Fund Raising Ideas for Our Pool Club

StraightPoolIU

StraightPoolIU

Brent
Silver Member
As the fall semester gets ever closer here at IU me and my friends were trying to brainstorm ideas to both build interest and raise money for our pool club (we want to be able to take trips and whatnot) and we were all just sort of hitting the wall. Seeing as the forum has an overwhelming amount of knowledgeable individuals I was hoping some of you enlightened individuals could give us a hand and help us think outside the box. I've fundraised for political groups before, but it's easy to squeeze money out of people when you're pushing their ideological agenda. This is a little bit different. Thanks! :)

Brent
 
do what any self-respecting pool player does. Get it from your girlfriends. ;-)
 
StraightPoolIU said:
As the fall semester gets ever closer here at IU me and my friends were trying to brainstorm ideas to both build interest and raise money for our pool club (we want to be able to take trips and whatnot) and we were all just sort of hitting the wall. Seeing as the forum has an overwhelming amount of knowledgeable individuals I was hoping some of you enlightened individuals could give us a hand and help us think outside the box. I've fundraised for political groups before, but it's easy to squeeze money out of people when you're pushing their ideological agenda. This is a little bit different. Thanks! :)

Brent
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I would write to the BCA and the APA. They receive quite a bit of money from their player members. Maybe they could donate some funds as this promotes pool.
 
Well, one way you can raise funds is to hold a pool tourmanet. Instead of cash payouts, solicit local businesses for freebies. You'd be amazed how many small businesses will be willing to give away free meals, or dinners for two. Talk to the student union / student store into donating as well.

Entry fees can be moderately low, maybe around $10 or so. If you get a couple dozen people (hopefully) that's a few hundred dollars.

The only catch is to make it interesting. A straight up 9-ball or 8-ball tournament won't seem very interesting, when someone could go do a similar tournament with cash payouts. Make it a mixed men/women scotch-doubles, or speed pool (15 second shot clock per shot, or something similar), or sudden-death 7-ball (miss = ball in hand for opponent). I've played in broomstick tournaments before and they're always a lot of fun, even if only to see what sort of broomsticks people buy to get any sort of a comical edge on the competition.

Put a twist on it and make it interesting enough for people to put down $10 just in the hopes of having fun and not winning money. Then market, market, market!
 
StevenPWaldon said:
Well, one way you can raise funds is to hold a pool tourmanet. Instead of cash payouts, solicit local businesses for freebies. You'd be amazed how many small businesses will be willing to give away free meals, or dinners for two. Talk to the student union / student store into donating as well.

Entry fees can be moderately low, maybe around $10 or so. If you get a couple dozen people (hopefully) that's a few hundred dollars.

The only catch is to make it interesting. A straight up 9-ball or 8-ball tournament won't seem very interesting, when someone could go do a similar tournament with cash payouts. Make it a mixed men/women scotch-doubles, or speed pool (15 second shot clock per shot, or something similar), or sudden-death 7-ball (miss = ball in hand for opponent). I've played in broomstick tournaments before and they're always a lot of fun, even if only to see what sort of broomsticks people buy to get any sort of a comical edge on the competition.

Put a twist on it and make it interesting enough for people to put down $10 just in the hopes of having fun and not winning money. Then market, market, market!
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Not a bad idea. You could also get the Greek's involved - make it a frat competition. Or perhaps Scotch doubles and get the sororities involved. You could conceivably attract quite a few players if Greek prestige is on the line. Many of the houses have tables, and at least 1 fair player.
 
Get a very lovely lady who's willing and pay her $100 to be the first prize. Win a date with...picture of some knockout co-ed...tends to catch the eye of the average college dude. Can say for sure it would have caught my attention.... in the late 1970's!
 
sjm said:
Get a very lovely lady who's willing and pay her $100 to be the first prize. Win a date with...picture of some knockout co-ed...tends to catch the eye of the average college dude. Can say for sure it would have caught my attention.... in the late 1970's!
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I actually think that's a great idea, as long as it's a chaperoned date. The chaperone could be their driver so the winner won't have to know where she lived :)
 
StraightPoolIU said:
Hey, thanks guys for the suggestions. I really like the modified date auction one.
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SPIU,
Did you say "date auction." That's sure not what most of us thought. This idea is legal no place outside of the Chicken Ranch (I'm not saying its a bad idea; I just hope that IU doesn't have a really active NOW chapter, or you guys/pimps are going to be front page news on the Indiana Daily Stupid er Student). Of course, if you come up with some babe like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" you could make a killing (now that was one realistic movie).
 
Hi StraightpoolIU,

Sounds like you are in the same predicament we are! I run the billiards club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and just like you, we've been looking highly and low for fundraising ideas. I'm not gonna hijack your thread by putting in my own concerns, but if you do want to work something out between our clubs, like an interschool tourney or something, I would be more than willing to talk about it. I have also talked to U of I at Chicago and they are keen on the idea as well. I don't the people in U Mich, but I know that they did organize some sort of inter-college tourney a while back. You can PM me if you like.

thanks,
ray
 
Sweet Marissa said:
I actually think that's a great idea, as long as it's a chaperoned date. The chaperone could be their driver so the winner won't have to know where she lived :)
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I'd get you to do it! Not as the chaperone, of course :D
 
I've seen other date auctions here on campus before. My friend Zach even got auctioned off one time at some sort of fundraiser. It's a moot point anyway because I was leaning more towards holding a tournament with donated prizes or selling t-shirts with some catchy slogan (suggestions welcomed).

P.S. Willie, I've already been in the IDS inside and on the frontpage several times having choice words said about me and my friends by groups like that so no big deal lol.
 
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raemondo said:
Hi StraightpoolIU,

Sounds like you are in the same predicament we are! I run the billiards club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and just like you, we've been looking highly and low for fundraising ideas. I'm not gonna hijack your thread by putting in my own concerns, but if you do want to work something out between our clubs, like an interschool tourney or something, I would be more than willing to talk about it. I have also talked to U of I at Chicago and they are keen on the idea as well. I don't the people in U Mich, but I know that they did organize some sort of inter-college tourney a while back. You can PM me if you like.

thanks,
ray
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Hey Rae,
It's good to hear someone in the same situation as us at IU. Last year we decided to start the billiards club here and it's been tough ever since. We did talk to the UM club president about possibly playing sometime with them, but as it turns out, that person has graduated and is no longer with the club. It would be great if our clubs could get together sometime. Let me know.
 
Set up a 3-ball, ongoing tournament in the union where passing students can take a crack at it. Charge $5 for three racks of 3-ball and record their best score and overall score. Then a few weeks/days later, have a playoff with a few of the lowest one-rack scores plus a few of the lowest overall scores. Maybe have a big payoff if anyone lucks out and gets a score of 1, for example. Put up a big board with everyone's name and scores on it so the good ones can brag a little.

3-ball is kinda like poker...it can be had by an amateur and is short and sweet and is a hell of a lot of fun.

I'm planning a 3-ball event for our high-school reunion next summer so I've been thinking about this some.

Jeff Livingston
 
StraightPoolIU said:
Wow that's a great idea. I think that has a lot of potential for us. Thanks we appreciate your help and everyone elses.
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Get someone to tape your matches on a Digital video camera if you do have a fundraiser tournament. Get it put on DVD. Sell it. Prices on DVD's, Burners, DV camera's, have dropped big time and cost to get this done should not be too bad, especially if you can get a friend who has the equipment to help you out.
 
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