Contrasting fates for BNOC’s fund-raising campaigns
Botswana National Olympic Committee’s (BNOC) ‘United for BW Sport’ campaign, which was launched earlier this year, had yielded P185, 190.10 by the end of September.
The initiative included selling Botswana branded t-shirts and was aimed at raising funds for Olympic-bound athletes ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games. The campaign is still active, with the funds still going towards the upkeep of the 2020 Olympians.
The amount far exceeds the P28, 910 raised by the committee’s SMS Donation initiative, which ran from April 2019 until the start of the Tokyo Olympics in August.
Although the old English expression ‘every penny counts’ should not be forgotten, the figure verges on the embarrassing considering BNOC had originally set a P5.5 million target when launching the SMS drive three years ago.
In the end, 5, 782 donations were sent in via SMS, with only eight recorded from May to August in the three months preceding this year’s Olympics.
Unwilling to speculate on why the campaign seemed to fizzle out, BNOC Strategy and Business Development Manager, Baboni Kupe told Voice Sport, “Our fund raising initiatives that were geared towards the games have had the funds diverted towards our preparations for the Olympics.
“The BNOC is currently examining the impact of the SMS Donation campaign, including public responses to the initiative. Once concluded we shall be able to better understand the various sources of the challenges faced.”
With the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, fast approaching – the event will be spread over July and August – the BNOC looks set to once again embark on a funding raising campaign.
“The BNOC remains committed to augmenting all grants received from various donors through various fund raising initiatives. We shall endeavour to continue to do the same with respect to the Commonwealth Games,” concluded Kupe.
