fish tourney ? please read

[Fish Tales]

ok this is just a feeler to get some honest opinions.....

I was wondering has anyone ever organized a charity fishing tourney?
do you think it would have a good turnout?
would it be hard to get people to help out (volunteer) ?
would companies and charter capt. be willing to donate prizes such as a charter trip, sonar ect?
would magizenes, news papers, fishing shows ect give free advertising for the event?
could you keep the overhead cost down as to be able to give 100% to the charity?
would people enter knowing there would be no money payout just prizes?
would a trophey supplier donate trophies ?
would it be possible to run 2 tourneys on the same day one in VA and one in NC or is that to much to bite off at one time, also these 2 different locations would not be competing against each other?

any other in put will be apprecaited also

Woops I need to tell the charity, might make a differance "Juvenile Diabetes"

Thanks

[blackwell50]

If there are enough people out there who care it should not be hard.I've seen it done with good results.

[Bog Monster]

what is the charity you are hpoing to donate to? Popular one hear is a ladies tourneyt for breast cancer

[Fish Tales]

"Juvenile Diabetes"

[Deep C]

FT
I chaired and ran not one, but a whole series of tournaments for a few years...Many were charity based... I think to every question you asked there are bot yes and no answers. Its difficult to describe.
For example. For the most part, first time run events have piss poor turn out. It takes several to build up a following. Tha same theory follows right into what sponsors are willing to put up. I used to keep meticulous records of every priize donated, who won and exactly how much the charities actually received. Again that also leads into PSA (public service announcements) response... Many types of media do these gratis. Some are required to. However how much play they give is determined by track record and exposure the event will carry.
Volunteers will seem like there are many but they have a bad habit of not preforming as hoped. What they say and actually do are two different things so you need to be ready to back up what ever duties they were supposed to do but didn't.
Trophy suppliers doneate??? Not a prayer... They make their living off selling trophies to mostly charity events. You'll need to get sponsors to pick up each or each divisions worth.
As much as we wanted 100% to go to charities it was next to impossible. For evey 1000 flyers we averaged 9 participants. Gas running around doing stuff and even picking up prizes all takes money.
Then it was almost impossible to get participants without some cash prize incentives. That often meant splitting the gate with the charity to form the purse.
On a few occasions we had tournies going in two places and that meant two full staffs. I would nevr in a million years recommend trying that without a few dozen events behind you...
Not pretty answers but honest ones. FGeel free to ask questions. I'll do what I can to answer them straight up...

[LuckyLady]

I have quite a few friends that have diabetes and Its a horrible thing to deal with. A friend of mine was born with it and it's amazing that he even wakes up sometimes. I have left work many times to find him blacked out and won't wake up till some sort of sugar substance is stuffed down his throat. He spent 2 weeks in the hospital @ 26. It was the scariest thing I ever seen! To see him sitting in ICU not recognizing his mother, father or sister by any means. I seen what it does and its not a joke!

If I can help I will

To have 2 tourneys in 2 seperate states would be tough in my mind. If you are the one asking companies to pony up and donate cash or product you or the group should be there to represent both tourneys.

Does the tourney benefit a group or one sole person? Is it a nationally recognized group?

How much funds are you looking to raise?

With the product that you receive will you be raffling or auctioning it off?

You might get free press out of it but you will need to either have someone sponsor the advertising or it will have to be budgeted in to a percentage of the proceeds.

It's very doubtful that you will be able to donate 100% there is always some out of pocket expense, unless its years in the making and you have a sponsor for everything.

I have a tournament budget and layout somewhere that may be useful to what you are doing. It will give you a good idea of what you need to consider. I'm jammed up with boat show stuff right now and If I can find it before the show I will get your email address and email it to you.

Best of luck!

[gottaflylee]

We do one out of Wrightsville Beach called the Capt. Eddy Haneman Sailfish Tourn. I'm on the committee for it. Its been going on for 7 years now and have about 40 to 50 boats. Your turn out will depend on you and your committee and how much work you are willing to do. I will say that it will help with whom you pick to help with this event. A well known spokesperson will really make it.

would magazines, news papers, fishing shows ect give free advertising for the event?
could you keep the overhead cost down as to be able to give 100% to the charity?


Some will some won't. Keep asking till you get enough sponsors and make sure they are known and taken care of through out the tournament. It is going to a lot of work to make it successful. Don't except it to be a smashing hit the first year but with hard work and a couple of years it can be.

would people enter knowing there would be no money payout just prizes?
would a trophy supplier donate trophies

We do both money as well as Trophies. If you are only going to do trophies I would recommend that you take some of the entry fee and buy some Very Nice Trophies, not you every day run of the mill stuff. Look at the Barta or Redbone kind of things.


Running 2 tournaments at the same time is a heck of a lot to bite off especially the first year. If you look at any or the major tournaments none of the are like that. Feel free to call me if you want. Great cause by the way and good luck with it. Don't rush into this...take a year to plan it out if you need to and make a game plan before you start.

Remember...proper planning prevents pi$$ performance

[Sea-Gar]

I have been involved with a United Way charity rock tourney for the past 2 years. I'm sure there are better ways to raise money. We have a great time and support is building each year. I even try to drum up interest by raffling off a free fishing trip. We have corporate sponsorship. I believe that is vital to a successful tourney. Our award money is donated. Our time off of the job rounding up donated raffle prizes and free T-shirts is compted. Employees from the company come out and set up. The local marina donates some free launch fees along with the food for the awards cookout. With all this backing there is a little pressure to put on a good tourney and make some money for charity. The weather and local competing tourneys can be a killer. This is a picture of the winner of the free fishing trip with me. The price of next years raffle ticket just went up. 50" release!

[ONE MORE CAST]

Sure is one pretty bass.

[Honey Hole]

Fish Tales - There's a VERY nice Rockfish tournament in early December that donates to Toys for Tots... outstanding tournament.

I used to hold a series of tournaments every year (4-5 total) that were a means of raising money for our Wish-A-Fish Foundation fishing events. Check out www.wish-a-fish.org for more info on our Foundation.

The internet is a powerful tool in getting the word out. I think low-medioum entry fees and a creative format will draw interest/anglers. For example: We used to do a 24 hour "Grand Slam" tournament the first week of June. Target was to catch a citation Red Drum, Black Drum and Cobia in a 24 hour period. It's never been done.

Combo tournaments gain interest too. Flounder/Trout/Tog combo weight, largest in each species.

The media will help, but don't count on it for the majority of your exposure. Use tackle shops, angling club meetings, internet fishing sites... that's where you'll get the BANG. Also, work HARD on getting prizes DONATED. Another thing that'll help in this respect is to form a Charitable 501C3 Corp so that you can issue tax recepts for donations received.