You may be familiar with our Founding Sponsor program which has been in place for over 10 years. Founding Sponsor support was crucial to help launch the USBGF and provide funding to promote backgammon. We are grateful for our Founding Sponsors — truly our organization would not exist, providing a rich array of benefits and services, without the generosity of our community.
Mission Sponsors help create and sustain programs designed to attract young people and new players
Why create a new program?
Founding Sponsor donations have been important because membership dues do not cover our operating expenses. However, because Founding Sponsorships are one-time donations, it has been difficult to budget for programs that need ongoing support. This is why we have created a new program called Mission Sponsors.
The Mission Sponsors program is designed to generate ongoing support and bridge serious funding gaps. Through a monthly or annual commitment, Mission Sponsors sustain educational programs, local club development, technology initiatives, marketing, and ABT tournament support.
Each Mission Sponsor level includes a Premium Plus Membership,the print edition of PrimeTime Backgammon Magazine, and a sought-after custom doubling cube engraved with your name and sponsorship level. In addition, each sponsorship level includes premium gifts, up to a fully customized FTH Backgammon set.
There’s much to be done. Our priorities include:
- Expand programs designed to attract young people and new players including the USBGF Kids Club and Backgammon 101 online classes.
- Develop a local club initiative. This will require us to hire a staff person to lead the effort. The program will create benefits for clubs to attract and retain members. We can help clubs develop and maintain a website and a calendar of local club events. We can provide automation to post tournament results and statistics. We can create an inter-club rating system, and we can coordinate inter-club online competitions, similar to the ABT.
- Create high-quality educational videos for all skill levels and ages. Besides purchasing hardware to produce the videos, we will need a paid staff person to lead the project. We will also need funds to pay educators to create a curriculum.
- Continue to develop our Online Tournament System, which automates functions that were previously done manually. The current version of the automated OTS has already reduced the wait time for players at ABT tournaments and reduced staff expenses for tournament directors.
- Invest in quality streaming, and increasing the number of streams. This effort should include a staff person who is responsible for all aspects of the stream, including the technical production and the commentary.
Each Mission Sponsor level includes a Premium Plus Membership, which includes the print edition of PrimeTime Backgammon Magazine, and a sought-after custom doubling cube engraved with your name and sponsorship level. In addition, each sponsorship level includes premium gifts, up to a fully customized FTH Backgammon set.
To learn more, please visit usbgf.org/sponsor.
We appreciate your continued generosity to support our new initiatives and hope to see you over the board soon!
