FUNDRAISER ideas

[Illini MUI]

I've been thinking of a few ways our club can make some extra bling. aka money.

1. Club T-shirts- I'm almost finished with the design and I want to have the shirts made before quad day next semester, or possibly this semester.

2. Illini Fishing Lures! - I've been talking with Vandy and I thought it would be a great idea to make Illini Fishing Lures! We could start with the good ol' spinnerbait. We could have a single bladed spinnerbait. Orange Blade and Blue skirt!

*I went on staminaic.com and compiled a possible spinnerbait. With all the components for a single bladed spinnerbait, it would cost from 1.65 - 1.99 for each spinnerbait. So we could sell each for around $5 for a pretty good profit.


3. YOUR IDEAS!

Let me know what you guys think!

[William Baker]

I am partial to Rat-L-Traps, and if there was enough demand we could buy a bunch of custom ones (I know they make them).

That actually ties into some ideas we had back in the day for fundraising. One idea was to create window stickers or posters, and sell them to either local businesses (like the places that buy the other illini team stuff to support them), or to just people that want to help the team. If they were window stickers they could have the year, and something like Fighting Illini Bass Club Sponser. I was also thinking for people from somewhere in IL, you could probably get sponsered from a local sport shop.

We also considered different levels of sponsorship. Like, 10 bucks, get a sticker, 25 bucks, sticker and link on the website, 75 sticker, website, and name on our tournament shirts (or something similar, we could have different values).

I also think for non-corporate sponser lures could work well. Like, 10 bucks, get a stick, 20 sticker and spinnerbait, 30, sticker spinnerbait and some other custom bait, maybe more and also get a shirt.

I think if we went with the sticker idea, for non corporate sponsers they could be sized to fit perfectly on a car or boat window, and I bet a lot of people, esp IL alums would be happy to help out.

[Sean]

I like the idea of having a sorority come help us out with a boat wash! ;D

Might draw in big bucks... hehehe.

The bait idea is good, but be realistic, how many guys are you going to convince to buy a blue/orange spinnerbait?

I really think we should (if not the sorority) go down to a tournament this spring and offer to wash boats at a certain price. I know a lot of guys like to keep their boats clean, and clean 'em right there in the parking lot. I bet we could convince them to donate a few bucks to the club if we washed their boats down for 'em.

Just my .02 cents.

[oldmanwrage]

what happened to the calendar??

[Illini MUI]

I bet a bunch of people would buy blue/orange spinnerbaits. I know I would use it! Its not a straight blue skirt, its called "blue illusion" its like a blue with silver and white all mixed together in one skirt:

staminainc.com/silicone_skirts/starflash_skirt.html

its the one pictured. Also We could make Blue Jigs with orange heads. I know for a fact blue jigs work!

I like William's idea for stickers. It would definately be a great way to get our club name out there. If we had everyone in the club bring home a couple stickers and pass em out to bait shops in their area, we could get a lot of publicity that way.

*Also keep in mind these lures would be more of a novelty thing, not necesarily something you would use everyday.

**If you can find a sorority willing to wash boats let me know Sean, because I don't know of any that would be willing to do that....

[illinivandy]

I was thinking of maybe we could have an open tournament (open to anybody, including UIUC members). We would charge an entry fee, award a 75% payback, and have the club keep the remaining 25% or whatever. Steve and I ran into Greg from the C-U club at Dick's Sporting goods today and he said that his club might be interested. What does everybody think?

-Vandy

[Illini MUI]

I also challenged their club to a tourney. If it happens lets show em what the Illini Bass Club can do

[kreaturekris]

Let's pretend for a minute that we can team up with a sorority or say another group of fine ladies.........where would be find a plethora of boats to be washed to make this idea practical???


I think its a good idea, we just need to find this market of boats........


wait.....did a musky fisherman just ask who would use a blue and orange spinnerbait?

[kreaturekris]

What about a lure sale in general?? I say we make these novelty spinnerbaits and maybe look into rapala rat'ltraps like William was saying, cuz i know i have a ton of novelty baits done on a rapala, BUT ALSO we aquire more lures that are legit and put some sort of booth out on the quad on a warm day and try to sell them/talk fishing to ppl/promote our club. I know there are lots of ppl that enjoy fishing that aren't involved with the club because i hear parts of convos in classes or see rods in cars/trucks all the time. We could set up some sort of casting competition in the grass and award prizes if they hit a target (novelty bait). I don't know, something that will catch ppls attention.

Plus too we could always have food to give away/sell. I know that always sells..........

[William Baker]

kreaturekris said:

BUT ALSO we aquire more lures that are legit and put some sort of booth out on the quad on a warm day and try to sell them/talk fishing to ppl/promote our club.

Having done quad day for 4 years now, I know that you are not allowed to sell stuff at your booth.

Also, my idea was not like, trying to sell lures door to door. The club used to get booths at boat shows and sell raffle tickets for rods etc that were donated to club to raise money. I was thinking more along those lines, guys that like collecting interesting lures ( I would never fish with an illini Rat-L-Trap), and would want to support our club. I just bet people would be more willing to donate 10 bucks if they got something cool in return.

This is kind of like the window stickers, many people like to show their support, and getting a small donation helps the club financially and its advertising, and whoever donates gets to show their support.

[Kerry VanDam]

I definitely like the sticker and t-shirt stuff. I don’t think your gonna get a sorority to wash the boats, that would be great but highly unlikely, what's in it for them? Ialso think Sean had ulterior motives . And William’s idea sounds great, but idk if alot of ppl would do that either... but maybe. Raffles sound like some sort of good idea though.... what idk. Just thought I'd share my opinion.

K

[Illini MUI]

i didn't know you couldn't sell at quad day...hmm ok. I think Rat'lTraps are a great idea. Setting up booths at boat shows would be a very good idea. We could get so much publicity that way for our club....I know a bunch of illini fans at boat shows would def buy novelty lures.

And kris is right.....you are a muskie fisherman and dont want an orange and blue spinnerbait? ORANGE!

[kreaturekris]

I wasn't confining my booth idea to Quad day only, but are you still not supposed to sell stuff on the quad?? I guess everything i've seen has just been asking for donations....

[Illini MUI]

well yeah, we can ask for donations and if you donate 5 bucks u get a lure...would that work?

[William Baker]

kreaturekris said:

I wasn't confining my booth idea to Quad day only, but are you still not supposed to sell stuff on the quad?? I guess everything i've seen has just been asking for donations....

I've gone to quad day for 5 years now and never seen anything for sale.

[illinivandy]

I don't think Quad Day attendies are our demographic here, since they are college students with NO MONEY!!! What about making up some lures and talking to some people at Dick's Sporting Goods? I know that Gander used to carry a set of topwater lures that when purchased, a certain amount of $$ went to the American Cancer Society. We could do the same deal but proceeds going to our club. We might also want to go to the C-U Bass club meeting in March and talk to some of those guys there. They might have some ideas or be willing to help us out.

-Vandy