Special Olympics Event Management And Financial Representation

Event Sponsorship

Special events are counted under the public relations segments and are the great way for promoting the business. If there is a good plan for the event management, it creates various PR opportunities. Media coverage of the special event raise the brand profile and increase the awareness of the service or products (Andersen, Hanstad and Plejdrup-Skillestad 2015). The event is also a good way to gain prospects, clients and the influencers to get the idea regarding the product or business. Various steps are involved in successful event management. These are –

• Decorating and designing the stage
• Making arrangements for lighting, power, audiovisual, speakers and the entertainment requirements
• Making arrangements for event tool kit like blue tac for the posters, first aid kit, torch, blank name tags and any other required tool kit
• Arrangement for crowd control, security and ambulance for the first aid and any accident.
• Information, administration and lost children area.
• Arrangement for water, tents, waste bins and toilets (Masterman 2014).

This report will focus on the event – Special Olympics that were held during 1^st to 7^th December 2013 in Newcastle, New South Wales of Australia. The event included 9 kinds of games and 29 countries were taken part in the event.

Sponsorship 

From the coaches to the athletes, the local supporters and fundraiser needs strong commitment for success. From the beginning of Special Olympics during 1968 in Chicago, The Coca-Cola Company sponsors the competition programme and sports training all round the year. When the Special Olympics GB started in 1978 in Great Britain, Coca-Cola Great Britain extended their hand to start the partnership that already started in US. Through the annual funding they cover major running costs. However, their support goes further beyond that as the employees invest their personal time with raising the funds and through running the local sports clubs for Special Olympics.

They are also getting involved more people with the work of Special Olympics through their Unified Sports programmes that finds people without and with the intellectual disabilities those play in the same teams. It is the great way for breaking down the barriers and promoting the friendship along with including the fun and fitness programme (Li and Wang 2013). Through sponsoring the Special Olympics 2013, they celebrated 35 years of the partnership among Special Olympics and Coca-Cola. More than 1700 athletes from Britain including all ages and various abilities participated in the game, in association with the Coca-Cola Foundation. Partnership with the Special Olympics for Coca-Cola is just a way of supporting next generation of athletes and performing their part for getting everyone involved in the game (Meenaghan, McLoughlin and McCormack 2013).

Other sponsors of the event were as follows –

• ESPN
• Finish Line
• Golisano Foundation
• Lions International
• Mattel
• Perfect sense
• TD bank
• Y & R

Financial model 

Financial model is the procedure through which any organization or event managers prepare the financial representation for the given security. The financial model summarizes the specific events for end users. The users use the financial model for various purposes like strategic planning, scenario preparation, business valuation allocation of the corporate resources, decisions regarding the capital budgeting and calculations of cost of capital for the corporate finance related projects. The models are also used to forecast the trends and projections, ratio analysis and the financial statements (Verfuerth, and Potts, Orion Energy Systems 2014).

Basic Event Budget

The Special Olympics Inc mainly prepares the two statements for presenting their financial position. These are – combined statement of activities and the statements for assets and liabilities.

• Combined statement of activities – this statement is divided into three parts – permanently restricted, temporary restricted and total unrestricted. This statement further includes various heads like (1) revenues, gains and other support (2) net assets released from the restrictions (3) Expenses and (4) net asset summary. The 1^stpart includes the gains and revenues from various sources like royalty income, accreditation fees, federal grants and investment income. With the total of revenues and gains, the amount of net assets released from the restriction is added to get the amount of total revenue and the net assets released from the restrictions. From this total, the expenses are deducted to get the net assets at the end of the year. Various expenses of the expenses are the expenses for program assistance, fundraising expenses, communications and public education expenses and expenses related to competitions and sports training.
• Assets and liabilities statement – this statement includes two sections – assets and liabilities. The assets are divided into current assets and non-current assets. Further, the current assets include various heads like cash and the cash equivalents, account receivables and contributions and other current assets (Haimes 2015). The non-current assets include the long-term investments, the long-term receivable contributions, fixed assets and other assets. The liabilities include the accrued liabilities and accounts payable, awards and grants payable and the deferred liabilities.

Role of entrepreneurship in the event sector 

Entrepreneurs, the major source of the innovation in the industry, that generates from various inputs like opportunity, modelling, learning and genes. The policies of the government can stimulate the entrepreneurial activities through offering the access to the tax concession, funds, strategies and programs to provide skills, networks and supports. However, there are various initiatives that support the innovation and entrepreneurialism in the event industries (Saunders, Gray and Goregaokar 2014).

The volunteer board of directors for Special Olympics establish the international policies. The board involves the sport and business leaders, experts, educators with regard to the intellectual disables and the professional athletes from all over the world (Solesvik,  Westhead and Matlay 2014). For last 45 years the management of Special Olympics worked for spreading the acceptance and compassion in various ways to bring the people together in their community.  

Basic event budget

CATEGORY	PROJECTED SUBTOTAL	ACTUAL EXPENSES
Venue	SUBTOTAL	$           5,300.00	$     5,600.00
Location Rental	$               1,600.00	$         1,200.00
Equipment Rental	$                 800.00	$           900.00
Additional Tables / Chairs	$                 400.00	$           500.00
Venue Tech Support	$               1,000.00	$         1,400.00
Security	$               1,500.00	$         1,600.00
Décor	SUBTOTAL	$           2,700.00	$     2,950.00
Linens	$               2,000.00	$         2,100.00
Lighting	$                 400.00	$           350.00
Additional Furniture	$                 300.00	$           500.00
Food / Beverage	SUBTOTAL	$           7,300.00	$     7,650.00
Food	$               2,000.00	$         2,100.00
Beverage	$                 600.00	$           550.00
Catering Staff	$               1,500.00	$         1,700.00
Bar	$               2,500.00	$         2,800.00
Take-Away Food / Beverage	$                 700.00	$           500.00
Event Programming	SUBTOTAL	$           1,800.00	$     2,000.00
Speakers	$               1,200.00	$         1,400.00
Performers	$                 300.00	$           200.00
Video Production	$                 300.00	$           400.00
Additional Entertainment	SUBTOTAL	$           1,700.00	$     1,700.00
Music / DJ	$                 800.00	$           800.00
Gaming Rentals	$                 500.00	$           500.00
Additional Rentals	$                 400.00	$           400.00
Event Documentation	SUBTOTAL	$           1,800.00	$     1,900.00
Photographer	$               1,100.00	$         1,000.00
Videographer	$                 700.00	$           900.00
Travel	SUBTOTAL	$              900.00	$     1,100.00
Flight / Driving	$                 400.00	$           600.00
Lodging	$                 500.00	$           500.00
Attendee / Guest Services	SUBTOTAL	$           4,600.00	$     4,300.00
Transportation	$                 600.00	$           700.00
Accommodation	$               2,200.00	$         2,000.00
Storage	$               1,800.00	$         1,600.00
Registration	SUBTOTAL	$           2,200.00	$     2,400.00
Software	$               2,000.00	$         2,200.00
ID Production	$                 200.00	$           200.00
Communications	SUBTOTAL	$              400.00	$        350.00
Mobile App	$                 100.00	$           100.00
Printing / Fabrication	$                 300.00	$           250.00
Public Relations	SUBTOTAL	$              500.00	$        600.00
Announcements	$                 500.00	$           600.00
Marketing	SUBTOTAL	$              700.00	$        800.00
Email Marketing	$                 200.00	$           250.00
Surveys	$                 100.00	$           150.00
Video Production	$                 400.00	$           400.00
Social Media	SUBTOTAL	$              400.00	$        400.00
Twitter	$                 100.00	$           100.00
Facebook	$                 100.00	$           100.00
Pinterest	$                 100.00	$           100.00
Google+	$                 100.00	$           100.00
Advertising	SUBTOTAL	$           1,600.00	$     1,500.00
Online	$                 400.00	$           250.00
Print	$                 300.00	$           150.00
Outdoor	$                 300.00	$           500.00
Radio	$                 200.00	$           200.00
Television	$                 400.00	$           400.00
Sponsors	SUBTOTAL	$           1,300.00	$     1,100.00
Acquisition	$                 300.00	$           200.00
Communication	$                 400.00	$           500.00
Complimentary Passes / Tickets	$                 200.00	$           200.00
Logistics	SUBTOTAL	$           1,900.00	$     2,050.00
Insurance	$               1,300.00	$         1,450.00
Contracts	$                 200.00	$           200.00
Permits	$                 400.00	$           400.00
Other	SUBTOTAL	$              500.00	$        400.00
TOTAL EXPENSES	$          35,600.00	$    36,800.00

It can be identified from the above budget that the budgeted expenses were $35,600 whereas the actual expenses were $ 36,800/ though there is not wide gap between the budget and the actual, however, the company shall prepare its budget more accurately, taking into consideration the actual expenses of this year.

Conclusion

From the above discussion it is concluded that, event creates various PR opportunities like brand awareness, promotion of brand and communication with the users of the product. The main sponsor of the Special Olympic 2013 is the Coca-Cola Company. Partnership with the Special Olympics for Coca-Cola is just a way of supporting next generation of athletes and performing their part for getting everyone involved in the game. From the budget, it is identified that the actual expenses were more than the budget. Therefore, the company shall prepare its budget more accurately, taking into consideration the actual expenses of this year.

References 

Andersen, S.S., Hanstad, D.V. and Plejdrup-Skillestad, K., 2015. The Role of Test Events in Major Sporting Events. Event Management, 19(2), pp.261-273.

Haimes, Y.Y., 2015. Risk modeling, assessment, and management. John Wiley & Sons.

Li, C. and Wang, C.K.J., 2013. Effect of exposure to Special Olympic Games on attitudes of volunteers towards inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 26(6), pp.515-521.

Masterman, G., 2014. Strategic sports event management. Routledge.

Meenaghan, T., McLoughlin, D. and McCormack, A., 2013. New challenges in sponsorship evaluation actors, new media, and the context of praxis. Psychology & Marketing, 30(5), pp.444-460.

Saunders, M.N., Gray, D.E. and Goregaokar, H., 2014. SME innovation and learning: the role of networks and crisis events. European Journal of Training and Development, 38(1/2), pp.136-149.

Solesvik, M., Westhead, P. and Matlay, H., 2014. Cultural factors and entrepreneurial intention: The role of entrepreneurship education. Education+ Training, 56(8/9), pp.680-696.

Verfuerth, N.R. and Potts, M.H., Orion Energy Systems, Inc., 2014. System and method for a utility financial model. U.S. Patent 8,626,643.