I know this is a duplicate post, but we just want to officially welcome any new visitors from Ohnozone.net to GotApolo and our fundraising effort - TheRockerFund!
We hope the following summary will help explain what we're doing and answer most of your questions...
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Welcome to TheRockerFund! - Supporting America's Short Track Speedskaters[/b]
"True dedication is representing a country, most of which only seriously acknowledges you every four years. Being your best even when networks won't give you airtime. Giving your all even when your victories are printed under 'other sports'. For them it has to be for the love of the game, and THAT is what creates champions." ~ a fanWhat is TheRockerFund?TheRockerFund is a grass-roots fan project aimed at generating funding for US Olympic hopefuls in the sport of short track speedskating. Unlike many countries that compete internationally, our athletes do not receive money from government funding. Athletes who compete at the elite level must rely largely on their own resources. Families make great sacrifices for their kids to compete, and the further they go in competition, the bigger the expenses become. We've created an environment that encourages people to support and follow the careers of specific skaters, with the opportunity to include encouragement and well-wishes with their donations. Our hope is that this will promote a greater connection between skaters and fans - inspiring more people to attend short track events, which will benefit the sport as a whole.
Most of us began following the sport primarily because of the Olympic success of Apolo Anton Ohno and got acquainted with each other online at his various fan web sites. Many of us eventually met at short track competitions and brought back stories of Apolo and his teammates' dedication, inspiration, talent and graciousness toward their fans. Those encounters will hopefully motivate more and more Americans to get acquainted with the sport known as 'NASCAR On Ice'. It's an experience you will never forget!
How did TheRockerFund begin?Well, sour grapes, actually. Or, a little more accurately, sucking on lemons and deciding to make lemonade with them instead. After enjoying the 'perks' of VIP seats at the 2007-08 National Championships, we found that VIP tickets were not available to us for the World Cup event 2 months later in Salt Lake City. We decided that rather than whining about it, it would be a nice idea to take the cost difference and donate the money to a struggling ST athlete. We planned to collect the funds, choose a skater, and give the money to him/her at the event. That sounds easy enough, right? It wasn't. We discovered that far too many of the skaters we had been cheering for were having funding difficulties and it was too heartbreaking to choose one over another, so we walked away from Salt Lake City with our money still in our pockets, a lot of work to do, and a commitment to help as many of these athletes as we could for as long as we could... and TheRockerFund was born!
What is the basic 'gameplan'?A website (TheRockerFund.org) will be launched with bios of the skaters who are on our 'list' and include information on how people can donate to them - preferably through the clubs that they are or have been associated with. We are also trying to provide opportunities for donors to give encouragement and well-wishes, as well as links to the skaters' websites or blogs and ways for the athletes to give feedback and updates on their training and accomplishments if they choose to.
Is my donation tax deductible?Yes, for the athletes affiliated with a Sec. 501c3 club. You would make your check out to the club with a note stating your preference that the funds go to a particular athlete, then the club would get the money into the skater's hands. The club cannot legally
guarantee that the money will go to a particular skater, but the policy of the clubs we're dealing with is to 'distribute the funds in accordance with the wishes of the donor'. There
will eventually be skaters who cannot be reached through clubs, and in those cases your gifts would not be tax deductible.
How will you deal with the athletes' physical privacy?We don't want their personal addresses, e-mails, phone numbers, etc., to be made public, and any means to facilitate sponsor/skater interaction will protect that information unless the athletes choose to reveal it.
What will the athletes' responsibility be toward the donors?We want to keep donors' expectations realistic. You are encouraged to 'give with an open hand', expecting nothing in return - any communication by the athletes either privately or through the website would certainly help to strengthen the connection with the fans, but would be entirely optional on the part of the skater.
How does a skater get on the 'List'?We want to avoid having to 'play God' - therefore the current plan is to rely on and trust the recommendations of third parties (coaches, clubs, skating associations, and even other skaters and parents) as to who we should consider for our program. We realize that fortunes can change quickly based on the skaters' rankings (and even the consequences of injury), so we'd rather err on the side of having too many on the list than too few. We want to keep the potential 'pool' of skaters manageable, but also make it as inclusive as possible. At this time we are 'loosely' limiting it to skaters who have competed at (or who are eligible to compete at) Senior Nationals. Once they've been recommended, the skaters would be invited to participate and submit a biography and a few pictures so that fans can get to know them better.
How will the skaters feel about being portrayed as 'needing financial help'?We are very concerned about the fine line between communicating need yet not embarrassing the skaters within their peer group. Our idea is to make people understand that these athletes are participating in a very expensive sport that gets relatively little in large sponsorships, and that the group on our list
as a whole has been identified as 'having funding difficulties that could potentially interfere with their ability to train'. Any additional information about need or financial hardship that is published will be provided by and up to the individual skater.
Will TheRockerFund organizers control any funds?Because the setup of the website will be 'information only', and contributions will be made privately to the athlete either directly or through a club, no money will pass through the hands of the organizers. For example, Donor 'A' will see that to donate to Skater 'B', he/she must write a check (or perhaps click a Paypal link) to Club 'C', and the address/link will be provided. There may be instances where we would be selling t-shirts or doing general fundraisers where donor confidence will need to be addressed, but we'll cross those bridges when we come to them. The drawback to this system is that it will be difficult to determine the success of the program, but hopefully we'll get enough voluntary feedback from the skaters, donors and clubs that we can make some assessments about our effectiveness.
Will this turn into a 'popularity contest'?Because all contributions will be made privately and outside the website, the skaters will not know who is getting how much from whom, unless they choose to talk about it among themselves. If we do get feedback about donations, it will be reported as 'total donations' and not broken down by skater. Obviously, some of the lesser-known skaters might not feel as much 'love', so we will be 'featuring' skaters on a rotating basis so that people can learn more about
all of them.
Does the skater need to be concerned in that accepting donations may void some sort of contract or association with the USS, IOC, etc?No. As long as they adhere to the guidelines in their athlete agreement with the USS, any money that is donated to them is acceptable. Skaters seek and accept donations/sponsorships all the time - they couldn't afford to compete if they didn't.
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We'd like to add that this effort could not have gotten off the ground without the cooperation and support of a multitude of people. There was the original core group who formulated this plan in January, then nurtured it throughout our weekend in Salt Lake City, beginning the networking process that helped us get rolling. You have been quietly working with us behind the scenes since Day 1, making contacts, giving suggestions and information, and encouraging us when we were 'having a bad day'. And you were the first ones to step up and donate when we finally started posting skater bios. I would list you all, but I'm sure I'd forget someone. You know who you are, and
we know who you are -
thank you for having the patience to wait until we 'got it right'.
There are also those who contributed on this thread tirelessly and enthusiastically as we 'brainstormed' our way from Point A to Point B and beyond - and special kudos to Lindsey, Noelle and Theresa, webmistresses extraordinaire who have lent us your 'babies' and given us a platform from which to fly!
Last but certainly not least, there are the many skaters, parents, coaches and club officials who have done everything in their power to make this happen, giving input and encouragement from your own unique perspective that was indispensable in getting us to this point. And of course, the skaters who have partnered with us - thank you for taking this 'leap of faith' with us, and for putting your trust in us.
In closing, we have no idea if this thing will 'take off', but we'll never know unless we try. All we can say is that scores of people who one year ago only wanted to watch Apolo skate (or dance) are now staying up until the wee hours watching live data feeds of races, just as excited to hear about Jordan and Katherine's split times as they are about Apolo's - so who knows what a bunch of determined fans can do?
~Lori
