Donating to rink or club / Supporting skaters

[jjane45]

I am curious how charitable giving to local skater / rink / club works in general after a heated debate on Xanboni.

Does your rink / club offer scholarships or discounts to financially disadvantaged skaters? How does the selection process work? Need based, talent based, or a combination? Does the skater have to reach a minimum testing level? How transparent is the process and does it cause lots of drama?

Our municipal rink (no club) already has a scholarship for families in need, but only for city residents. I wonder about the possibility of a separate private fund without residency requirements, anyone knows how difficult it is to set up with a government agency? (I was told it takes them months to cash in the checks you pay for ice/classes)

Anyone sponsored talented skaters whom you personally knew? (tax deduction tricky though)

What about donating retired skates or selling the skates on consignment but designating the proceeds to a specific rink / club fund?

Your inputs are appreciated!

[techskater]

Our club pays Regional entry fees for qualifying skaters.  Our club also pays something toward JNs/Sectionals/Nationals for standard track skaters.  We also pay Adults who qualify at Championship events at Sectionals something toward expenses for ANs.  Also, if a skater applies for something specific (we had a skater ask about the PCS seminar cost), we may or may not grant it...

[FigureSpins]

Our Club rebates some of the fees to those skaters who took tests or competed at Club events or entered a qualifying competition.  The rebate checks come out after you renew for the next season, so it offsets the membership renewal cost. 

Plus all members are expected to provide a certain number of volunteer hours. It's really not a lot - 10 hours/family or 5 hours/adult or collegiate member.  Contributing food or donations count towards those hours, too, so if you donate a pan of brownies to the hospitality committee, that counts as an hour towards your committment.  If you meet the target, you receive a discount on the membership fee.

I think our family membership netted out to $50 because we did so many hours and the three of us competed and/or tested.  Mind you, that means we paid for testing and competition fees last year and a portion of it was returned to us.

[aussieskater]

I'm not aware of any charitable donations or support given by our Club to financially disadvantaged skaters, and the Club's annual financial statement doesn't disclose any such payments.  I have heard on the grapevine of the occasional higher-level skater receiving some informal sponsorship, but often that kind of thing is done privately so as not to embarrass the skater concerned.  I'm certainly not aware of any tax deductibility available for such sponsorship.

As far as general rebates etc to members are concerned, Our Club pays State and Nationals Champs entry fees for the standard track skaters (no mention of any contribution to adult entry fees for the Adult divisions in States and Nationals though.)  They also pay a sum to skaters competing overseas, both standard track and adult competitions; but again, more to the standard track skaters than to the adults.  Both categories have to "earn" their payment with volunteer hours - same number of hours for both groups.  As far as I know, there is no "hardship" assessment for the payment - if you make the State and/or Nationals team, you qualify for the payment.