Raising Private donations for STL MLS - Selling Scarves

I dig it! This will probably drag on forever, just like the kit thread.

 

I am sure Eads Brigade has something like this up their sleeves for supporters scarves. Plus, we would just be guessing at a team name for this scarf. A supporters scarf would last no matter what the team name.

 

Sell pot brownies instead............. you'll have enough cash within a year.

 

Just like SOB did. Plus it encourages people to ask "What exactly is this "Ead's Brigade" stuff about?

Scott

 

I totally agree selling scarves would be a great way to raise private donations. But I think a golf tourney would be a good idea to raise money for the scarves plus would get “us” started in raising private donations. It would also create a marketing stir in the St. Louis area. Let me know if this is a good idea and I can set up a tourney no problem.

WerderBremenYankee
I went to De Smet too. Was Fuchs around when you played?

 

Why would we need a fundraiser to sell scarves as a fundraiser? I don't get it.

 

scarves cost money dude

 

But doesn't a golf tournament cost money too? It's not clear to me that renting a golf course is going to require less money up front than ordering scarves.

 

This is true, but you would have extra capital to invest in the scarves. For example, you pay $70-100 for the tournament. The cost per player is $40-60 depending on where you play. You use that extra $10-40 ($70-60=$10, $100-60=$40) per player to buy the scarves. So, let’s say you get 144 players to play in a four-man scramble (18*4=72, 72*2=144) that’s 2 flights, you could potentially make $1440-$5760 to invest in the scarves. Plus, it would draw interest from people who aren’t necessarily on this board or even know that St. Louis is trying to bring a MLS team to St. Louis.

 

I don't know much about golf, but I'm guessing that in order to organize a golf tournament, you need to first give them a deposit to reserve the course for that date. I don't know how much that would be, but I assume it's expensive, because you have to cover all the money they would have made that day, and you end up losing money if you can't get enough players to sign up. With scarves, you could just make a design, find out how many people want to get one, find out the price for that number, collect the money, and order that number. You could break even if you only sell 1. There's very little risk. Plus, it's a more natural relationship to sell scarves to a group of soccer fans than it is to sell golf to a bunch of soccer fans. I'm not saying a golf tournament is a bad idea, but selling scarves seems like a better place to start for a small organization.

 

Actually I have organized tournaments before and you don’t lose money you make money. That’s why charity organizations have golf tournaments every summer and yes the charity organizations do pay to play.

 

I realize that lots of organizations have them, and they can make money, but my question is how many people do you need to play in the tournament to make money? From your example it sounded like you would need to rent the whole golf course. If you need to rent the whole golf course, you're going to pay the same amount no matter how many players you get, right? So if you don't get enough players, you run the risk of losing money. That was my concern. Maybe I don't understand how they work. You obviously have more experience with this than I do. Can you explain it to me?

 

It's different for different courses. They'll usually work with you on a price per player as opposed to just renting the course out. I'm pretty sure this will be my last post, so good luck with whatever type of fundraising you guys decide to do.

 

I hope my questions didn't scare you away. I'm sure the Eads Brigade can use people like you who are passionate about soccer and have fundraising experience.