Optimist International

1. Optimist International Sports Clubs 101

2. When building a Sports Club, or any other club it is a good Idea to familiarize yourself with a few facts about Optimist International • Optimist International was organized in Louisville Kentucky in 1919. • Optimist International is the 4th largest Civic organization in existence with 100,000 members and 3200 clubs. • Although there are other organizations that work primarily with kids, Optimist International is the largest. • Optimist Clubs conduct over 65,000 programs annually and serves over 6,000,000 young people. • Optimist also spend over $78 million annually on their communities.

3. Familiarize yourself with some of our other programs • Oratorical • Essay • Youth Appreciation • Tri Star Sports • Youth Safety • Childhood Cancer Campaign • Respect for Law • OI Junior Golf Championship

4. Memorize Our Mission Statement • By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.

5. Being Familiar With A Few Facts And Figures About Optimist International Will Help You Feel At Ease And More Confident When You’re Ready To . . . .

6. Remember “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” …Jim Rohn, well known author, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and multi millionaire.

7. There Are 4 Steps To Forming A New Club Needs Assessment Recruitment Meetings Follow-up

8. Needs Assessment Perform analysis Identify priorities & importance Identify opportunities Identify solutions

9. Youth Sports programs are the fastest growing segment of athletics in the United States today. • Perform analysis

10. Throughout the country, almost every city or town is going to have some type of youth sports program. • Does this need exist in the community?

11. Identify priorities & importance • Youth sports programs fill our lives with memorable moments, providing players and families with a true bonding experience. At Optimist International, we consider Youth Sports to be a vital part of our mission.

12. Don’t overlook Cheerleading as an excellent sports opportunity.

13. For the millions of kids who participate in Youth Sports, Optimist International provides the opportunity for families, teams, coaches and league administrators to share their achievements, stories and memories.

14. Starting at Four (4) and Five (5) years of age, parents trust their kids to hundreds of thousands of purpose driven coaches all around the country. We understand the issues parents face when making the decision to involve their child in Youth Sports for the very first time. We also understand that far more Youth Sports programs exist today than ever before. Parents everywhere are trying to make decisions that seem to never get easier:

15. Independent organizations sponsoring sports programs are looking for help in the following areas. • Insurance (Liability & Accident) • Fund Raising • 501c3 Umbrella • Ability to co-exist with another organization

16. Identify opportunities • A good program should provide children with all the positive values that sports have to offer -- and feed their reasons for playing. • There is no denying the benefits of participating in sports. Aside from the obvious health benefits that come with activity and exercise, research shows that there are strong physical, social and psychological rewards associated with competition.

17. In addition to skill development, given the right environment, research has shown that sports can have a positive psychological impact on kids. • "When kids play sports, they can have the opportunity to feel that they belong, feel like they are worthwhile just for being kids, be treated with respect and learn about a sense of emotional control." • For those students who continue to play sports into high school, valuable skills learned on the field can be transferred to the real world.

18. What opportunities exist? • The opportunity to serve the youth. • The need for insurance at a reasonable cost, both Liability & Accident. • The ability to help with fundraisings. • Helping to qualify for corporate donations and grants.

19. Identify solutions • Insurance • Organizing a league under the auspices of an Optimist Club not only allows them to continue to provide these experiences for the youngsters of their community, but because of Optimist’s great liability insurance program you can now offer protection for your coaches and other league officials. • Every Optimist Club is covered under an $11 million liability insurance umbrella, at a cost that is probably less than they are paying now.

20. Plus • Optimist International (the parent organization) offers an Accident Medical Insurance Plan. Coverage is available for Optimist Club members and participants in Optimist Club activities. Clubs can purchase from $5,000 to $100,000 of accident medical coverage for injuries sustained by Optimist Club members and participants in Optimist activities on a blanket per activity basis. Up to $1,000 of Accidental Death and Dismemberment protection is also included in the coverage. The Optimist Plan helps you provide some basic medical coverage for injuries sustained by members or participants that might not otherwise be covered by other policies.

21. Fundraising • The Optimist name is synonymous with youth programs all over the world. Optimist International is one of the largest civic organizations in existence. With this name recognition comes the opportunity to be more successful with fundraisers. People are more willing to give to an established organization.

22. 501c3 • At the present time each Optimist club falls under the OI Foundation’s umbrella as a 501c3 organization. This means that anyone can donate to the club through the OI Foundation as a “Pass Through Grant” and it becomes a tax deductible contribution. • This opens the door to a lot of corporate sponsors, business contributions and grants that for the most part can’t be obtained without a 501c3 status..

23. Ability to co-exist with outside organization • Optimist International is all about helping kids and we want to continue our outreach to young people through a variety of endeavors. More than 3200 Optimist Clubs, with nearly 100,000 members, conduct youth-serving programs in their communities. • Each Optimist Club determines the needs of their community’s children, and then meets that need with a unique program. All coaches and league officials become official members of the Club. The club will continue to operate its sports league as they always have, under the auspices of their particular league. In effect, their new Optimist Club sponsors and operates their sports league.

24. The Bottom LineThe #1 question most clubs will have is . . .What’s it going to cost us? • $400.00 one time charter fee +$1.00 per member. • $48.64per regular member annually + District dues. • $21.44 per college member annually + District dues. • $1216.00 + $325.00($13.00 average district dues per member) • $1541.00 Annually

25. Cost in comparison • $1,000,000 General Liability policy @ $1175.00 annually • $2,000,000 Umbrella policy @ $550.00 annually is the maximum you can purchase in most cases, provided the insurance company will underwrite it. • Cost for a &10,000,000 Umbrella policy if obtainable would exceed $2700.00 annually.

26. $1 Million general liability + $2 million umbrella $1541.00 Annually for a 25 member club $1725.00Annual insurance premium $184.00Annual savings • $1 Million general liability + $10 million umbrella $1541.00 Annually for a 25 member club $3875.00Annual insurance premium $2334.00Annual savings

27. Additional Benefits • Group Accident Medical coverage Most insurance companies group accident coverage is per each sport for the duration of the sport only. This means you will more than likely have to purchase accident coverage for each sport, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Soccer, etc. Optimist International through the Marsh Affinity Group offers this coverage on a per year basis other than a per sport basis at a very competitive rate.

28. Coverage & Rates Insurance Agency Deductible 9 & under 10-12 • $5000 $0 $11.65 $11.65 $50 $11.15 $11.15 • $10,000 $0 $13.90 $13.90 $50 $13.40 $13.40 • $100,000 $0 $15.25 $39.15 $50 $14.00 $34.80 $100 $12.40 $29.00 • These numbers were quoted by an independent insurance agency to cover a tackle football program for a duration of no more than 4 months. Optimist • $5000 @ $3.05 • $10,000 @ $3.65 • $15,000 @ $3.75 • $20,000 @ $3.90 • $25,000 @ $4.05 • $30,000 @ $4.15 • $35,000 @ $4.17 • $40,000 @ $4.20 • $45,000 @ $4.25 • $50,000 @ $4.33 • $75,000 @ $4.88 • $100,000 @ $5.10

29. Don’t forget to mention . . . • These savings can be turned around and spent on things to improve the league ... better equipment...new uniforms … scoreboard … etc.

30. Recruitment There are 4 Stages to Recruitment. • Develop a short elevator pitch to answer, “What is an Optimist Club?” An elevator pitch is a brief sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces what an Optimist Club is. Spotlights Uniqueness Focuses on Benefits Delivered Effortlessly

31. Develop a “Hit List” of key people who would be like minded in helping to identify and solve needs in the community. • As you begin the recruitment process you will want to check for existing leagues in your area. This will be the start of your “Hit List” and can be done on the internet. Several sites have been listed on the next slide. All of these sites contain information about youth sports. Some of these will list leagues in your area with contact numbers. Numerous other sites can be found on the internet under a search for “youth sport leagues”.

32. Youth Sports Web Sites • Dixie Youth www.dixie.org • Dizzy Dean www.dizzydeanbbinc.org • American Youth Football www.americanyouthfootball.com • NYSCA Trained Leagues www.nays.org • Kids Sports Network www.ksnusa.org • We Play www.WePlay.com/youthsports/ • Pop Warner Football www.popwarner.com • Just Click Local Youth Programs www.justclicklocal.com • Youth Basketball of America www.yboa.org • National Council of Youth Sports www.ncys.org • Youth Football USA www.yfusa.org • National Youth Sports www.nysonline.org • USA Youth Sports www.usayouthsports.com • Jr. NBA & Jr. WNBA Basketball www.nba.com/jrnba • Little League Baseball www.littleleague.org • Babe Ruth Baseball www.baberuthleague.org • Soccer Association for Youth www.SaySoccer.org • US Youth Soccer www.usyouthsoccer.org

36. Invite them to learn more about what an Optimist Club is and what it will do. • When making the initial contact, Identify yourself as a representative of Optimist International. Give them a brief background of OI and request a meeting with their Board of Directors. Inform them that you would like to make a presentation on possibly converting their organization to an Optimist Club and how this could benefit their program financially. • Remember: TO MAKE THIS WORK, WE MUST MEET THEIR NEEDS.

37. After they have adequate knowledge about what the Club is and what it will do . . . Ask them to join. • The success of this Club may very well depend on your knowledge of Optimist International and your presentation of that knowledge. Make sure you are well prepared for your presentation and have familiarized yourself with what Optimist International can do for them. • Remember: CHANCES ARE YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO HAVE ONE SHOT, SO DON’T BLOW IT.

38. Meetings Informational Organizational

39. Informational Meeting 1 hr meetings held to inform prospective members on the mission, values, structures of optimist clubs Identifies a niche in the community Make them FUN!!!

40. Sample Agenda Welcome & introductions (10 min) Review history of OI (5 min) Review projects of local clubs (8 min) Determine sports league needs (20 min) Talk about process to start club (15 min) Creed (2 min) Informational Meeting

41. Organizational Meetings Pre-organizational Organizational

42. Pre-organizational Meetings

43. What get’s covered Bylaws Set board structure Nominations Meeting time Meeting location Dues

44. Official Organizational Meeting • Conducted by Field Rep • Official Charter is established

45. Follow-up Program • Follow-up is the on going process, led by the District, ensuring that each New Club becomes a strong viable asset with effective leadership that provides excellent service to the community. • This is an excellent time to introduce the sports club to some of the other programs OI has to offer. This will help the club to continue meeting during the off season & keep their name in the forefront in the community.

46. We need your help to build strong clubs!