We have been looking at a non-profit model for a Sportzine operation or for partnering with existing non-profit foundations in certain markets.  The idea is exciting, innovative and could be very productive.

As a non-profit, the overall business model of publishing a Sportzine would not change, only the way it accounts for its money.  In effect, the "profit margin" could be used for overhead, marketing or pushed out to the participating teams and clubs.  If anything, a non-profit would open doors with schools, booster clubs and local business owners at a faster rate with greater credibility and acceptance. 
 
In a traditional Sportzine market which crosses several school districts, a publisher might choose to run the Sportzine as a non-profit and it is an excellent fit. The "profits" could be used to create college or pay-to-play scholarships, pay student writers, photographers or videographers, or to hold tournaments and events. The community benefit is even greater than the for-profit model... and that's a good thing.

The obstacle for executing the standard Sportzine model in a foundation partnership is that many foundations are single school or school district specific. One of the strengths of the Sportzine model is aggregatng enough schools, students, families and fans to create a critical marketing base for local businesses to get excited.  In a single foundation for one school or district, there may not be enough of a market base to create the content, traffic and business value required to mazimize the fundraising potential of the model.  A scenario where a foundation partnership may work is where a foundation includes at least 16 high schools and middle schools.  

In either case, publishing a Sportzine has extremely low start-up costs and operating costs.   It creates part time positions for an editor, a graphics person and several reps.  In a non-profit, it might be that all these positions could be filled with volunteers increasing the yield even more.  A school foundation could start a journalism program in the schools and develop a high quality network of student writers, reporters, photographers and videographers in the participating schools.  Some of the "profit margin" money could be used for computers, awards and scholarships for the journalism students.  

The concept of inviting local businesses to be "boosters" would create a large and powerful business network, a natural compliment to other foundation activities or events such as golf tournaments, banquets or live auctions.

The traditional Sportzine model generates high margin transactions (GR8deals, GR8auctions) as a direct fundraiser for individual booster clubs.  The non-profit could collect money from the GR8deals and the GR8cars programs at the foundation level distributing the money based on need requests from clubs or groups, and at the same time allow individual booster clubs to leverage the GR8auctions, team sponsor and GR8cards programs to meet their individual fundraising goals. 

Traditional Sportzine publishers are required to run their GR8deals and GR8auctions transactions through a central non-profit financial services organization to provide integrity, transparency and audit-ability.  A Sportzine run as a non-profit would have adequate over-sight to manage its own money.  There would be significant savings in handling those transactions in-house.

We would love to discuss options and strategies with any non-profit who might be interested in managing a Sportzine in their market.  Use the form to the right to contact us or go to About Us and give us a call today.