Media Room
Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation
Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation Campaign Pitch
The business that I am reviewing for my capstone project is the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation. This non-profit business is in Elk Grove, California, a suburb of the Sacramento region. This business was founded in 1994 by seven people. They are Jerry Chong, Eddie Fong, Robert Fong, Don Lee, Ray Lee, Barry Lin, and Rod Yung. Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation is a facility that hosts sporting and community events. They promote sports and cultural programs for children, youth, and adults. They focus on developing children through programs that teach leadership, athleticism, empathy, and college development. They have their website (https://sasfevents.org/index.aspx), showing all their products and what they offer to their community.
This business advertises a small team. This includes Evan Kanenega, Executive Director; Justin Kanenaga, Facility Director; Phoebe Bayudan-Soto, Administrative Assistant; Lena Pereira, Administrative Assistant; Jen and Remy Tokunaga, Event Coordinators.
This Sacramento-based business has many features, which include two full-size basketball courts, three volleyball courts, six pickleball courts, and a full kitchen. In addition to a full commercial kitchen, 12' x 30' stage with 20' projection screen, AV system with DVD/CD player, wireless microphones, and a laptop connection to an AV system. In addition, you can also take a virtual tour online. They do many types of events, including weddings and wedding receptions, birthdays and graduations celebrations, quinceañeras, crab feeds and fundraisers, sporting events and tournaments, basketball and volleyball leagues and practices, martial arts tournaments and MMA events, and catering events too.
This business has several programs aimed at development. Since its founding in 1994, the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation has developed several youth programs: Strive for Strength, Sports for Life, Spark Conference, PREP, and Teens Create Dreams. They have three sports programs, including Pickleball, Basketball, and Volleyball. In addition, it prides itself on providing a spot for anyone to borrow the facility for events. They have a signup form process for signing up to host events. Also, people can sign up for community and sports programs.
According to the (Census Bureau, 2021, sec. Elk Grove), Caucasians represent most of the population at 43 percent, while Asians make up 28 percent. Females represent more than half of the people at 51 percent. In addition, the annual income was $37,232. All this information is essential for managing SASF's PR campaign. Parents will be the main target for marketing, as these parents will have the potential to help build this organization. Facebook and email will be beneficial for this demographic.
As a non-profit business, SASF gets its funding from donations, fundraising events, rental equipment purchases, and people who use the facility for their events. Their website (Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation, sec. Monetary donation) mentions how and where you give donations and the process for renting equipment and hosting events.
This business, as a non-profit, competes with several other non-profit organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, which also has programs for development, and the Union Sacramento FC, which supports the development of youth soccer players.
Regarding the state of this business, as locally and nationally, the events and fundraisers they hold make up the local aspect of this business. While sports and youth programs showcase this business's national part, many national organizations have sports and youth programs, like the Boys and Girls Club or on-site after-school programs.
For the future of this business, they want to continue to grow their sports and youth programs, as they have several programs that have newsletters and schedules. These programs get a lot of attention and help build their youth's development of character (Sacramento's Asian Sports Foundation, sec. background, and objectives).
SASF's business background will test the skills I have learned. Next, I will create a strategy to build a brand to its full potential. It will start with the audience and how we can market its products to the right people. Also, as a PR professional, this can help me see what to work on in this industry, build strengths, and notice weaknesses.
SASF has a great base within its community. They strive to provide children with a bright future. Their programs that touch on leadership skills, college preparation, athletics, and empathy show that they are devoted to developing children's futures.
I do not see many PR efforts regarding their PR efforts as they post everything on their website. On their social media, they post posters of events and videos. They are not consistent with their posts, but I do not see any press releases from them on their social media pages. They do not get much engagement from their posts, while they distribute their products the same way across each platform. They have not posted on Twitter since 2021.
Regarding their social media platforms, they use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but nothing current has been posted on Twitter since 2021. In addition, they have a YouTube channel with only three subscribers and a few videos of a particular event called big day give away from 2021 and 2022.
SASF communicates messages, including new events, conferences, and new plans for their programs. When it comes to feedback, searching through their social media pages, they lack engagement and consistency, so there are not many comments or likes on their pages. Also, they do not have a spot on their website for consumers to give reviews for their programs. They do not have a place to review their products or social media reactions, but their images look suitable from their website view.
This organization is a local non-profit, so as a PR professional, I will work off its relationships with its community. They do not have many employees, as most people volunteer, so finding what drives these volunteers to be with SASF is essential. Some of the skills I have learned in PR thus far, like press releases, creating and promoting events, and using social media as the lead PR efforts, will be beneficial. The central focus will be on social media engagement and a better social media strategy. SASF needs more of a social media schedule to stay consistent and enhance its YouTube channel. My efforts will bring more exposure to this organization, which could bring more children and adults into youth and sports programs. More people joining their programs means more funding and the possibility to open ideas for new programs and more donations.
In a digital media world, SASF needs more social media presence. People who follow are not engaging in these posts, which means a lack of new followers. These social media channels go weeks and months without posts, showing a lack of a planned schedule. There are no questions associated with these posts. Although they are good about showcasing what products they have but are missing the potential to showcase these products to a broader audience. With any PR strategy, there will be pitfalls, and I see issues with SASF, including building a bigger audience with the lack of social media engagement. This organization targets children, so we will have to reach parents, as they will be essential in marketing for this organization. SASF has the potential.
References:
Sacramento Asian Foundation. (2022). SASFevents.org. Retrieved from https://sasfevents.org/
United States Census Bureau. (2021). Quick facts, Elk Grove, California. Cenus.gov. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/elkgrovecitycalifornia
Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation Promotional Video
Who are the owners of the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation?
The owners of SASF are seven men named Jerry Chong, Eddie Fong, Robert Fong, Don
Lee, Ray Lee, Barry Lim, and Rod Yung.
What was the vision of these owners?
These men of Asian ancestry began envisioning a gym targeting the Sacramento Asian
Sports community. As the vision started unfolding, they realized they needed support. They found help from individuals with the Chinese Community Sports Church Sports program and the Sacramento Warlords Basketball Organization.
Do these owners do all of the day-day operations?
No, they have a team of people who run the day-day operations, which include an executive director, a facility manager, two administrative assistants, and an events coordinator.
Does SASF have board members?
Yes, SASF has ten board members.
What are these board members' qualifications for being on this board?
Six of the board members have communications, business, or civil engineering degrees that gave them the expertise. The other four have experience working with SASF and are closely related to the programs.
When you say close relationships, what does that entail?
Regarding the close relationships, some of the board members have participated in the youth programs growing up, and some have children participating. For example, Amy Hironaka had two sons participate in the programs. In addition, Ben Onanian played in summer leagues and credited the agenda to his strong work ethic.
How many youth programs does SASF have?
SASF currently has five programs: Strive For strength, Sports For Life, Spark Youth
Conference, PREP, and Teens Create Dreams.
What are the youth programs about?
The Strive for Strength program is run by local high schools that want to empower, educate and inform young women about depression, anxiety, body image, and self-confidence. Sports for Life is a program for special needs individuals ten and up. The Spark Youth Conference is a suicide prevention awareness reflection knowledge program that builds on parent-child communications and teen-teen interactions. PREP (Providing Resources for Education and Professionalism) aims at helping youth build toward their higher education through skills for personal and professional success. The
Teens Create Dreams is an annual talent show showcasing local talent.
What are the subscription prices for these programs?
The subscription prices for each program are $50 per child monthly. Payment is due at the beginning of the month.
How can people support SASF?
There are several ways to donate, including monetary donations, from a one-time payment to a recurring monthly option. In addition, attending several of our fundraiser events is a great way to support. Also, you can donate your car to SASF, which qualifies you for a tax-write off. Another option is volunteering.
There have been rumors stating that SASF offers extensive discounts to the Asian community since Asian is part of the target audience of this organization. Do you favor the Asian community over anyone else?
Certainly no. SASF accepts everyone in our programs regardless of race, religion, and sexual orientation. Furthermore, everyone is offered the same fair price for our programs.
You said that everyone is offered a fair rate regarding the subscription prices for this organization, but what does fair mean?
Regarding fairness, every parent or adult is billed a flat monthly subscription of $50.00 per child, regardless of race.
Your prices were lower before COVID. Why did you raise your prices? Many parents are still struggling financially while things are moving back to normal.
As a non-profit organization, SASF had to raise prices to keep afloat during the challenging times of COVID to keep providing resources to our community.
COVID was a challenging time for everyone, especially for families. Do you not feel bad that you added to the stress?
SASF understands that COVID was a tough time for families. Still, if families had issues paying, we would work with them to either put their account on hold or work on a future payment without their children suffering from attending classes. Our priority is youth, and we would not let an unprecedented pandemic take from the progression of our youth.
Black youth are at higher rates for problems like drinking and truancy. So why aren't there any programs specifically for Black youth?
SASF currently does not have any programs catered to Black youth, but Black youth are always welcome in any of our programs. SASF is open to creating a program catered to Black youth, but SASF needs to research the best way to implement a program that fits SASF's core values to be the best help.
SASF is collaborating with PG&E for a donation fund for one year. However, PG&E's reputation is in question after being the cause of the second-biggest wildfire in California during the 2021 fire season. Does SASF want to be associated with an organization that has caused lots of pain to people?
SASF is proud to partner with PG&E for a donation fund for one year. We understand the impact the actions of PG&E caused. However, PG&E and its contributions to SASF benefit youth for all programs and help SASF run day-to-day operations. We do not condone the actions of PG&E, but they are a great partner for us, and we value them.
SASF has a program dedicated to suicide awareness. What qualifications does SASF have to run a program on such a sensitive topic?
When SASF created the idea of developing this program, we consulted with psychologists from the University of San Francisco. In addition, we researched the best ways to establish such a program. The reviews from this program have been positive, as we put in a couple of months of research to understand children's brains. SASF continues to put in research as children evolve.
You say SASF has done research throughout the years on suicide awareness? Where is the research?
SASF has an office at our headquarters where we keep all the research studied and looked upon it often. We value our youth and will always keep dedicating research to helping youth, especially during tough times.
Many people think since SASF partakes in suicide awareness, why don't they have a suicide hotline or at the least a post a hotline number?
We value our youth and their mental health. While we do not have a hotline or a section devoted to a suicide prevention number, the youth and parent participants are knowledgeable and know the numbers to call in such a situation. Every new parent-teen participant gets a pamphlet stating the steps and numbers to contact. Through our research, we made sure participants had the necessary resources.
Since suicide is a sensitive topic, do you think you should have a disclaimer on your website crediting where the research is gathered? It comes across as SASF is an authoritative figure regarding this topic when they are not.
SASF values the research conducted and its youth. Although we do not have a spot on our website dedicating the research conducted, we are always open to showing our research to anyone curious to better assist them in understanding what SASF stands for.
SASF's SWOT Analysis
One strength is its website. The website describes everything SASF is about, including its objectives and background, to listing its programs and how to sign up for them. A test on website grader gives SASF a perfect 30 out of 30 scores for its mobile website. (1) "Mobile accounts for approximately half of the web traffic worldwide. In the third quarter of 2019, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 51.5 percent of global website traffic, consistently hovering around the 50% mark since the beginning of 2017" Millard (2021)). Millard also states that over 50 percent of traffic comes from a phone, so making sure the website is easy to navigate is essential.
Another strength of SASF is its call to action.
SASF's Competitive Analysis
As a non-profit sports organization, there are some competitors to keep an eye on. For SASF, that. is the Boys and Girls Club of America. This non-profit is one of the top youth organizations that target parents in the United States.
It had a goal of $2 billion in revenue at the end of 2017 from 2011. This was a big task to achieve. To do this, it had to have considerable growth in its supporters. Sandoval (2018) talks about how they did it.
BGCA achieved the Atlanta-based non-profit's remarkable success by getting many of its 1,100 local chapters better trained in raising significant gifts. In 2017, its annual revenue from individual donors was $258 million, more than double where it was in 2011. Overall, it raised $909 million in 2017, vaulting it to number 7 on the Chronicle's annual list of charities that bring in the most in cash and stocks.
Infographics
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis infographic regarding the Boys and Girls Club of America.
Sharing kids photos on social media
.png)
Statistics of parents sharing their kid's photos on social media
Parents & PYD
An infographic showcasing statistics on positive youth development and parents knowledge
Focus group statistics
Focus group Statistics
10 SASF Quick Facts: Creative Space Craft & Food Fair
1.
Creative Space is a local venue in Sacramento that hosts business classes and events.
2.
Jennifer and Remy are sisters who founded Creative Space and attended business school in Orange County.
3.
Cookies, fudge, fruit cake, and pies are some of the holiday foods provided by vendors.
4.
Rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces are some jewelry pieces provided by vendors.
5.
The Creative Space has wall art, rugs, wall décor, calendars, pillows, and blankets as some of the décors by vendors.
6.
The raffle prizes include free pies and a dozen boxes of cookies, with a surprise raffle during the event.
7.
This event is from 11 am to 6 pm with free parking.
8.
A jazz band will play Christmas music to excite the atmosphere.
9.
To support SASF, donate through its website or join one of its programs.
10.
Supporting local businesses means helping the local economy, helping build the community, and environmental sustainability.
Fundraiser Itinerary
