Rockstar Skatepark Fundraiser

Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Bev Heyer isn’t a skateboarder and at one point admitted that she didn’t even like skateboarders. She’s a City Councilwoman in the tiny community of Winston, Oregon, and retired after a successful career in sales and marketing for a large chain of hotels. As a businesswoman she had formed negative impressions of skaters due to the nuisance and destruction they caused, but when her grandson started skating she didn’t let that bias her. Delighted to spend time with him, she drove from one location after another in town as he learned how to skateboard. She was shocked to witness what most skaters accept as a daily occurrence—the aggressive policy and handling of skateboarders by police officers and property managers. As a community leader she endorsed how law enforcement cracked down on skateboarding, but after seeing the treatment first-hand Bev realized Winston needed a skatepark. Leveraging what she knew about incentives, rewards, and people, Bev organized a grass-roots fundraising event that raised $25,000 in one night. First, she contacted one of the “stars” from a popular reality TV show. After making her case and using the support from one individual to negotiate with the next, she was ultimately able to secure the appearance of five stars from the show at a reduced rate. Every detail was donated or discounted: charter airlines, limos, and hotel rooms. Understanding the limitations of hosting a huge event in such a small town, Bev simply arranged to host it in the much larger city of Portland, Oregon (there is little reason to limit one’s fundraising events to only the community that will most benefit). Filling an entire hall, charging multiple levels of admission granting people different levels of access to the stars, and holding an auction for donated goods, the event was an enormous success and had major coverage in local TV, radio, and newspaper media. While first-time benefit events generally raise more awareness than cash, one very important lesson that can be drawn from this successful event: Very few of the incentives had anything to do with skateparks or skateboarding. The fact that it was a skatepark benefit was no secret, but Bev understood that most people simply weren’t motivated by that cause.  She attracted a much larger audience by locating the event in a more populated area and used incentives that would appeal to a wider range of interests.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 September 2007 )