Dodgeball Tournament for Southcoast Charities

Michael Silvia
by Michael Silvia

In the movie Dodgeball there is a saying, “If you can dodge a tool, you can dodge a ball.” That’s painfully true, but I’d prefer to say, “Regardless whether you can dodge a ball or not, you can raise money for charity.”

With a mission to raise a lot of money for Southcoast, Massachusetts charities, New Bedford Guide is organizing its 1st Annual Charity Dodgeball Tournament. We’re looking for volunteers to help organize and run the event. We’d like every penny to go to charity! We expect the tournament to be scheduled for some time in September or October.

The Concept

The tournament will feature 6-member teams in a bracket style, single elimination tournament. Each team represents a charity of their choice and raises money for that charity. Additionally, each team  pays a $100 entry fee that is put in a pool. The pool-money will be dispersed in two ways; 25% goes to the top fund raising team and 75% goes to the winning dogeball team’s charity. For example, if 100 teams enter, the pool money will be $10,000. $2,500 would go to the top fundraising team’s charity and $7,500 would go to the dodgeball tournament’s winning team’s charity. This will ensure every charity gets money (raised by the team) and the top fund raiser and winning dodgeball tournament team shares the pool money.  In my example, 100 charities would get funds donated to them.

Team Formation

New Bedford Dodgeball tournament
Fun team uniform design encouraged!

Each team should come up with a fun name. Businesses and organizations should include their business name. Teams at a minimum should have team shirts made. Costumes and fun shirts are highly recommended. You don’t have to be a business or organization to form a team. We want as many teams to participate as possible. With 6 team members the cost of entry is less than $17 per person.

Our Goals:

  • 100 teams providing a prize pool of $10,000 and ensuring 100 charities receive funds.
  • 100 teams raise at least $500 for their charity of choice bringing in $50,000 for 100 different charities.
  • 100% of all money raised goes to charity through volunteers and businesses donating their time, products and services.
  • Athletic T-shirt maker(s) providing at-cost shirts for the teams. Shirts will be available for sale at the tournament with proceeds going to charity.
  • Every media group in the area becomes an official partner to spread the word and recruit teams.
This is in the early planning stages and will only happen with volunteers. If you want to volunteer or pledge a team, please contact me at info@newbedfordguide.com. No contribution of time is too little!