5% of all purchases are given to skating clubs
This is a major issue that I would love as many people to comment on as possible. I was asked if a Theater on Ice team could act as a club and receive the 5% funding from
Myskatingmall.com. The reason given was that some teams aren’t “supported” by a club and are looking for fundraising opportunities. On one hand this seems reasonable. On the other hand, it may open up a box of worms.
The 5% returned to grassroots skating is a foundational principle of Myskatingmall.com. Should we stay strictly with registered clubs, or open it further to registered teams?
Another alternative would be Myskatingmall.com could possibly identify the purchases made by members of a team in the funds forwarded to the club. Then the club could give or spend that money for the team.
Thoughts? Please press the comment button below and share your opinion so that Myskatingmall.com can have the policies our community wants!
Tags: skating clubs, Syncronized skating, Theater on Ice
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“Another alternative would be Myskatingmall.com could possibly identify the purchases made by members of a team in the funds forwarded to the club. Then the club could give or spend that money for the team.”
The only problem I see here is that not all registered teams are members of a single club.
There may be 2 or 3 clubs involved on a TOI team which makes it harder for them to raise money as they have to do it as a team and not through clubs.
With a Synchro team there could be many clubs involved. I would think if they are a “registered team” then it should be possible to raise money in this fashion.
My thought is that wording along the lines of
group/team must be registered with USFS
This would give a baseline membersip requirement as well as support the various programs that USFS is promoting. Does it really matter what kind of team it is?? It would all be figure skating.
I can see the issue here. My initial thoughts were to give the 5% to any “registered” team, but then I saw the many problems with such a policy.
My suggestion would be to only allow the 5% to be given to clubs. Clubs (in theory) have boards, policies, and are very organized to handle different types of funding sources. With a “team” or independent organization you might not have the safeguards that clubs do, and there is a possibility that the funds could be used fraudulently (I’m not suggesting that would be the norm, but it is just something to consider).
For example, before giving to a charitable organization I want to know that they are legit and exactly how the money is being used. With a sanctioned club you have some comfort in knowing that they have to follow certain guidelines in regards to funding.
All this being said, you may want to consider alternative programs setup specifically for teams. I am certain they want and need fund raising opportunities and would welcome a fresh way to accomplish their financial goals.
Good luck!
as the parent of both a former synchro team member, and of an individual skater, my experience is that fundraising for a team is much more successful than for an individual athlete. Companies and corporations who are solicited for support to athletes ONLY consider team sports and will not donate to or support individual athletes. I’m not against synchro or ice theatre teams, but the financial needs of individual athletes are much harder to meet.
In regards to the subject of TOI/Synchro teams being considered its own club in order to receive the 5%, I tend to agree with Mary Jane and Kathy. As of right now, my Theatre on Ice team is of open membership for all skaters. That means there is no “one” club benefit to be made because of the various club memberships. However, we as a team MUST register with USFS as a team every year like a club and pay dues for our TOI membership. And similar to a club wanting to raise funds for its members, a TOI/Synch team desire the opportunity to raise fund for its members/skaters.
I say as long as the team is a registered team with USFS for the current year, the team should benefit the 5% Power.
…I agree the TOI and Syncro teams are made up of skaters from various clubs and therefore the distrubution of funds would be difficult or quite impossible to keep track. Being that the case, it seems if the TEAMS are REGISTERED with USFSA then they should be able to receive the 5% benefit since their individual clubs would not benifit had they only been or represented from one club.
I do have to agree however with Andrea in that fundraising for a “team” has the potential to be much more successful that that of one single athlete. So perhaps the benefit percentage is varied due to this? Maybe registered USFSA “Teams” (being that they have more opportunities to fund raise on their own) receive 2.5% or 3% and Clubs get the 5%? Or as someone else mentioned, the “teams” have a different program and the original idea of the club benefit stands.
I would think that you would want your website to be supported. If you turn away TOI teams as less than a club-then what incentive would we have to support your site? There are now 50 registered teams.That would be quite a few shoppers.
We are registered through our clubs-however raise funds as a separate entity. Our teams are recognized by USFSA and can be confirmed using their web page list. Why not allow the clubs and the teams to register separately? Look at IGIVE. They allow the shopper to designate who they want the donations to go to for each purchase. This way a skater/shopper has the capacity to support either or both.
First, just a correction to the above comments. Synchro team members are required to be at least an associate member of the club that their team represents. Their primary membership may be from any club, but all skaters on a team must be associate or full members of that club. This is not the same for TOI.
Second, most teams are individual organizations separate from a club that govern themselves independently. There are a variety of exceptions to this rule, and a team’s association with a club could come with a variety of stipulations that the team has to meet. But most of the time you will find that a synchro organization is separate from a club.
As far as the goal of your site goes, I would recommend that you open it to synchronized skating teams (I know nothing about TOI so I won’t comment on it here). Synchro teams deal with enormous budgets yet they are themselves a grassroots skating organization as your site defines it. I can also assure you that word spreads quickly in the synchro world. If your site is successful (which I’m sure it will be!), your exposure about your site and its goals will quickly spread through the synchro circles.
Great thoughts Amie! I’ll check out IGIVE.