Lake Zurich Baseball and Softball Association

Why is the Lightning Program conducting a fall fundraiser?
Simply put, to control the cost of player registration fees. Relative to local Travel alternatives, Lightning player fees have historically been extraordinarily reasonable. This has been possible, in part, because of our existence within the overall LZBSA organization. As demographics in the Lake Zurich area have changed in the last few years, cost accounting & control have been necessary.

At the same time, basic expenses that go with running a Travel program have continued to inch upward. We have to cover things like field maintenance/improvement, safety equipment (batting helmet, catcher's gear), softballs, ice packs, etc. In addition, we'd like to expand and improve on player instruction & skill building.

A Program-wide fundraiser allows us to generate revenue for basic costs shared by all teams, without major impact to player fees.

How does the fundraiser work?

Music Downloads and Sweepstakes Game Cards… a winning combination!
To raise money, you sell FootballMania Tickets for $20 and keep 70% of the money you collect. Ticket holders receive a great collection of digital music downloads and they are entered into the FootballMania sweepstakes where they can win cash prizes based on the results of the football teams printed on their sweepstakes game cards.

Each Lightning family will be asked to sell 10 FootballMania tickets in the time between roster announcements and the beginning of the NFL season. Details on ticket distribution and cash collections will be announced soon.

The Sweepstakes Game Card... the fundraiser’s secret sauce
All sweepstakes game cards have an equal chance to win prize money based on the performance of the random football teams printed on the back. Game cards contain 3 random teams in each of the 17 weeks of the pro football season (you get 3 new teams each week). To play the game, participants simply add up the points scored by their 3 teams. Every week, the 4 highest scoring game cards, and the 2 lowest scoring game cards all win prizes. Watch the short video for the best explanation of the game.

Sweepstakes prizes

Game cards have 17 chances to win a prize... a new chance in each of the 17 weeks of the sweepstakes! Every week, the 4 highest scoring game cards, and the 2 lowest scoring cards, all win prizes. In addition, two grand prizes are awarded at the end of the season. There are 4,960 unique game cards, each of which has a minimum 1 in 48 chance to win a prize during the season.

Each week CharityMania calculates the winning game cards. They then send us the prize money so that we can send it to the winners with a personalized letter thanking them for their support. CharityMania also posts the winning game card numbers on the web site each week so that participants can see if they’ve won.

This is supposed to be easy?
It really is. In my experience (Steve Schmit), it's been the fastest moving fundraiser I've ever taken to the office. Imagine, a fundraiser where the donators get to play a game tied to NFL team scoring, for the entire season, for a good cause, and it's legal. Find sample promotion materials on the SUPPORT menu tab above left.

How do I find out more about FootballMania?
Visit www.charitymania.com/FootBallMania.aspx

What if I have more questions?
Contact Steve Schmit, Lightning President at
847-664-2128
sschmit457@aol.com