Categories » ‘Garage sports organizer’
January 23rd, 2010 by admin
Each softball season the dreaded budget discussion begins as to how high expenses will be and how to generate the needed revenue. Like all things, it isn’t getting any cheaper. Umpire fees continue to rise as well as insurance, softball equipment, and field supplies. Additionally, as cost rise, the number of girls that have to be scholarshipped in also rises adding more financial burden to the league.
The primary sources for funding a youth softball league are the individual sign up fees, the league-wide fundraiser, corporate sponsorships, and perhaps income from concession sales. However, as the cost continue to rise it is becoming increasingly difficult to raise individual fees and also to garner the corporate sponsor. Further, if the truth be known, a very large percentage of the candy sales are picked up by the player’s parents. I can’t tell you how many boxes of oversized candy bars I have purchased over the years so my daughter’s didn’t have to burden the neighbors with their sad-eyed sales pitch.
The upside, to the typical sources of funds, for a League are that they do produce a significant amount of revenue. The downside is that all of these methods of fundraisers require an inordinate amount of time and effort. Even something as simple as just collecting sign up fees requires many man-hours. Just try finding fifty corporate sponsors and see how long that takes. And the candy selling fundraiser, I can’t imagine the total number of hours spent knocking on doors.
What if there was a passive means of generating revenue for your Softball League, or any non-profit organization for that matter? What if there was something the league could spend one hour on and it generated revenue for the league from now on? It wouldn’t even matter how much money it generated as long as it generated income 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for years and years to come. I have good news for you.
Earlier this year I surveyed over 300 youth softball league web sites. There were some really great sites and then there were some that were pretty simple. Some of the sites included listing of their corporate sponsors and some did not. But NONE of the sites had advertisements provided by Google. Oh my, what a GOLDEN opportunity everyone of these leagues is missing.
Let me explain how this works. Anyone, or entity, that has a web site can apply to Google to receive advertisements placed on their web site. It takes about five minutes to read through Google’s information and to submit the application. It is absolutely free to apply and join. Once that is done, Google will review the site and approve or disapprove the application. I can’t imagine them denying any non-profit softball league.
Once approved, Google will notify the applicant via email and will provide some code for the league web master to copy and paste onto pages on the league’s site. The web master can determine the placement of the ads, as to at the top or bottom of the page, or wherever they think is best. Don’t worry, Google doesn’t put those hideous pop up banners on your site.
Once the ads are on the site, when a visitor to the site clicks on an ad, revenue is generated for both Google and for the owner of the web site, or in this case, for the Softball League. Google keeps track of all of the clicks and the associated revenue, and when that revenue reaches a certain threshold Google will direct deposit or mail a check.
Google has done an excellent job of coding their ads so that only relevant ads appear on the web pages. Since we are discussing Softball Leagues, I would suspect that the ads would primarily be softball related. As such, they won’t seem intrusive to your league membership. In fact, the league members will probably appreciate added sources of information being available to them.
It’s impossible to say how much income this fundraiser could provide for a softball league. I seriously doubt it would ever replace any of the existing sources of income for softball leagues. However, it is essentially effortless income which could ease the financial burden of playing softball.
I don’t believe this is a matter of if a non-profit organization will allow advertising on their web site, but when will they embrace it. The truth of the matter about non-profit organizations is that they have all have two primary goals. The first goal is to produce whatever it is they produce, in this case it would be producing a fun softball league. The second goal is to raise money to support goal number one.
Is accepting advertising a foreign concept to non-profit organizations? Absolutely not. The baseball team I played on growing up was the Dr. Pepper Rockets. That was over 30 years ago that my league was accepting advertising revenue. I think the only issue now is when will these softball leagues become informed about the potential revenue their web sites hold. Once the secret is out, I suspect their will be a quick movement towards web site advertisements.
As internet advertising continues to grow, and as more people become savvy of web sites, Softball Leagues and other non-profit organizations will undoubtedly come to realize the value of their sites and unlock the revenue generating potential of their virtual real estate.
Jim Moyer is the author of www.mysoftballcoach.com. Having coached over 500 youth fastpitch softball games, he decided to make his unique knowledge available to all coaches and parents via his free web site. Included at the site are numerous fastpitch softball tips, drills, and fastpitch coaching strategies. Be sure to read all of the coach’s softball equipment reviews at www.mysoftballcoach.com/softball-equipment.html.
For more information about Softball League Fundraisers and more detailed information about advertising revenue be sure to read www.mysoftballcoach.com/fundraisers.html.
January 11th, 2010 by admin
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January 5th, 2010 by admin
Over the last several years, some very gifted endurance athletes have gone from famous to infamous after drug tests indicated they took banned substances, and illegal sports supplements, to enhance their performance. These men and women have been stripped of their Olympic gold medals and other prestigious accomplishments, been the subject of countless headlines and have sullied their reputations forever. By seeking an unfair advantage, these endurance athletes have gained the dreaded asterisk next to their names in publications and destroyed any possibility of lucrative endorsement deals for the rest of their lives. Many have gone from the very pinnacle of their sports to ignominy in a very short period, and it seems that with each doping scandal, the list of sports organizations’ list of banned substances grows longer. Even some drug-free sports supplements are causing problems.
The Sports Supplements Approval Process by the Food and Drug Administration
For a sports supplement to gain approval for sale in the U.S., they must endure the same vetting process as products categorized as “dietary supplements.” This includes drug-free sports supplements. According to the Dietary Supplemental Health and Education Act (DSHEA) signed into law in 1994, a dietary or sports supplement is a product taken orally that contains a “dietary ingredient” intended to supplement the diet. As you might guess, DSHEA’s definition of what constitutes a sports supplement and a dietary ingredient is quite a bit more detailed. However, under DSHEA, the firm that manufactures a sports supplement is wholly responsible for ensuring their product is safe, and any claims made about their products must be substantiated by adequate evidence showing they are not false or misleading. Unless a sports supplement contains a new dietary ingredient not previously vetted by the FDA, FDA approval is not necessary before they are marketed or sold in the U.S.
Which Sports Organizations Test and Approve Sports Supplements
Professional and elite amateur sports organizations have a vested interest in ensuring that their endurance athletes are not taking banned substances. Billions of dollars in advertising, merchandising and endorsements are at stake. Outfits such as the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA, International Olympic Committee (IOC) and countless other professional and amateur organizations require that athletes submit samples for testing at regular intervals. The heavyweight in the banned substances testing business, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), may not be well known to sports fans, but it is the ultimate authority in drug testing in sports.
With offices in Montreal, Canada, and Lausanne, Switzerland the home of the IOC, WADA was created in 1999 “to promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against doping in sport in all its forms.” The problem is that WADA and the drug-testing wings of all major sports organizations are constantly playing catch-up with the chemists who develop new performance-enhancing substances undetected by the testing protocols of the day. This is the primary reason why Tour de France champions, Olympic gold medalists and other endurance athletes are often stripped of their titles years after their victories.
What to Look for in a Sports Supplement
Whether you’re a world-class athlete looking to gain a competitive edge or an amateur athlete seeking the same advantage, an athlete must be certain that the sports supplements included in a training regimen contain no banned substances. This includes drug-free supplements. Endurance athletes who are seeking sports supplements to improve their performance and endurance legally should look for:
ISO/17025 Drug-Free Certification
ISO/17025 is an internationally recognized standard for ensuring the competence and proper calibration of testing laboratories. Laboratories wishing to gain accreditation through their designated accreditation body must meet the rigorous standards of this quality management system.
Sports Supplements made in NSF-certified facilities
The National Safety Foundation (NSF) is the world leader in product certification, education, standards development and risk management for public health and safety. Manufacturing facilities that have earned NSF certification have passed this organization’s stringent standards for cleanliness, manufacturing protocols, regulatory compliance and other standards for public health and safety.
WADA approval
Approval by the WADA ensures that all sports supplement, including drug-free, comply with the World Anti-Doping Code, international standards and meets the WADA’s stringent models of best practices and guidelines.
Approval by major league sports
Major sports leagues such as the NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA and others have billions of dollars at stake in ensuring that their endurance athletes compete on a level playing field. To gain approval by major leagues, a sports supplement must first be vetted by independent testing laboratories that they are drug-free sports supplements.
Over the last three decades, the sports supplement industry has gone from a niche business to an industry that generates over $20 billion in sales annually. Endurance athletes looking for a safe and legal way to build endurance and supplement their diet nutritionally are well-advised to do their homework to ensure that the sports supplement of their choice is not only drug-free, but also in compliance with the sports organizations guidelines. By doing so, they are making sure that their careers do not fall into the black hole of ignominy too soon.
P. S. Davis writes articles to help Endurance Athletes protect their career. She is published at www.xendurance.com and applauds their support of marathon and Olympic athletes.
December 18th, 2009 by admin
Whether you operate a baseball league in the summer, a hockey league in the winter, or any other type of sports organization, you know that communication is of paramount importance. In order to facilitate the smooth operation of your league, it is vitally important to communicate with coaches, players, sponsors and other organizers. In the past, this may have been a laboring activity. But now, with the power of email marketing solutions, it’s easy to create professional and effective email marketing campaigns with just a few clicks of the mouse.
One of the most common uses of email marketing solutions for sports organizations is to send out important announcements to coaches or team managers. In most leagues, if the coach/manager doesn’t know what is going on, then there will be chaos, which is obviously something the league organizers want to avoid. With the right email marketing solutions, the league organizers can send out a mass email to all the coaches, complete with maps to various venues (baseball diamonds, hockey rinks, swimming pools, etc), detailed schedules, links to websites like MapQuest for directions, and more. Through the power of email marketing solutions, leagues are no longer constrained to just plain-text emails. These communication messages can be jazzed up with graphics, which not only make them more eye-catching, but also more informative. As the cliche goes, “a picture says a thousand words”, so including a couple images can go a long way towards ensuring your coaches and team managers know everything you need them to know.
Email marketing solutions can also let you send captivating emails to all the players or participants in your league. Many leagues around North America have found it very effective to send out monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly newsletters to everyone in the league. This helps maintain a high level of interest because the participants are constantly being updated with all the latest news affecting the league. Most email marketing solutions will allow you to create a long or short newsletter, so there is no pressure to come up with a certain amount of articles to include. Sometimes newsletters during the off-season only have one or two articles, while newsletters sent out in the middle of a season may be packaged with five to seven articles. You can even ask players and coaches to submit stories and successes they’d like to share with the league. Your email marketing solutions will adapt to accommodate your needs so whatever it is you want to communicate, you will be able to do so easily.
Sending out newsletters with your email marketing solutions is also a great way to encourage enrollment for upcoming seasons, events or tournaments. Also, due to the viral nature of email, you can use your email marketing solutions to encourage current players to forward the email to their friends, which just takes one click, to further spread the word about your league and encourage additional enrollment. Ultimately, the more people you contact, the more people will be able to sign up for your league, and your email marketing solutions can put that communication on the fast track.
When you are running a sports league it is important that you know your message isn’t just being sent, but that it is also being read by your audience. With email marketing solutions, it is no longer a mystery as to whether your email is being read or not. Within minutes of sending your email campaign, most email marketing solutions will let you view real-time reports to see exactly who is opening your email and who is not. In most cases you can even see the date and time each person on your contact list opened the email. This lets you put your mind at ease because you will know that your communication was effective.
Email marketing solutions is an affordable and effective way to boost the communication efforts of your sports league. Regardless of the age or skill level of your league, being able to distribute information is always vitally important. With email marketing solutions in your arsenal, you will be better equipped to handle that challenge. Have a great season!
Rudy Barell is a Senior Account Executive with EliteEmail.com, the complete email marketing solutions trusted by sports organizations everywhere. Try the feature packed email marketing solution today with a no-risk free trial.
December 7th, 2009 by admin
Garage organizers are really a small part of anyone’s household because they are used outside and not on typically in areas where guests can see them or where you will care about appearance. There are garage organizers that look nice but they are in the minority. Usually all you will do with them is put them in a place that is used for industrial purposes or outside in the garage where you will only come into contact with them when you are moving or when you are arranging your storage.
There are sports fans out there with sports memorabilia. Some people are even nearly obsessive with it and have loads and loads of sports goods they either used to sell like baseball cards, signed sports autographs, and other large sports props. You will need a place to store these in your home because you rarely use them anymore. The smartest thing to do here is to get a garage sports organizer from Amazon or somewhere similar. What you can do is buy different shapes and sizes to best fit your sports material and then arrange them systematically so they best fit you garage.
Garage tool organizers are also really great for the home, they are used in the garage as well because most people have tool sheds or workshops outside where they keep tools. Retail stores like Sears sell garage tool organizers for a lot of money. I prefer to get mine online because they are such a great deal. You can then use the wall to store your tools or use wall organizers to easily access any pieces of equipment or old goods that you have so it won’t be a problem in the future.
Check out more next time when we will post videos and more information on tools, sports, you home organizing, and garage.
November 23rd, 2009 by admin
Garage organizers are in all kinds of retail and home improvement stores. For many of us, garage storage can be a headache. It’s really necessary because if we many items in our garage we need to find some way to store the items. We don’t want to end up messing up our garages either. When you have a messy garage floor, you need a garage organizer system. and new ideas for making the right arrangement.
Organizer systems are available in several different types. You need to have an understanding of your needs and then select the correct one for you. There are 2 main varieties available. One is the closed cabinet system. These cabinets would not only look nice, but they are very easy to use. Also, they would have wheels fitted and hence moving them around would normally be easy if you need so.
Modern cabinets are usually made of high-quality stainless steel and other good-quality material - hence they enjoy a long and secure lifespan. The other often used option for an organizer system is open shelves. These shelves might be single open shelves or they may be open shelves inside huge racks. And there are interchangeable shelving units also.
The good thing about shelves is that since the items you keep are openly visible, getting them back is easy. In addition, you may easily remove shelves if you plan not to store anything for some time to come.
Today, there are tons of people out there who have gotten into overhead shelving and wall-hanging and it’s almost become a trend. Garage organization systems are necessary because nowadays space really matters. You want to have the right organization for sports collectables or old time goods. Overhead garage organization may be an organizer system that you would want to consider for your home.
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