“What is a Nonprofit Hockey Organization?” Part 3: Hockey as a Platform for Advocacy, Awareness and Fundraising
By Howard Brodwin
This is my third post on “What is Nonprofit Hockey Organization” and here I’ll be shining a light where hockey is used as a platform for advocacy, awareness and fundraising campaigns. This is the category most hockey fans and active “beer leaguers” are familiar with, where we see hockey as a central, unifying platform to rally people and raise awareness and/or funds around a particular cause.
Probably the most common example in sports are the thousands of run/walks and marathons that happen every weekend around the US and Canada, raising funds and awareness around a myriad of diseases and critical social issues. Run/Walk/Ride events have proven to be effective fundraisers and are used by some of the largest nonprofits and cause programs in the world including American Cancer Society, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Alzheimer’s Association.
Also falling into this category are many of the efforts we see coming directly from the NHL. In fact, the major professional sports leagues, teams and athletes are often central figures in campaigns and initiatives designed to bring fans together around a particular cause. A league-wide program like NHL Hockey Fights Cancer during the month of October is a good example of this type of initiative, as are ongoing campaigns from many individual athlete and team foundations.
The broadest of all the categories we’ve outlined so far, these advocacy, awareness and fundraising programs address all types of significant social, health, economic and environmental issues. Some examples in this category include:
Environment
NHL Green
Created in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and their “green sports” programs, the NHL Green initiative is meant to educate fans on environmental responsibility and showcase how the league and member teams are working towards better sustainability practices. The NHL and many teams have also been core members of the Green Sports Alliance, which is providing facilities and venue operators with education and resources on better environmental practices around energy usage and lighting, water and waste management, recycling and composting.
Diversity & Inclusion
You Can Play is a social activism campaign dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation. Deeply rooted in ice hockey, the program was created by Philadelphia Flyers’ scout Patrick Burke and his father Brian Burke, currently the GM of the Calgary Flames, to honor the late Brendan Burke (Brian’s son/Patrick’s brother, who tragically passed away in late 2010) who was team manager of the Division One Miami (OH) Redhawks hockey team and openly gay. “The hockey community rallied behind Brendan because he loved the game,” Patrick Burke said. “The NHL players stepping forward to support You Can Play know that creating a homophobia-free environment will make their teams, and the sport, better.”
You Can Play works to guarantee that all athletes are given a fair opportunity to compete, judged by other athletes and fans alike, only by what they contribute to the sport or their team’s success. The program has been very active at all levels of hockey, working with teams and players throughout the NHL, CHL, AHL and NCAA. The program extends well beyond hockey including a relationship with Major League Soccer, providing extensive support, education and programming through all sports, teaching respect, equality and acceptance. Because “if you can play, you can play.”
Hockey is for Everyone
Hockey is for Everyone is another NHL initiative that provides support and unique programming to nonprofit youth hockey organizations across North America that are committed to offering children of all backgrounds the opportunity to play hockey. To date, Hockey is for Everyone has exposed close to 45,000 boys and girls to unique hockey experiences. Every February marks the NHL’s annual Hockey is for Everyone Month and league-wide activities engage teams, players, alumni and fans to raise awareness and celebrate diversity in the sport of hockey.
Health
Hockey Fights MS
Started by former women’s college hockey player Candice Arnold, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis while actively playing, Hockey Fights MS runs hockey tournaments that raise funds for research into “the cause, cure and treatment of multiple sclerosis and to help improve the lives of those living with multiple sclerosis by supporting local rehabilitation centers.” What started as one tournament in Pennsylvania almost 10 years ago, has grown to tourneys in 4 states, with players coming from all over the US and Canada to participate and support the cause. The National MS Society – one of Hockey Fights MS’s beneficiary charities – estimates MS affects over 400,000 people in the US.
And just to clarify, as with any sort of categorization there are surely going to be orgs that either don’t fit one of the specific groups I’ve outlined in this series of posts, or ones that may straddle the line between several categories. In fact, the “hybrid models” can be quite effective, as they blend best practices from several sides of the table. Right To Play is one of those orgs, providing sports programming for underserved communities around the world, often times in conflict zones and much of it with a development focus, while also working to advocate and raise awareness for many marginalized populations.
Looking ahead, one area that I’ll touch on in a future post will be the emerging Social Enterprise space, where companies and organizations are using business principles to tackle social issues. Social Enterprise is still a very new concept in the sports industry but we’re seeing more interest in the space and I look forward to highlighting some of these unique companies for the Shnarped community.
Game on!
Howard Brodwin is the founder of Sports and Social Change, a sports marketing firm focused on cause marketing, corporate social responsibility and social enterprise development. Follow him on twitter @sportsandchange
http://www.sportsandsocialchange.org
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