July 31, 2024
Dear Friends and Fellow Dancers:
As the Olympic Games are now fully underway, I am aptly reminded of the importance of the work USA Dance is engaged in to support DanceSport and of the fiduciary responsibility that comes with this work.
Of course, I am impressed by the achievements of the athletes and look forward to watching the four members of the USA Breaking Team take the floor. Even more, I remain in awe of the financial support from corporations of all types and sizes that are contributing to the athletes and the games. Just take a look at the advertising sponsors, logo placement, and more that binds the products/services of these corporations to the sport movement.
This leads me to ask for your help – to move USA Dance to an organization that is not solely dependent on membership dollars to support our mission – but also actively taps the resources of the American corporate world for their backing and likewise provide them with our appreciation and support.
Yes, USA Dance, even by operating with a mostly volunteer workforce, is an expensive organization to operate. The responsibility of your National Board of Directors is to continue to dedicate itself to growing the value of our services and membership, while the President focuses on corporate fundraising and sponsorships to help offset growing administrative expenses.
Since we are a network of dancers, working to support dancers, I am writing to solicit your input and ideas. What corporations do you have relationships with that would also benefit from a national relationship with our dance community? Where do you work, what companies are you loyal to that can benefit from and affiliation with our dance community?
As an example, and very much because of their inclusion in the Olympics, our breakdancing division has been completely self-funded by corporate sponsorships for their national championships, training camps, and much of their athlete travel. Surely our Ballroom/Latin community ranging from Pre-Teen to Senior-5 has a marketing value that could attract 10, 20, 50, even $100,000 to our operation in return for a chance to align themselves with great people (customers), focused on the physical and recreational pursuits of dance.
Further, if you know any fee-based fundraisers or grant writers that would be interested in supporting our efforts and working toward funding programs that would support dancers across our organization, please as them to contact me to join this conversation.
To those of you that are assisting with the organization of your local chapters and on many of the committees and councils at the National level, I am especially grateful. Please spread this word and give serious thought to our future DanceSport sponsor organizations.
Just point me in the right direction. Send your ideas, and contacts to president@usadance.org. I will do the rest.
Sincerely,
Ken Richards
Ken Richards, USA Dance National President
president@usadance.org
