Fishing Tournament As A Fundraiser

[Washout]

 I'm in Western Illinois and I have a very close friend who has undergone a life-changing surgery. I am hosting the fishing tournament part of a fundraiser for him. My end of the planning has led me to asking how any non-sanctioned events do the awards? My wife and I catch and release everything. We don't own a livewell, we don't have many friends that do either. We are trying to keep it open so that bank fishers can particapate as well. Would it be easiest to do it like an online style tournament, with a tape measure and a camera, or is there an easier solution to this? I want to be honest and fun at the same time. I have no idea how many people to expect, but we have some very generous people around here and I think that the majority of the people in the tourney are in it to help out a great individual.I have no idea what other people charge to enter tournaments, so does a $25 per 2 person team seem in line? Prizes are going to be gift cards, prizes and trophies.
For those that didn't read the lonmg-winded explanation;
Is the $25 Per two person team price too high or too low?
Is the tape measure and photo part the easiest way to score?
What are some fun awards to do too? (smallest fish, etc)
I would like to pre-emptively thank everyone that has any input for me.

[jiggerpole]

I have held several Tournaments to raise money for Boy Scouts while at the same time trying to Manage for over crowded bass lakes. In doing so I charged $40 per boat, two people per boat, 20 fish limit, only one bass could be over 14 inches per boat, and I had a 40% pay back to three places. I had a separate big fish pot with a 100% payback, (Usually $10 per boat). I also gave a gift certificate and or door prizes that were donated by local Sporting goods stores. The big prize would go to the Smallest Bass Award!  The rest were random drawings.

 

It was fun and we managed to raise most of our money for the year doing this and selling pop corn.  Most people will participate if it's for a good cause and it stays fun. Good Luck.

[Washout]

That makes sense. I like the 20 fish limit. How did you break up the winnings? 25% 10% and 5%?

[papajoe222]

The great thing about doing something like this is that you can do it whatever way you like.  It can be a total CP&R, catch photo and release, tournament. You could have a local radio personality or whoever do the judging with the judge's choice being the winner and call it a judge's choice contest, have multiple judges, or whatever.  The prize pool being divided however you choose, but be sure the participants know what the breakdown is.  You can limit the number of entries, or have a limit on the number of boats or bank fishermen, or both.

One thing I think would be appreciated would be separate awards for those two catagories and seeing as you're thinking of a team entry amount, the awards and prizes should be for the team.

I did something similar to this years ago, but it was a bowling tournament. All monies taken in were donated to the charity and all the prizes were donated by local businesses.  You'd be surprised at what kind and the value some of those donations can be as it's 'free' advertising for their business.  Just make sure there is some form of recognition in any advertisement.

 

Note: please PM me with information about entering as I live in the Chicago area, but frequent the Quad Cities and western Illinois often.

[Washout]

I would be MUCH more at home doing a bowling tournament! Scores are easier. (kind of)
Seperate entries and prize categories makes sense as long as we stagger the end times. We have a lot of things going on in a small time span. Staggering the tournament end times may help. Thanks for the words of wisdom.
 

[BrownBear]

Just gotta say, wish I have a good friend like you! That's really great that you doing that for them. Best wishes for your friend and hope ya'll bring in a lot of money for them.

[jiggerpole]

_{That makes sense. I like the 20 fish limit. How did you break up the winnings? 25% 10% and 5%?}

 

 

To be honest, it depended on the participation that day. I guess I just winged it. There were a couple of times I only paid out two places.

[Washout]

Just gotta say, wish I have a good friend like you! That's really great that you doing that for them. Best wishes for your friend and hope ya'll bring in a lot of money for them.

Nah, this probably isn't half of what he would do for any of us. He's a great dude and all we have to do is entertain and feed people.

[Sam]

What ever the entry fee per boat is ($50 to $100) be sure to let everyone know the percentage going to the fundraiser and the paybacks for each place.

 

My club has a fun tournament each year and 20% of the entry fees and Big Fish pot come off the top.

 

We then take the balance and divide it as follows:

50% to first place

30% to second place

20% to third place

And the stated amount for Big Fish

[Topwaterspook]

Thank you for being a being a caring individual. We certainly need more folks like you to step up to the plate. Fund raisers like yours are a lot of work but extremely rewarding.

[Fishes in trees]

Professional fund raisers have formulas for determining if a particular fund raising project is worth while time-wise.  You need to estimate/guesstimate costs versus risks versus rewards.

 

Depending on what league they fund raise in, that number is anywhere between $500 to $5000 for every hour that they invest in the project.  That goal isn't always reached.   Many people tend to under value donated time.

 

 A fair question is how much money are you planning on raising?  If you have 50 boats at $50 a pop, that's only $2500.  If you are planning on raising awareness as well as raising money, then that's a separate issue, with its own  cost/risk/reward analysis.

 

In Warsaw, Mo, the Shriners do a big charity tournament every May.  They've done it for a number of years.  60, 70, 80 guys work on it off and on all year long for the one weekend payoff.  Setting up a tournament is a BIG chore.

 

Plan your event out carefully.  Speaking as a guy who has fished a couple of dozen charity tournaments over the years, you remember the ones that were poorly run far longer than you remember the ones that were well run.    In most (at least many) anglers minds, the cause becomes firmly connected with the event.

 

I wish you the best of luck with your project, if I were closer, I'd probably help.  I hope I gave you some stuff to think about without being too much of a downer.  I just know that tournaments are a lot of work.

 

I see how much labor goes into putting on a BFL tournament, I've witnessed how much work goes on in a major charity tournament, like the Warsaw Shriners put on and  I don't think that putting on a charity tournament, albeit on a smaller scale, would be a whole lot less labor-wise.

[Washout]

I have the luxury of this being a small event. I don't expect a lot of participants. If I get a lot, I will be warned as the pre-entry is cheaper to purchase than day of entry. That's not to say that I couldn't be stunned by day of entrants, but I don't think it's likely. We have generous people giving the their own time to help out. To answer the "is it worth it?" question, yes this one is. The prizes will be donations and funded out of our other non-profit venture if need be. We have a much larger project going on at the same time, which probably will keep most of the people busy. It's a labor of love, so it doesn't seem like work to me. Getting the donations is going to be the hardest part, but that's the name of the game I guess.

[Nrubio33]

There are a couple of apps that do what youre looking for. Best one in my mind is Fatsack Outdoors. By Far the cheapest too.