Charitable organizations struggle with adding revenue streams that do not cannibalize their existing revenue streams. You can only "go back to the well" so many times and ask the same donors for funding. Eventually that well runs dry as donors reach the maximum levels that they will contribute.

The American Traffic Safety Services Foundation needed another revenue stream. The Foundation serves the roadway infrastructure safety industry, which is seasonally cyclical. Most road work is done during warm months, so the industry's annual convention and tradeshow is conducted in January or February by American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), the Foundation's parent organization. More than 3,000 attendees converge at ATSSA's convention and tradeshow, providing a venue for industry decision makers to come together in one place at one time.

Companies sponsor events that their customer base will attend. By attracting new people to a new event, new sponsors were also gained.

For 21 years, the Foundation's main fundraiser was a golf tournament conducted the day before the ATSSA convention and tradeshow. The Foundation had attempted grants and other fundraisers such as raffles and silent auctions, but the return was small for the effort involved. The Foundation needed a more effective fundraiser in order to grow its charitable programs and raise awareness of its mission, "Toward Zero Deaths" on America's roadways.

Taking Aim at a New Event

Board leadership introduced the idea of conducting a sporting clays tournament on the same day and at the same time as the golf tournament. The board president offered to sponsor the tournament title and maintain the previous sponsor level of the golf tournament. The option looked promising, so staff explored it further.

Other industry events lacked the attendance to support the event, so the sporting clays tournament needed to be held in conjunction with ATSSA's convention and tradeshow. Analysis revealed that sporting clays tournaments appealed to a segment of the ATSSA membership that was not previously engaged by the golf tournament. Many members who were interested in the sporting clays event were not interested in golf. Likewise, many of the golfers were not interested in the shooting event. This was critical to attract new participants rather than simply spreading the golf participants between the two events. For success, new companies were needed to sponsor the event. Companies sponsor events that their customer base will attend. By attracting new people to a new event, new sponsors were also gained.

The sporting clays tournament had to be a big enough attraction to justify an extra day of travel for employees to attend. This was the key. Informal surveys indicated that not only would skilled shooters invest time and money for this, but so would people who had never fired a shotgun.

Sporting clays tournaments are an ideal setting for networking, which is one of the main reasons people attend charitable events. People generally move through sporting clays tournaments in foursomes where they are insulated from masses of people yet able to conduct business comfortably.

A Strong New Revenue Stream

After four consecutive years of the dual fundraising events, golf sponsorships and registrations have remained stable while the sporting clays event continues to grow. The success of these events extended far beyond revenue streams. The sporting clays tournament attracted new people who previously were not engaged with the Foundation. The golf tournament maintained participation of people who were already involved. These events provided more places for inclusion, camaraderie, and mutual respect for ATSSA's membership.

Meanwhile, new participants have personally experienced the Foundation and its mission. They have met scholarship recipients whose parents were killed while working in a roadway work zone. They now have an emotional attachment to the Foundation and its mission. In addition to playing in the sporting clays tournament, they have joined golf tournament participants to become donors and ambassadors for the Foundation, and foremost, the Foundation continues to raise awareness of its mission, "Toward Zero Deaths" on roadways.