Scrap Metals Supplement - The Golden Ticket

Raising scholarship donations for children of member employees is an important part of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) mission. With the help of the Recycling Research Foundation (RRF), ISRI has been able to set up tax-free scholarship funds for each of its chapters.

It’s the chapter officers’ responsibility to establish the qualifications and the amount of their scholarships as well as to select the recipients. To be considered for an ISRI chapter scholarship, applicants must be children of employees of chapter member companies, attending either a college or university.

"At present, there are 12 ISRI chapters with scholarships," says Tom Crane, ISRI’s staff liaison to the RRF. "In 2008, the RRF gave out 73 scholarships totaling $90,950."

ISRI chapter officers typically raise money through a variety of activities, including silent auctions, raffles and direct marketing campaigns. While many of these methods are tested, some chapter officers are looking for fresh, innovative ways to encourage member involvement and raise more money for their scholarship funds.

What better way to get members involved than to promise them a good time?

"[The event] has to be something people want to do and something people are going to look forward to doing," says Michael Eisner, vice president of Lakeside Scrap Metals, Cleveland, and coordinator of ISRI’s Northern Ohio Chapter’s Hoops Hysteria.

Fun is the premise behind the Northern Ohio Chapter’s distinctive event, Hoops Hysteria, which will take place March 17 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The fund-raiser, which is in its fifth year, includes a basketball tournament, dinner and cocktails and tickets to that night’s Cleveland Cavaliers game. "In the past, we have had members from the Michigan, Indiana and Pittsburgh chapters participate in the event as well as such individual companies as Six Recycling and Bedford Metals," Eisner says. The chapter has also had companies, including Lakeside Metals, Dart Metals and Metal Conversion, help sponsor the event. "Last year more than 130 people attended, and we raised about $12,000," Eisner says.

Golf is a fund-raising activity that has proven successful for many years. "Our annual golf outing is our biggest event," says Robert Kimmel, vice president of Kimmel Scrap Iron & Metal, Detroit, and president of the ISRI Michigan Chapter. Kimmel says the event typically attracts 100 to 125 golfers, and the chapter raised approximately $13,000 at last year’s event.

Many chapter officials have also found it beneficial to tie their fund-raisers into other industry events, such as meetings and conventions.

For example, the ISRI Gulf Coast Chapter has its annual William Bushman RRF Scholarship Golf Tournament in conjunction with its annual convention. "This way members don’t have to pay twice for plane tickets and their hotel room," says Howard Glick, president of Tri-State Iron and Metal, Texarkana, Ark., and co-chair of the Gulf Coast Chapter’s golf tournament committee.

Last summer, Glick says nearly 135 golfers participated in the tournament, which raised approximately $15,000 for the scholarship fund.

The 2009 golf tournament and Gulf Coast Chapter convention is slated for June 11-13 in Oklahoma City.

The Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of ISRI also uses industry events to encourage more participation and funds. For the past two years, PSI has held a silent auction in conjunction with the Recycling Today Paper, Plastics and Electronics Recycling Conference. PSI is also planning another fund-raiser for this year’s conference, to be held in Atlanta, June 7-9.

The key to any event’s success lies in the details, including location, registration, hotel, food and drink, according to chapter officers.

"Date and location play a big part in our convention’s success," according to Manny Bodner, owner of Houston-based Bodner Metal & Iron Corp. and an ISRI Gulf Coast Chapter board member. "We try to choose locations that are different, yet accessible," he says, referring to Oklahoma City, the host city for the chapter’s 2009 convention.

Location also plays an important role in the Gulf Coast Chapter’s annual golf tournament. "You want to make sure it’s a quality course," Glick says. But he says the challenge then is finding a quality course at a reasonable price. "You also have to take into consideration the price of food and the drink cart," he adds.

With four years of fund-raising experience now under his belt, Eisner says he now has Hoops Hysteria down to a science. "Now all I have to do it call up my contacts at the arena, hotel and caterer, and it’s done in 20 minutes," he says of planning the annual event.

One part of the process that remains time consuming is registration. Many ISRI chapter officers agree that the registration process is one of the most challenging components of many fund-raisers. In recent years, ISRI chapters, including the Michigan and Northern Ohio Chapters, have moved their event registration online. "It just makes the process so much easier," Kimmel says.

In the early years of Hoops Hysteria, Eisner and former coordinator Arnold Fish, now with Wolfe Metals, Skokie, Ill., kept track of everything, including the registration list, entry fees and team roasters, by hand. Eisner says it didn’t take him long to realize that if he wanted to continue to coordinate the event, he would have to come up with a more efficient registration process.

Today, members can register for the event online at https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=2010. And even though Eisner has to pay a fee to use the service, he says it far outweighs the actual cost in time spent managing the process manually. He adds that using the online service has made it possible for his chapter to continue doing this event.

Chapter officers caution that planning a fund-raiser doesn’t happen overnight. "It’s a big commitment," Eisner says. "And you’re not going to get any extrinsic reward out of it."

Glick says, "The reward comes from knowing you have helped a chapter member’s employee’s child go to college."