USSA
 

The Role of RallyMe in Best in the World

Thursday, Jun. 26, 2014

The USSA will spend roughly $25 million this year on elite athlete performance, athlete development at a national, regional and club level, coach and club development, and hosting national and international competitions. The success of the USSA's national team at the very highest levels inspires youth participation, and motivates adults to continue to be active in and give back to our sports. Development programs provide those youth with an avenue for high-quality participation and a culture that emphasizes personal dedication, commitment and discipline centered on the USSA's values. And hosting international events promotes ski and snowboard competition and venue development nationwide.

The USSA focuses its resources on providing programs and assets to its athletes that are unique, performance impacting, educational on a broad basis, and which most effectively and sustainably support the performance of our national team at the highest levels. Doing this provides maximum value to sponsors and event hosts, widely promotes ski and snowboard competition, and introduces and inspires the maximum number of participants and enthusiasts. This resource allocation also means that a great number of our nearly 200 national team athletes across 13 unique sports are required to continue to pay for their personal travel costs as they train for and compete in qualification competitions.

This can create specific challenges for our national team athletes when it comes to raising the funds needed to cover these costs. A year ago, the USSA launched a strategic alliance with the online athlete crowdfunding platform RallyMe to work in partnership with its athletes in their personal fundraising. The results of the first year of that partnership are substantial:

  • 49 national team athletes ran "Rallies" (personal fundraising campaigns through RallyMe), raising a total of $396,964.  On average, each athlete raised $8,101!
  • 2,849 "Boosters" (donors received through RallyMe) contributed to these rallies, with a average "Boost" (or contribution) of $139.  This average boost far outpaces the rest of the crowdfunding industry, which averages $74 per boost.
  • Beyond our national team athletes, 41 club-level USSA athletes ran rallies, raising $89,025 through 928 boosters, yielding an average boost of $96 – USSA club athletes exceeded the industry average, showing outstanding engagement with our athletes and participants.
  • In total, the USSA and its members raised $485,989 with 3,777 boosters through RallyMe crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding has become a valuable new asset, and demonstrates a strong partnership between the USSA and its athletes. It is anticipated that this area will continue its rapid growth by engaging more athletes and clubs, who are reaching a new and broad set of supporters who have been inspired to share the journey with our athletes who are striving to become – and who have been inspired by – the USSA's drive to become Best in the World.

-Luke Bodensteiner, EVP Athletics



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