game we have to fly in the other teams, coaches etc. It's that way for all our sports here; swimming, basketball, cross country, wrestling etc. Our situation is a little different in that I'm not affiliated with the school system.
Another goal that I have is to get a high school fencing club up and running that would be separate from our club. I just have to get somebody else to teach it and run it. I do this in my so called "spare time".
I'm in the process of negotiating a deal with a low income housing authority where they give us a bunch of money and we take our show on the "road" (no roads here, just boats and planes..) to the villages around the island. The idea is to expose them to the sport and perhaps spark the interest of a teacher to pick up fencing as an intramural type thing. You never know, something might come of it. At least it's something fun to do in the winter for the kids out in the sticks. (as if I lived in a metropolis! HA!)
There is one particular native corporation in the area that has been spending a lot of money on self promotion sponsoring events etc. I'm considering approaching them for a big festival we have in the spring to have an invitational tournament here. Maybe we can subsidize some airfare or something.

Keep the suggestions coming!

epeemike81 · 10-04-2002, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim P. Miceli
Ge I guess were getting off pretty cheap, we are a college club and we are charging $20 for a semester for students and $40 for non students.

$20?????????

how can your club survive on that!

Our club is by no means rich. we are frequently scrounging for funds, and we charge $100 per semester (or $175 for the year, if paid up front) for competitive members and $65 for associate members.
-m

Tim P. Miceli · 10-04-2002, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by epeemike81
$20?????????

how can your club survive on that!

-m

Well... The floor time is free, the college lets us use one of their gyms,

Instruction is done by one of the members, he has been fencing since he was 8 and has toured europe (he was born there) and studied under various masters. (we really lucked out there)

Money to bring us up to speed with equipment thus far has come from the college. (about $2000 so we could get more jackets, plasterons, and weapon parts.)

We are currently applying for funding for some electric equipment (ie a strip, box & bungee cords) we are expecting to get about $2200 from the college for that.

Why, what do you guys spend all your money on that you need to charge your members $100 a semester!?

135711 · 10-05-2002, 12:53 AM

okay,the $20/semester club is housed in a university, they're really only asking for a small amount because each student will bring in a total of about $500 per semester, which they may use for big ticket items, since fencing is offered to a hUge population group, on a campus the clubs bring in about 30 new students each semester, but many drop out because they can't deal with the training. privately run clubs need to charge more because they are on their own.

epeemike81 · 10-05-2002, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim P. Miceli
Why, what do you guys spend all your money on that you need to charge your members $100 a semester!?

Coaches, conference dues (to about three different conferences), equipment, tournaments (the ones that AREN'T in conferences). Airfare, in some rare cases.

-m

epeemike81 · 10-05-2002, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 135711
okay,the $20/semester club is housed in a university, they're really only asking for a small amount because each student will bring in a total of about $500 per semester, which they may use for big ticket items, since fencing is offered to a hUge population group, on a campus the clubs bring in about 30 new students each semester, but many drop out because they can't deal with the training. privately run clubs need to charge more because they are on their own.

ahem, our club is in a University as well.

-m

135711 · 10-05-2002, 10:13 PM

what i'm pointing out in the first question is that private clubs need to charge more in fees because they are responsible for everything, while a university club is only reponsible for whatever costs they choose to rack up. the way some clubs operate is that when a team goes to compete, the individual still bears the brunt of costs, because it wouldn't be fair to other fencers in the club to use their fees to subsidize another's fencing career in france lets say. the fees that are colleted should be for the entire club, electric boxes, strips, rental fees, medals, trophies and the annual pizza throw. then, depending on your club you have lessons, both group or private, each fencer needs both, and there are different fee schedules assigned to each.