.jpg)
|
You are in: Home >> Media Centre >> Sponsorship Opportunities Schools' InitiativeThe Task Summary: Bring together the demand for the provision of sports in schools and the supply of qualified coaches and excellent facilities available in local sports clubs.  As everyone is aware, there is a great ongoing debate about the health of our nation and, in particular, about the benefits of organised sport for our children. The Government has decided to channel substantial amounts of money towards the funding of sports within schools over the next few years. Add to that the impetus of the Olympic Games coming to London in 2012, with all the related investment, and the prospects for achieving those goals look excellent. However, there still remain significant problems, the first being that, even with this new funding, many schools, particularly at primary level, will not be able to afford the infrastructure and staffing costs to offer more than a modest array of sports to their pupils. Mindful of this, government (at national and regional level) has encouraged partnerships with local sports clubs that do have the assets (in terms of facilities and/or qualified coaches) that the schools need and thereby the schools will qualify for the funding to pay for them (coaches fees and/or pitch hire). In simple terms, the schools are cash-rich, asset poor. When it comes to the sports clubs, the reverse applies. At the highest level of the various sports (and this means amateur sport), the top-class infrastructure often exists and, likewise, the outstanding coaching talent does as well to provide the service that the educational sector requires. However, the maintenance of world-class facilities, as one example, is expensive and a drain on even a large amateur club’s resources. In complete contrast to the schools, the sports clubs are asset rich, cash poor. Clearly, this is a ‘marriage made in heaven’, where schools have the funding to outsource their sports provision, while local clubs have the capability to provide the services required. Together, the partners can achieve the Government’s goals of providing sports of a varied nature to all children, promote the individual sport itself, the schools can manage their budgets more effectively and the clubs can make more efficient use of their expensive assets. If only it was easy as that! As always with carefully laid plans that come from on high, one key element is missing and that is providing the link between the two sides of the potential partnership. What is required is a middle administrative function to promote and assess the demand for the particular sport in the surrounding area (perhaps within a radius of 15 miles) and organise the supply of coaches to satisfy that demand. Individual schools are reluctant to provide such a function, neither does it seem that local government wishes to be involved, leaving the sports club as the only sensible alternative to bring the whole project together. The sports club then, frustratingly, finds that such a function, while being perfectly well within its capabilities, does not have the necessary finance to make it work properly, if at all. This is where the role of private sponsorship comes in. The Solution Summary: The creation of an administrative support function to manage the project efficiently and effectively – “The …….. Schools’ Initiative”. The creation of an administrative function will involve employing a suitably qualified person to bring the two sides of the partnership together. For the schools, this means identifying (or even promoting) the demand for the particular sport, the specific times when each and every school requires the service, where it should take place, what equipment will be provided and over what period this should all cover. For the sports club, it means making sure that the correctly qualified coaches are at the right place, at the right time, with all the necessary tools and information to do an effective job. Further than this, there is the background administrative function to fulfil of overall timetable management, the invoicing for and the paying of fees (with income tax, VAT and NI implications), general accounting and, finally, the essential quality control role to ensure that the service being provided is of the highest level commensurate with what is being paid for. It is the funding for this role that sponsorship is sought. Chelmsford Hockey Club Summary: The leading hockey club in the East and one of the top five clubs in the country with the resources, the capability and the experience to provide the supply of coaches, equipment and facilities to schools, as well as the administrative function needed to manage the Schools’ Initiative properly. Chelmsford Hockey Club is one of the top five clubs in the country, with both Ladies and Men’s teams playing at the highest level of the English Hockey League. It has over three hundred members, runs close to twenty teams, with half the membership aged 18 or under. As the Club Corporate Brochure illustrates, Chelmsford Hockey Club has been operating a youth policy for over 15 years. It has also experimented with a strategy called the “Schools Initiative” which, while it has been partly effective (and the strength of the Club and its youth section is testimony to that), has been hampered for the very reasons explained above. The Club is fully prepared to organise the administrative function, as also explained in brief above, but lacks the necessary finance to do the job properly. The Sponsor Summary: Invited to become the third critical partner in a long-term and far- reaching relationship, fostering and developing strong and positive links, through children aged 5 to 15, with the community at large. In effect, the Corporate Sponsor is being invited to become the third, but equally critical partner in a regional relationship which will impact on the lives and well-being of hundreds, if not thousands of children aged 5 to 15 in the wider Chelmsford area over the next 10 years. By funding the core administrative function to make the whole project work (as far as providing the sport of hockey to schools around the County of Essex), the Sponsor can expect to reach a wide audience of parents and be received in a very positive light as an organisation that is actively supporting the local community at large and the well-being of their own children. Carefully managed, it can provide valuable marketing and relationship-building opportunities which, in time, will produce a steady stream of loyal customers at a relatively low, but more cost effective price. The Cost Summary: Up to £15,000 per annum. The cost of providing the vital marketing, organisational and administrative function is estimated to be around £15,000 per annum if the task is to be done effectively. This breaks down to a salary of £650 per month (based on 20 hours work a week, seasonally adjusted), office support, printing, distribution and marketing expenses of about £4000, as well as travel expenses (seasonally adjusted to 150 miles a week) of £3,000. While specifically aimed at primary and secondary schools, the further goal is to reach out to provide the same service to tertiary educational centres in the region as well as the junior clubs in the surrounding areas. Economies of scale mean that no increase in sponsorship funding will be sought, but the benefits of an even wider audience will be garnered by the sponsor. The scheme lends itself well to branding and can provide opportunities for marketing in various ways. |
Partner of the Page Brockmans Travel
Chelmsford Hockey Club is proud to be sponsored by: Edmund Carr Chartered Accountants Website Brockmans TravelWebsite Inter Sport Website For further information about sponsorship please visit our sponsor's page. |