Flashback to 2008. It’s 10AM Saturday morning in Goldens Bridge. Jon and Eloise Goldman are rushing Ben to football, getting Grant suited up for his soccer game, and trying to find directions for Chase’s hockey game an hour’s drive away.
It’s a day in the life for the parents of young athletes. The game schedules never seem to end and the seasons blur one into another. The dad (and mom!) of three wants the best for his boys - to foster their athletic ability, keep them active and engaged - but the cost of playing on travel teams can make anyone’s head spin.
Like the Goldman boys, 35 million other kids in the US play organized sports each year. And every year, keeping the teams going just gets more and more expensive. Then it dawns on him. With 10+ years in sports media and a personal passion for kids and sports, a clever idea just might help alleviate the financial burden for other families around the country.
Joining forces with Eloise's brother, Adam Kern, who were experienced in running sports camps for future college athletes, Reaching our Goal was born. It's the first student athlete fundraising company to leverage the Internet. Instead of knocking on doors to sell candy bars and cookie dough, athletes from Little League teams to college champions all over the country began using ROG’s email platform to raise lots of money from donations. It was crowdfunding before anyone ever heard of crowdfunding.
Recently, Jon realized he needed a little marketing help. Bombarded by fundraising pitches, the time-stressed parents and coaches he was looking for were getting harder and harder to reach. The average time spent on Reaching Our Goal’s web site was plummeting. Everyone’s attention span was shrinking.
Enter Crushpath, the world’s first free marketing platform. Reaching Our Goal used Crushpath's free "marketing department in a box" software to build several one-page "pitch sites." These beautifully designed single pages allowed Jon to pare Reaching Our Goal's web presence down to bite-sized messages; each one tailored to specific audiences, then shared via email or social media.
In just a few months of using Crushpath, Reaching Our Goal has reached more than 8,000 potential new customers. Jon and his team have helped hundreds more teams raise money and they have generated thousands in new revenue reaching a total of $54 million raised since ROG launched. And Crushpath’s motto is something Jon has come to know firsthand: big ideas beat big budgets.
