Victory Junction Gang Camp Fund-Raising

Victory Junction Gang Camp Fund-raising

For four years now, it has been Kyle Petty?s dream to build a camp in his son?s memory for chronic and life-threatening illnesses of children from ages 7 to 15. Kyle and the NASCAR community have been fund raising for over four years to make this dream come true. Actor Paul Newman and Kyle and Pattie Petty are the founders of Victory Junction Gang Camp (VJG).

The beautiful, natural setting for the VJG is seventy-two acres of land nestled in a hardwood forest. The camp is located in Randleman, North Carolina, approximately fifteen miles outside of Greensboro. Nestled in the foothills of the Piedmont Triad, this site offers a forest with several creeks and woodland streams running through the property. Richard Petty donated the land to VJG.

When the ground was broken, it cost 3.9 million. This is where the fund-raising begins. Kyle Petty has a charity motorcycle ride that he founded over ten years ago. He has ridden over 31,500 miles and has raised over 4 million dollars. To keep the camp running, it costs 2.7 million dollars a year.

The VJG has resources to raise funds, but it does take effort, time, and money to do this. Roshi Bull-Turner is the Development Associate of VJG, and it is her responsibility to manage the resources from the fund-raising events efficiently and effectively for the camp. This paper will look at the fund-raising aspects. Are there enough corporate donations to keep VJG running? Has VJG advertised enough for the employees of corporations to donate?

According to Roshi Bull who is an advertising specialist with VJG, ?It was hard work raising the funds to build this camp. The hardest part besides raising money, was speaking to the corporations. The corporations keep the camp running by donating time, money, and goods.?

Statement of Problem

The problem of the study is to investigate the raising of funds to keep VJG up and running for terminally ill children. Corporations need more information on VJG in order to make the decision easier. It takes knowledge, time, and money in order to make this happen.

Setting of Problem

The setting of the problem is how to raise 24.4 million dollars to keep the camp running. VJG will enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses by creating experiences that are memorable, exciting, fun, empowering, physically safe, and medically sound. This camp is located 15 miles outside of Greensboro, North Carolina.

The camp supports up to 1000 children and 50 staff members per summer. The VJG staff consists of 19 full-time employees working on campaigning. There are nine founding hospitals, 17 doctors on staff, and over 200 volunteer medical personnel.

VJG has many big named corporations donating to help raise the money. Among these is NASCAR. Many of the owners and drivers have donated millions to VJG. These millions have helped raised awareness for the purpose behind the camp. Even NASCAR.com website, has a box to click on for VJG. This site has auctions from drivers that have donated signed merchandise, clothing, and other such things. All money raised through the website goes directly to VJG.

Some of the big name corporations have donated supplies and services instead of money. Lowe?s and Home Depot have donated supplies to help erect the camp; Sealy donated mattresses for the sleeping quarters; Target has donated clothes for the children; Tide donated cleaning supplies; Dupont donated supplies to help protect the camp from weather; Time-Warner has

donated the cable; Overcash-Demmitt Architects donated time to design the camp; Coca-Cola has donated their products to the camp; Nextel has donated phones for the staff and children to use, and Pizza Hut has donated pizzas for the children every week,

History and Background of Problem

The VJG needs to raise money in order to keep the camp running. This problem has existed since 2000 when Adam Petty was killed in a NASCAR race. Kyle, Pattie, and Richard Petty wanted to build a camp for terminally ill children in memory of Adam. The Petty?s have rallied so many fund-raisers to help make this dream come true.

As of June 2004, 24 million dollars has been raised and the goal is $24.4 million dollars. The campaign itself has turned towards having money for the camp to remain operational. For this reason, VJC has a pledge payable gift up to five years. VJG accepts cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, certain real estate, tangible personal property, bequests, and other forms of planned giving tools. Some companies have donated time, building materials, and equipment. VJC is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation.

Kyle Petty?s charity ride has escalated in popularity over the past four years bring in over 4 million dollars. NASCAR has had the inaugural NASCAR day with all proceeds going to VJG. Several drivers have donated a million dollars from certain races. Even at the races, there is a booth set up for VJG for donations. All of these examples have had a major impact on the camp. Owners and drivers even donated their time in the off-season to physically build the camp. There are 36 buildings on the site, and each building is named after a major contributor to the camp.

VJG needs to make the public aware of the demand that needs to be met. Many sponsors from NASCAR have contributed supplies, equipment, and products to help maintain the camp. A lot of the products supplied are used at the camp for meals, activities, and cabins.

Purpose of Project

The purpose of this study is to develop a plan to make companies aware of VJG. I intend to collect data from NASCAR fans at some races. The data collected will show how campaigning methods can be used for companies that are unaware of the mission of VJG, and hopefully in return, have them donate.

The data will be collected from a written survey that will be handed out at NASCAR races to fans from all over the country. Those surveyed will respond to the questions concerning campaigning and donating to VJC and what method of awareness was most effective in this decision.

Importance/Significance of Project

This information from surveyed NASCAR fans will benefit VJG in its awareness of campaigning. The information will be used for campaigning efforts for donations to VJG.

The more the fans know about VJG, the more awareness is for people to communicate inside the company that they work for. VJG has a website which explains how to donate. The campaigning staff at VJG can save time and money with word of mouth at the races. Speed Vision has