by Nick Bartlett, on Aug 18, 2016 4:31:23 PM
We hear it nearly every day: "It's just not in the budget for us to purchase a basketball shooting machine this year."
And we understand.
Many times fundraising is the only way to secure the necessary funds for basketball teams. But many times, programs don't know where to start. Does it require hard work and dedication? Yes. Can it work? Yes.
Check out how Western High School used hard work and creativity to get a Dr. Dish shooting machine and then used the machine to fundraise more money.
Western High School
When it comes to getting creative and working hard through fundraising, the Girls Basketball Program at Western High School in Florida has done a tremondous job. Coach Brandie Taylor just finished her 1st year with the program and is dedicated to providing the team with the best resources possible to push the program forward.
DonorsChoose and Sports Matter Campaigns
First, Coach Taylor identified that the program needed a basketball shooting machine if they wanted to improve their shooting percentage and take the program to the next level. To start the process, the program started a DonorsChoose campaign to raise as much money as possible towards the shooting machine.
The response was great during the campaign, but Coach Taylor knew she needed more to purchase the Dr. Dish shooting machine. This is where creativity came into play. She contacted Dick's Sporting Goods through their Sports Matter campaign and applied for extra funding. Sure enough, Dick's came through and donated an extra $3,000 which allowed Western to make the purchase for the machine!
As Coach Taylor said, "If it wasn't for the Dick's Sports Matter opportunity, we wouldn't have been able to get the Dr. Dish when we did."
The "Shoot-a-thon" with Dr. Dish
Now that Western High School has the Dr. Dish machine, the hard work is over, right? Not so fast. There are still many administrative costs involved in running a program including: jerseys, warm-ups, travel expenses, meals on away games, etc.
This is where Coach Taylor came up with the great idea of using the Dr. Dish in a "Shoot-a-thon" fundraiser this summer!
For the "Shoot-a-thon" players were required to shoot 100 free throws on the Dr. Dish. The Dr. Dish would then keep track of how many each player made out of 100. The players were asked to gain "pledges" ahead of time where they could either get a flat donation or the pledge could sign up for a donation "per make" out of 100 free throws (Ex: $1 per free throw made).
"The Dr. Dish made our Shoot-a-thon much more efficient. It was also a great way to actually get better while making money for the program. The accountability piece that Dr. Dish provided was useful as well. We had the players use their Dr. Dish phone app to keep track of the shots so there was no cheating or question on how many they actually made."
- Coach Brandie Taylor
Overall, the team raised over $1,500 for the program during the summer Shoot-a-thon. But Coach Taylor said they're planning to do another Shoot-a-thon again in the spring when more players and teachers are around to generate even more buzz and hopefully more money for the program.
We also asked Coach Taylor how the program is enjoying the Dr. Dish:
"The girls love it. When we have conditioning or strength workouts they'll ask me, 'Coach, can we come early and get shots up on the Dr. Dish first.' Instead of going to the pool or to the movies, they actually want to be in the gym because they love using the machine. We've even had college coaches come to the gym and get jealous that their program doesn't have one yet."
Need more help with fundrasing or setting up a crowdfunding campaign? Click below:
