Yippee for Yampa: Team Raises $1,920 with SportSpectator

Yampa Valley Wrestling Club in Colorado recently raised $1,920 with the SportSpectator fundraising and education program. The club achieved its success by leveraging sponsorships from local businesses. “Sponsorship is a great way to run the SportSpectator program,” explains Bryan Jones, SportSpectator President. “Just look at the results for Yampa Valley. They had a 79% profit before selling a single guide.”

SportSpectator features guides that explain the fundamentals of sports; 15 different guides are currently available. The guides can be used as an integrated fundraising and education program. Jones explains, “As a former athlete and coach, I am thrilled to offer a sports fundraiser that is actually about sports. There are dozens of fundraisers—bake sales, magazine subscriptions, car washes—but besides the fundraising component, none of these positively impacts teams. Contrast that to SportSpectator program, which educate parents about the sports their kids play.”

SportSpectator provides slots on each guide that can be filled with business cards from local sponsors. Yampa Valley filled all six slots on each of their guides. The club sent a parent to local businesses to show the guide, introduce the program, explain the club’s goals, and ask the business for support. In exchange, the businesses inserted business cards into the slots on the guides. The club created the business cards, which would have cost $130 but was donated by a local printing company.

Michelle Caragol, President of the Yampa Valley Wrestling Club, believes that sports education was a pivotal component of the program – not only because spectators learned about wrestling, but because of the value proposition that was created for sponsors. Caragol describes, “We liked the fact that it was something informative that people could use over and over and continue to see the sponsors. [Businesses] were very impressed by the brochure, which I think really helped us get high sponsorship numbers.”

At the wrestling tournament in November, the club passed out 200 guides at the door and in the stands. The guides were given out for free to spectators, but the club accepted donations from fans that chose to contribute.

“It’s a win for everyone,” Jones explains. “Yampa Valley Wrestling raised $1,920, businesses reached potential customers, and spectators received a product that explains wrestling. What a great success!”