The 2011 Gay Softball World Series, held in Chicago, has had a lasting impact locally off the fields of play.
Local organizers raised more than $225,000 for the five-day event held last August at three suburban, multifield complexes.
"Being a 501(c)(3) organization, we were bound by law to distribute any of our excess funds to other non-profit/501(c)(3) entities," said Ted Cappas, president of the eight-member local organizing committee. "The board wanted to use those funds to reinvest in our community and to build off of the anti-bullying theme we promoted all week in conjunction with Ben Cohen and his Stand-UpFoundation." Cohen's charity received more than $10,000 during the week of the Series.
In addition, three local charities—Howard Brown Broadway Youth Center, Illinois Safe Schools Alliance and The Families' & Children's AIDS Network—each received close to $7,000 from funds raised at the Talent Show, held during the Series.
Organizers also issued a $10,000 grant to the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA) to implement an LGBT youth sports program, "to provide awareness and [a] safe haven for our youth," Cappas said.
In addition, a $17,500 grant was given to Imagination Theater to perform several anti-bullying prevention workshops in front of 3,930 children, from kindergarten through high school, in Chicago Public Schools. Training sessions also were performed for 405 camp counselors on how to deal with bullying this summer at the various summer camps.
"The numbers from the anti-bullying programs are very exciting," Cappas said. "Even if they were successful in reaching only 5 percent of their audience, we potentially prevented 200 bullying situations. That alone was worth all the work and effort in organizing the Gay Softball World Series."
Local organizers also provided a small amount of money to the next two host cities of the Series: Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.
"Besides the softball, we knew hosting the Gay Softball World Series was an opportunity to leave a bigger impact on our community," Cappas said.
Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners reported the Series had a $5 million impact on the city and the surrounding communities.
"Our primary goal as a Board was to host a well-organized softball tournament," Cappas said. "Players and teams came here to compete in a softball tournament—and we always made a point to remind ourselves of that. Nothing else would have mattered if we didn't successfully host a well-run tournament."
The 2011 Series featured 150 teams, playing more than 600 games, with more than 2,000 visitors.
"Our board made the decision very early to be conservative in our budgeting," Cappas said. "We tried to account for any realistic costs that we could incur in addition to having a small contingency line item for any unexpected expenses. Under no circumstances did we want to be in a position where we had to continue to fund raise after the event to cover our expenses, or have to ask any of our vendors for discounts. We were absolutely going to be a financial success.
"Remarkably, we had no rain the entire week. That alone saved us a considerable amount of money in our budget as we didn't have to pay for additional hours at the fields and the corresponding costs to making the fields playable. In addition, we had no material unexpected costs."
