Fund raising problems

Fund raising problems

Lately fund raising for sports activities became a very hot
topic. In my humble opinion, it is almost as hot as the political
topic of succession.

The discussion centered around the question whether Tapornas
contains gambling elements or not. Previously we had the SDSB
(government sponsored lottery) as a source for funding sports
activities. But then people started to protest the government,
because people said that this was covert gambling. Ultimately
SDSB was banned.

The problem does not end here, because sport activities have
to go on, and these need money. Where do we find this money. A
very simple but radical solution could be: stop sport activities,
unless they can financially maintain themselves.

But then again this is against the policy of the government.
The government has announced its determination too make the sport
a social activity and activate society to do sport.

I have a very simple suggestion and I am not going to be
surprised when people laugh at me.

We have 190 million people. Suppose just for the sake of
discussion 90 million are adults. Ask these adults (or force
them?) to donate Rp 200 (two hundred rupiah) a month or Rp 2,400
a year. Surely this is not too big a sum and will not become a
burden for the adults. With 90 million people donating Rp 2,400 a
year we can easily collect Rp 216,000,000,000 annually.

From reliable sources, I got the information that we need
around Rp 200,000,000,000 to fund all sport activities. The
collection mentioned above should be enough to cover everything.

This system is better than asking corporations to donate.
There are so many activities going on in Indonesia and every one
has someone comes knocking on the door asking for donations.

I am working in a small company and yet last year about 20
million rupiah was donated to all kinds of activities. This is a
very difficult situation for business people, especially the
middle level whose names are registered in the Indonesian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry's bulletins.

Not donating might create a bad impression and could earn the
title of being anti-social, but on the other hand, donating
endangers the cash flow of the company.

Exactly who we are donating money to must be questioned. There
are so many organizations looking for funds for their activities
and small businessmen are not capable of giving to all, while all
claim that theirs were for good cause.

The sum of Rp 200 a month is not much. Some people can easily
afford to give more and when this happens then the fund will grow
substantially.

Of course there is the problem of how to do it. My answer is
where there is a will there is a way. I am sure our government
knows what steps to take, once this idea is accepted. The
gambling haters are happy. The religious groups are happy and the
sports organizations can concentrate on training good athletes.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta