Discussion:
Bottom line up front: Adding a Coordinator for Volunteers, Sponsorships, and Advertisement Sales will benefit the City of Shakopee.
Issue: Shakopee City Council must approve the addition of full time staff.
Discussion: The City of Shakopee has relied on “Fun 2 Raise” to manage advertising sales at the Ice Arena since May of 2016 and that contract expires on May 17th, 2019. This provides an opportunity for the city to reimagine advertising in order to generate revenues which can be leveraged to support a position which can lower operating expenses and build strategic partnerships.
We can increase revenues by expanding advertising opportunities to other sports spaces (back fences on baseball and softball fields, fencing along softball and football fields, etc) and directing 100% of those revenues to supporting city priorities rather than giving up 40% of sales to a contractor. Advertising sales that were limited to just the Ice Arena for 2018/2019 hockey season were $66,387.40. By expanding the scope of sales opportunities beyond the walls of the ice arena and intentionally refining opportunities within the ice arena, advertising sales can increase dramatically. The revenues from advertising sales will support a fulltime position that will still have available time to address other staffing needs. The seasonal nature of advertising sales in sports spaces leaves time for the employee to build and maintain key strategic partnerships with potential sponsors.
Sponsors support the city by lowering or eliminating operating expenses for programs and services. Some sponsors step up to fully fund programs, while others provide material and/or labor that are critical to being able to offer some programs and services to citizens. While other sponsors broker important relationships that lead to key partnerships. Having the staffer who manages advertising sales also managing sponsorship opportunities leads to a potential synergy in stakeholder relationships – as many of our current advertising clients have willingly stepped up to be key sponsors for activities and events. Therefore, it is organizationally efficient and more effective to bundle those two responsibilities.
In addition, the position will be responsible for coordinating volunteers for the city. Volunteers will help stretch city resources, build relationships between residents and their city government, and promote the spirit of giving back to one’s community. Plymouth is a city that has had a volunteer program in place for 25 years. In 2018, 1,652 Plymouth volunteers contributed 26,954 hours of service valued at $665,494 of contribution in-kind or the equivalent of 12.96 full time employees. The responsibilities for Shakopee’s “Adopt-a-park” and “Pop-up-garden” programs would return to the Parks and Recreation Dpea4rtment to be managed by this person. The volunteer coordinator will build and manage a volunteer system that empowers each department to recruit, train, and retain for their own volunteer requirements.
Shakopee citizens will benefit from conscientious stewardship manifest in more efficient and effective service delivery.