New Fundraising Raises the Fun in Athletics

Since fall of last year the Monte Vista Christian Administration has implemented a donation reward system called the Mustang Club to allow people to directly support the athletic program.

According to Mrs. Daniels and Mr. Coleman Mustang Club was an idea that came from leadership on how they came from previous school’s where these booster clubs had more of a presence, and they could see the positive impact it had on the school. They wanted to bring that positivity to campus and wanted to build a sense of community amongst teams and parents.

The Mustang Club is not for any specific sport; when you donate, you donate to the entire athletic program. The athletic program then uses that money to help teams obtain equipment and other resources they need. The athletic program decides where the money goes on a needs basis, so that the money can’t be earmarked for any specific team and create an imbalance between certain sports and funding.

The Mustang Club has generated many donors, and you can see their names in the printed brochures for sports and the stadium has banners up with their names. The club has raised almost $15,000 in the past year. The school had a pre-session meet up in late August, where members were able to meet each other and have their rewards given to them during a football home game. This was the school’s way of creating a sense of community amongst the donors.

The Mustang Club allows the parents and alumni to directly support athletic programs of Monte Vista Christian School. The Bronze level offers a regular season pass for one sport for two adults as well as a Mustang sticker when you donate 100-199 dollars to donate. The more generous the donation, the more gifts a person receives. The tiers range from 100 dollars to 1,000 and more. The administration convened a group of volunteer parents and staff members to decide on what rewards would be for what tier; they tried to balance on what would give incentive for people to join and also be a meaningful thank you gift for giving.

The program was in order to help solve a challenge that the administration saw in the school—the lack of an athletic booster club presence. The goal is to see relationships built amongst all sports, to have girls volleyball watch football players and vice versa. They noticed how when people come together to support a project, it does more than get what needs to be done finished, but also creates a sense of ownership and of connection.

The administration is focusing on all sports. This has benefited the coaches to be more accountable, and the coaches have positive energies about it.

The school has been able to organize fundraisers for sports outside of Mustang Club too. The track team in the beginning of the year was able to organize a wharf run where they earned money for their team. The school is not only providing money through the Mustang Club donors, but through organizing events like these.