SIMA Humanitarian Fund Stokes You in September: Annual campaign to raise money for surf-related humanitarian causeschallenges industry brands to match retail and consumer dollars thisSeptember
SIMA’s annual Stokes Me Campaign – Surfers helping humans – will begin in September. The Stokes Me Campaign raises funds to benefit a variety of surf-related humanitarian causes. We caught up with SIMA Humanitarian Fund Chairman Ross Garrett to see how the campaign will run this year.
Last year, you raised $85,000 through an online giving challenge. How will the campaign raise money this year?
We wanted to simplify the fundraising concept and also tie it more directly to the SIMA membership’s business.
So the campaign this year will center around an “add-a-buck” drive at selected key retailers across the country this September.
We are using donated media from our consumer media partners at Grind Media and Surfline to drive consumers into stores.
When a customer or a retailer donates a buck, they will be matched with money pledged by surf industry brands.
What retailers do you have on board or are you targeting?
We’re only targeting 20 retailers. We want to focus on quality and make sure we’re not spreading ourselves too thin. We’ll be investing in some POS materials and also in educating the store management and employees, so it’s important that we keep it to a number we can execute on.
We’ve gotten interest or confirmation from Sun Diego, HSS, Surfside Sports, Hansen’s, Hobie, 17th Street, Maui Nix, South Coast, Spyder, Surfride, Coastal Edge, and handful of others.
How will it work at these stores?
Some stores are opting to simply donate a dollar for every transaction during the month. They’ll tell their customers that they just donated a dollar on their behalf.
Other stores will ask the customer if they want to “add a buck”. They’ll add a non-taxable $1 item into inventory and, at the end of the month, they’ll run a sales report.
If we get 20 brands matching the dollars raised, then each dollar donated either by the retailer or the customer will equal up to $21 in total money raised.
What about the pool party at Surf Expo, is that happening again this year?
Yep, thanks to Surf Expo and Sanuk, we’ll be back in the pool at the Surf Expo show this September.
Entry in the wave pool contest is included for brands who match retail donations at $5000 or above. Other brands can purchase spots in the event if there is room.
This is the second annual Industry Pool Party at Surf Expo, and it was a big hit last year. I don’t think anyone can forget Dave Rastavich, Jamie O’brien or Mark Healey’s appearance. And they may want to forget images of John Gothard and Jim Shubin and their outfits!
We can only field 20 teams in the pool, so it’s super limited, and we think it’s going to sell out fast. Again, the brands that commit tomatching get first dibs on spots in the contest.
I understand there are some new faces on the Humanitarian Fund Board as well?
Yeah. We’re super fortunate to add three super smart and hardworking guys to the Humanitarian Fund Board. Dylan Slater, from Rip Curl, Courtney Kincade from O’Neill, and Chris Wagaman an entrepreneur and business partner with Jed Noll have. All three have been instrumental in pushing
this concept forward, and they’re really just getting started. I’m really thrilled to have talent like that on the program.
What about the beneficiaries, are they the same as last year?
We’re doing the beneficiary selection now, so it’s to early to say exactly which organizations are on the final list.
But I can say the causes that will be selected are things like therapeutic surfing programs for children with autism, people who have sustained spinal cord injuries, members of our military who have been
injured physically or mentally in battle. We have some great applicants doing inner city outreach programs with surfing as a centerpiece, and of course, providing access to health services or clean drinking water to impoverished people in the places that we as surfers are privileged to
travel to.
What about emergency situations, like the Hurricane Sandy relief?
It’s interesting you ask that. Hurricane Sandy made land fall on the final day of our fundraising last year at the end of October, and 100% of our money was already committed to the beneficiary group. It was a very vivid indication that we, as an industry and as the SIMA Humanitarian Fund, need to be on the ready for situations like this. Because we know from history, unfortunately, there will be another disaster that affects the surfing community again.
So we’re working with Fernando Aguerre, one of the original founders of the Humanitarian Fund, to set up a donor network. The donor network will make pledges to donate if and when that inevitable disaster happens.
We’ve also developed a significant and growing database of donors from our prior efforts who we plan to include should something like that happen again.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I just want to thank all the retailers who, almost without hesitation, have signed on to be a part of this effort. And I’d also like to thank the brands who have also jumped on board. It’s going to be a great year of raising money for great causes.
