2020 Special Olympics Georgia Team Accomplishments

Program Services/Sports:

State Games/Southeast Games

  • State Indoor Winter Games – participation growth of 8.6%
  • Southeast Powerlifting – participation growth of 13% with 190 athletes/coaches & 6 different states
  • Southeast Skiing & Snowboarding – participation of 68 athletes from 11 delegations in attendance
  • Volunteers: Increased Indoor Winter Games volunteer by 3.5% at 1,339, increased Southeast Powerlifting volunteers by 20% at 90, implemented online general orientation training recordings for all volunteers

Coach Education

  • Coach Certifications: increased online certifications by 30%
  • Implemented new online coaching certification options for 6 Sports to coaches during the pandemic

General

  • New Agencies: 1 new school system, 2 new equestrian agencies & 2 new adult programs
  • Created & implemented 30 virtual athlete engagement activities for athletes & agencies during the pandemic
  • SOGA attended the 2020 Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C.

Financial

  • Conducted 2 Treasurer Trainings, Sent Thank You’s to all 123 Treasurers and 210 Local Coordinators, conducted 74 internal audits

Media

  • Developed and implemented brand new marketing tactics using Facebook Ads and Google Ads to reach donors and support.
  • Multiple SOGA Athletes featured on The Weather Channel, Lifestyle Magazine, Atlanta United
  • Grew partnerships with Cumulus Media and Black Crow Media for 2020 event promotions and advertising
  • Developed 2 New Marketing Partnerships with Northeast Georgia and Tennessee Radio group and Demosho Marketing and Out-Front Media Group.
  • Completed 20+ E-blasts featuring SOGA events and information to our Constant Contact database.
  • Did a complete redesign of the Georgia’s Champions E-Newsletter on Canva featuring more athlete photos and engaging content and implemented new sections of the E-Newsletter each month to be more eye catching to engage readers: Sponsor Spotlight, Champions Corner, Staying Fit at Home
  • Developed brand new relationship with Lilly Moore of Netflix’s hit show “Never Have I Ever” and assisted with multiple events
  • Introduced a New Marketing Strategy in 2020 called, “The Athlete First Model”
  • YouTube: Uploaded and shared 10 unique YouTube videos, 7 of which include Athlete Global Messenger Videos

Social Media

  • Increased Instagram followers by 460%, totaling 582
  • Increased LinkedIn followers by 15%, totaling 580
  • Increased Facebook following by 88%, totaling 11,944
  • Implemented the First Facebook LIVE stream event – 2020 Duck Pluck
  • Increased the monthly reach of Facebook posts through October 2020 by 679%, totaling 196,861
  • Post on all social media channels at an average 20 times per week

Unified Champion Schools

  • SOGA received a $100,000.00 grant from the United States Department of Special Education and SOI.
  • SOGA has 50 UCS Schools, signing on 9 since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
    • 28 UCS Schools; grades K-12
    • 10 Young Athletes Programs; ages 2-7
    • 12 SO College Clubs
  • SOGA created a new UCS Resource Guide for Virtual, In-person, and Hybrid school programs
  • SOGA created and implemented Unified Arts within the Unified Clubs aspect of UCS
  • SOI accepted 2 Youth Ambassadors from SOGA for the 2020-2022 U.S. Youth Ambassador Program. Both Ambassadors were featured on The Weather Channel to speak about inclusion and staying active despite distance learning.
  • The Hasbro Company selected SOGA’s White County Middle School as one of their top 5 Unified Champion National Banner Schools, presenting them with an award on Hasbro’s Global Day of Joy (December 10th)

Young Athletes

  • SOGA received a $7,500.00 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the growth of SOGA’s Young Athletes Program.
  • SOGA has 10 confirmed Young Athletes programs for the 2020-2021 school year.

SO College Club

  • SOGA received a $3,000.00 grant from ESPN to support the growth of SO College Clubs Unified Sports Programs.
  • SOGA has 12 SO College Clubs, signing on 2 since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.

Healthy Athletes

  • 2020 Indoor Winter Games – number of athletes screened increased from 148 to 235
  • 2020 Indoor Winter Games – new discipline (Health Promotion) added
  • Healthy Athletes Clinical Director 2020 recruitment goal of 1 new Clinical Director met – 2 added, Dr. Michael Milano added for Special Smiles and Dr. Jay Spector for Fit Feet

Sponsorship/Fundraising:

  • Exceeded revenue goal by 61% goal was $36,000, then changed 4/16/2020 to $40,000, total raised today is $58,932.69. Exceeded the goal by $18,932.69
  • Added 17 new sponsors to Fall Games.

 Development:

  • Achieved an increase year over year through October in online giving through the IDMP giving program with SOI.
  • Increased the number of emails in our Constant Contact database from 32,000 to 47,000 in order to reach more supporters.
  • Had an increase of four through October of the number of foundations funding our programs.
  • Created a more efficient way to record and track deferred revenues.
  • Increased Winter Games Corporate Giving
  • Staying in touch and growing a constant relationship with pro sports teams, forming a relationship with the new Rugby ATL team.
  • Added 5 more volunteer photographers for state games
  •  Organize and reconcile accountant folder to make more accessible

 Events:

Marlow’s

  • Successfully secured Country Club of Roswell as the new 2020 venue
  • Obtained a total of 58 corporate sponsorships for the 2020 tournament
  • Secured 144 golfer reservations out of a 144 goal
  • Raised a total of $5,695.00 through silent auction sales
  • Raised a total of $155,705.30 out of a $122,102.89 goal

Law Enforcement Torch Run

Publix

  • 184 Publix locations participated in the campaign across the state
  • 8 Law Enforcement Torch Run agencies participated in store visits
  • 13 Special Olympics Georgia staff participated in store visits
  • Raised a total of $845,811.19 out of $845,711 goal

Cops on Donut Shops

  • 68 store locations participated in the 5th Annual Cops on Donut Shops
  • A total of $43,938.28 was raised through the event
  • 18 Law Enforcement Torch Run Agencies participated in the fundraiser
  • 12 Special Olympics Georgia Team volunteered at fundraiser

Polar Plunge

  • Successfully secured 19 sponsorships for the 2020 Polar Plunge
  • 340 individuals registered for the plunge out of 270 goal
  • 46 Teams attended the plunge along with 36 individual plungers
  • Secured 20 individual volunteers for the event along with LETR Agencies
  • 10 teams signed up for Tug-of-War contest and participated
  • Raised a total of $149,127 out of $90,000 goal

General

  • 22 agencies have signed new registration form as of 11/20/2020, continually encouraging more to sign form.
  • 26 LETR agencies raised money in 2020 for Special Olympics Georgia athletes
  • Reggie Lee was invited back to be LETR’s Athlete Ambassador for 2021-2022 term
  • $44,479 merchandise sold out of $22,000 goal
  • $123,674 raised through fundraising/annual events out of $50,000 goal
  • Have raised a total of $970,468 out of $877,000 goal through LETR.
  • Attended Columbus Police Department for a check presentation of $20,000 that was raised at the River City Motorcycle Rodeo
  • Attended the 2020 Georgia Sheriff’s Association Conference for LETR recruitment

Duck Pluck

  • Successfully reached revenue goal for sponsorship with $29,611 dollars committed out of a goal of $29,000
  • Reached duck adoption goal of 10,000 adoptions with 10,288 ducks adopted.
  • Transitioned a large portion of the adoption process to Classy allowing SOGA to retain more adoption revenue
  • Reached a wider audience through the usage of Social Media to promote the Pluck
  • Engaged athletes in the adoption process through the creation of teams for them
  • Secured and signed a contract for this event to take place on September 22nd, 2021

Bob Busse

  • Secured 108 golfer reservations
  • 27 teams attended this event on October 27th which surpassed our initial goal of 26 teams.
  • Raised a total of $63,780 through corporate sponsorships
  • A total of $94,301 was raised from this event benefitting the athletes of SOGA.
  • Secured volunteers with PWC for this event in full
  • Successfully secured new venue for 2021 which will be held at Country Club of Roswell on October 25th

Shoot for Champions

  • A total of 43 shooters attended this event competing on 11 different teams
  • Secured 10 corporate sponsors who committed $44,698.36
  • $1975 was raised day of through either donations or and raffle sales
  • Secure volunteers with Knights of Columbus and Winter Construction for this event
  • Surpassed revenue goal for this event of $42,000 with $48,913 dollars being raised for our athletes
  • Secured venue and signed the contract for next year that will take place on August 20th, 2021

Other Accomplishments

Business Mailing

  • Successfully wrote, assembled, and sent out April and October business letter to 3,628 businesses in the state of Georgia
  • To date, we have received 99 donations in 2020, a total of $ 15,025.00

Community Health Charities

  • Have received $5,320 donations as of 11/20/2020
  • Completed and submitted application for the 2021 Community Health Charities Campaign

 Website

  • Revamped and created new layout for the LETR tab on SOGA’s website

Local Fundraisers

  • Approved 53 Fundraising Authorization Forms in the year of 2020 for local fundraising events

Miscellaneous

  • Travelled with an athlete to Washington, D.C. in February to lobby our representatives more additional funding for UCS
  • Assisted with getting Senate Resolution 902 passed in the Georgia State Senate honoring SOGA for 50 years of service to the athletes of Georgia
  • Assisted with the SOGA Truck wrap design
  • Between the COO, Senior Events Manager and the Events Manager, 303 grants were written in 2020

Business Administration:

  • SOGA has 10 confirmed Young Athletes programs for the 2020-2021 school year.
  • All folders in accounting drive were full and complete before audit began
  • Reconciling investment, checking, and credit card accounts regularly and proficiently
  • Batch reports in FE & Excel Batch Reports on area accounts for audit
  • How to spot mistakes in Trail and GL reports – correct them or find the correct person to contact
  • Enter in new vendors and missing vendor information for existing vendors into FE for more efficient process
  • Monthly cash and excel reports for all the investment accounts and checking account
  • Secured new 5k sponsor for golf tournament
  • 73 accounts audited to date, which is approximately the target goal per year or half the number of the total of local and area accounts that are active
  • Worked with Blackbaud to resolve issues that we may encounter during typical usage of the application
  • Able to reconcile the local and area accounts to match the monthly trial balance
  • Conducted volunteer treasurer training as requested
  • Draft signature card change request for agencies per Program Services

 Administration:

  • Achieved an increase year over year through October in online giving through the IDMP giving program with SOI
  • Increased the number of emails in our Constant Contact database from 32,000 to 47,000 in order to reach more supporters
  • Had an increase of four through October of the number of foundations funding our programs
  • Created a more efficient way to record and track deferred revenues
  • Increased Winter Games Corporate Giving
  • Staying in touch and growing a constant relationship with pro sports teams, forming a relationship with the new Rugby ATL team
  • Added 5 more volunteer photographers for State Games
  •  Organize and reconcile accountant folder to make more accessible Signed on 6 new Honorary Board members
  • Designed and built the SOGA Eternal Flame of Hope monument honoring the 50th Anniversary which was placed on the Beltline
  • Reached out successfully to more Foundations than ever before on behalf of the organization
  • Sold out and conducted a fundraising Chef’s Dinner benefiting SOGA
  • Renegotiated several maintenance contracts which saved the organization $1,000’s in expenses
  • Planned and implemented more internal Team Development trainings than ever before
  • 2021 Budget prepared and entered
  • 2021-2022 SOI Accreditation completed
  • Received our 2021 Drug Free Workplace re-certification
  • Presented 10 Distinguished Service Awards in 2020 to volunteers and agencies
  • Formed a Strategic Plan Committee who wrote SOGA’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan
  • 100% of the SOGA Team has pledged to give back, financially, to SOGA