[FRC Blog] Fundraising Updates – SlingShot and Bulbs

[scottandme]

Anybody else bothered by this entire concept?

Seems like an effective fundraiser for whoever is receiving the $300 film screening fee, the $32 in shipping charges for a DVD, and the 5% credit card processing fee. Not much disclosure on that front.

Past that issue, their example is borderline intellectually dishonest with the math. Selling 77 tickets @ $10 each only earns the team $399.50. $370.50 goes to whoever collects the profit on this venture. Seems pretty iffy to lump "additional donations" into the equation to make the numbers look better.

The bulbs were always a bit cheesy but teams can actually make a decent ROI ($9 profit on a $2 bulb) and you don't have to exceed ~$350 in sales before you see a net profit.

I'm looking forward to the FIRST Cutco knives fundraiser next year.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by scottandme

Anybody else bothered by this entire concept?

Seems like an effective fundraiser for whoever is receiving the $300 film screening fee, the $32 in shipping charges for a DVD, and the 5% credit card processing fee. Not much disclosure on that front.

Past that issue, their example is borderline intellectually dishonest with the math. Selling 77 tickets @ $10 each only earns the team $399.50. $370.50 goes to whoever collects the profit on this venture. Seems pretty iffy to lump "additional donations" into the equation to make the numbers look better.

The bulbs were always a bit cheesy but teams can actually make a decent ROI ($9 profit on a $2 bulb) and you don't have to exceed ~$350 in sales before you see a net profit.

I'm looking forward to the FIRST Cutco knives fundraiser next year.

Agreed. I don't like it.

My kids make more money with bake sales and the accounting is simpler.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by scottandme

Anybody else bothered by this entire concept?

Seems like an effective fundraiser for whoever is receiving the $300 film screening fee, the $32 in shipping charges for a DVD, and the 5% credit card processing fee. Not much disclosure on that front.

I don't think this is a 'fundraiser' for the producers of the film. I see the film as a commercial endeavor, and $300 + some fees doesn't go all that far toward recovering film production costs, marketing, and so on. One could say, someone should have/could have made this film with all donated $ and posted it on YouTube and for free download, but that's a decision left up to those that wanted to produce it, and not up to us to decide. So far, as of right now, the 'happened' showings + confirmed future showings amount to 13 showings total. (https://www.tugg.com/titles/slingshot) That's $3900 + credit card fees-- most of which goes to the CC company and to Tugg, who administers the ticket sales and payouts etc.

I'm sure they will expand to other marketing channels (Disk Sales, etc.) as tiime goes on. Will they even recoup all the development costs? I don't know.

Also, this should be viewed not just as a fundraiser, but also as a STEM outreach method. The film does a terrific job in conveying the larger message of FIRST, via the life story of Dean.

Once we reached the $300+ threshold, we, for the most part, opened up the show to anyone with just a donation box at the door-- This, or just switching to cash ticket sales (avoiding the web site) allows you to avoid the CC charges.