Leadership, Collaboration Lead to $20,000 Boost for Youth Soccer Club
Omaha - Jason McClanathan of Arsenal Soccer Club knows talent when he sees it. As one of the club’s key directors he is also on the lookout for ways to keep program costs from rising. So when he saw an opportunity to raise funds on an annual basis for his organization at no cost to the club, he took a chance. “ I wanted a program that would benefit the players directly by helping parents and families with costs.” One year later that insight has paid off. Club members recently completed the first edition of the Omaha Community Goals Program, a fundraising initiative designed to raise money for non-profit organizations and drive traffic to locally owned businesses in Omaha and the surrounding area. The club’s fundraising effort was planned and led by Modern Sports Group, LLC. A locally owned marketing and fundraising company.
In it’s initial fundraising effort the club’s members produced over $20,000 in revenue, its highest ever single fundraising effort. Members easily sold more than 1500 ‘Community Goals Cards’ which were custom made for the club. The cards were created and produced by Modern Sports Group in cooperation with several of Omaha’s best day spas, golf courses, restaurants and even a cutting-edge dental practice. The goal of the card was to give back to local businesses that support youth sports in the area.
“Giving to the cause of youth sports and rewarding businesses by driving dollars back towards main street is our mission,” said Taylor Haynes, president of Modern Sports Group. “We facilitate a funding arm for youth sports organizations that rely mostly on volunteer and part-time staff and we actively seek local businesses who are looking to get involved in sports marketing but have limited budgets.”
In addition to raising funds, the club was also able to provide 48 pairs of Adidas F30 soccer shoes to select players. Long time Omaha soccer super store Soccer Internationale also assisted in the purchase of the large amount of shoes possible. Owner Tony Turrco played an invaluable part in searching through national inventories in order to complete the large order.
In essence the Arsenal Soccer Club was able to add full-time support staff at no additional cost by letting an outside company handle their fundraising needs. Though most businesses on the first edition card were located in West Omaha, Haynes says year-two plans are already underway and the card will include businesses from every corner of the Omaha area. In addition, many local businesses have expressed a desire to form cross promotional networks within the program using Modern Sports Group staff as a low-cost marketing program facilitator.
