2. Who are we? 2 My name is Alan Thompson, I am the Chief Executive of Sportpool – we are a company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, set up to help good causes with their fundraising. I thought up the concept whilst I was involved in helping to fundraise for Wallsend Boys Club where my son played football. My main aim was carry on supporting my son and his team mates but in such a way that would minimise the tasks traditionally associated with fundraising, such as bag packs and sponsored walks. I decided to run a predictions competition taking entries from fellow parents and friends about the number of goals and corner kicks that could happen in that afternoons live football matches. And as well as a prize for the person who predicted correctly, cash also went straight to the club to help in their bid to raise funds.
3. Together with the support of my business partner John McDonough, a former coach at Wallsend Boys Club, I am extremely pleased that I have finally been able to achieve my dream in Sportpool. Whilst we were working on this idea it became more and more apparent just how many good causes were out there and in need of continual support. Now that Sportpool is in full swing we would like to extend our hand to as many good causes as possible. We believe that in creating Sportpool we have unlocked the door to something that will benefit all worthy causes no matter how big or small. We truly hope that we can make a difference to those consistently contributing their valuable time and effort. 06/09/2010 3 Who are we? ...continued
4. Sportpool has been set up to help good causes and charities alike with their fundraising, in a fun and entertaining way. We do this via a sports prediction competition run from our website at www.sportpool.co.uk. The SportSIX competition is made up of six multiple choice questions, across a range of different sporting events every weekend, it costs just £2 to enter the competition and we put up a guaranteed jackpot of £10,000 per week for anyone who correctly selects all 6 predictions. In addition to this amazing jackpot we also give cash prizes to those correctly guessing 4 or 5 predictions out of 6. We also run a monthly league table where by the winner also receives a prize! 06/09/2010 4 What is Sportpool all about?
6. 6 What can Sportpool do for you? Everytime an individual enters our SportSIX competition they are asked which good cause they would like to support from a drop down list on our website. For every £2 entered by that player in any one of our online games, Sportpool will donate 20% of its gross profit directly to that good cause. Financially this equates to 16p per £2 entry.
7. 7 What else can Sportpool do for you? As well as general inclusion on the website itself, we will promote your good cause through our featured good cause section which can be seen below. Each time an individual clicks here it will reveal a section about your cause and explain why YOU need funding. Further to this, Sportpool will produce posters available for distribution in and around your local area, our aim is to encourage players to support YOUR good cause, and these will be supplied complete with YOUR logo, entirely FREE.
8. 8 Sportpool also produces a monthly newsletter which goes out to all of our players and includes details of those who we are newly supporting.
9. We have already formed a partnership with Wallsend Boys club and began raising funds for them in August. We have an evening lined up to raise funds for the Oncology ward at Rake Lane Hospital which is going to be held at The Barking Dog Pub in Wallsend. 06/09/2010 9 Who are we currently supporting?
10. 10 Out and About Sportpool recently had an awesome day out at Newcastle Racecourse, where we sponsored 4 races - heightening our public profile and raising awareness of what we are all about.