HOW?

Hold your BAT-A-THON^® according to our "timeline" during your season. The basic "thon" concept is utilized as your players use our specially designed sponsor form asking people to sponsor them and their team in the BAT-A-THON^®.

When you use our system to motivate your players, people really do find it hard to say no and they forget all those excuses about how they just bought candy from Teddy next door or wrapping paper from a co-worker. We're talking about mom, apple pie, and baseball!

Our system turns fundraising from something "ya gotta" do into something "ya wanna" do, and when "ya wanna" do it, you do it well! We tell you every detail on how to prepare for an exciting Batting Tournament where your players will face a carefully tested standard number of  pitches at a predesignated speed from a pitching machine. The young ones might be coach pitch or off a tee. You'll receive a special customized scoring criteria for each age level and team size. Players earn Great baseball or softball merchandise and great baseball collectable items as incentives.  Other well researched individual motivational techniques and team prizes further help to drive them on. Everything within our system is geared to make your BAT-A-THON^® Day a big day of fun for the kids and a big pay-off for your organization.

If your organization consists of 24 boys' teams of 12 players per team, then when you properly implement our system you should generate between $24k to $30k in collected pledges. You should net after expenses for prizes and administration, between 70% and 75% of your collected dollars. Girl's softball tends to do about 30% less than the boys. These are not numbers pulled from the sky but actual results from our current clients. Some clients do much better. This past season a new client collected over $63,000 from twenty boys' teams and nine girls' softball teams. One third year client collected $27,000 from just six boys' teams.

Our fundraising system does take a little more organization than selling candy or other products, but the excitement, enthusiasm and especially the results should convince you and your parents after you do it the first time. We joke about selling products, but isn't it true that most organizations are just competing with other organizations, all selling similar products in the same neighborhoods at different times of the year. How successful can each one of you be? Most of these are all together out in left field. Our clients are hitting home runs in a different ball park.

Many years of fundraising and youth baseball experience have been combined to develop the John Benko BAT-A-THON^® Fundraising System. We have developed the planning and implementation guidelines, the rules, the details, and the presentation materials.  In fact, everything you need to make big dollars for your organization is included.

Our VCR tapes and manuals (all updated with latest improvements from 11 years of experience) will show you how to plan your event, pick the right leader and committee members and then show you step by step the road to success. Several groups tried to copy our system, but they failed. They did not have the John Benko system package to steer them clear of the many traps and obstacles to running a "thon" type fundraiser.

The John Benko BAT-A-THON^® Fundraising System is a proven winner that puts revenue into your treasury, gets more parents involved in your program, and most important, truly adds to the kids excitement and enthusiasm about being involved in baseball.  Of course we cannot guarantee that your organization will do as well as our existing clients, however, we believe that if you properly follow the system, you should do as well or better.  If the leaders of your organization are committed to making your program the best that it can be, then our Fundraising System might be the perfect tool for you.

If we have captured your interest and you would like to request more details, just e-mail us your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and the name of your youth baseball or softball organization and the approximate number of players under 12 . We will send you you a complete package of information to help you and your league decide if the Bat-A-Thon® is right for you.

About the Author/Designer and a BRIEF HISTORY

    John Benko has worked on the bowling industry for over 25 years. Since 1980, he has been a vice president and minority owner of a chain of bowling centers.  In august of 1997, the chain was sold to AMF.   John retired to work full time with his wife improving and promoting the Bat-A-Thon System. He and his wife Debra are also the parents of three avid baseball players; two sons and a daughter.  While he was a volunteer umpire for a financially troubled youth baseball league, he stepped forward and offered to help. He then developed a basic fundraising system for them that was similar to those he had developed for non-profits who used his bowling centers.  That was in 1990. Today, after investing a very large sum of money and thousands of man-hours to perfect his system, he is now offering it as turn-key package with video tapes and clearly written manuals to any 12 and under youth baseball or softball league that has a strong desire to have better fields, equipment, and protective gear.