The Northwest Arkansas Naturals: Pitching in for sustainable giving

By Janie Pritchett-Clark

By its very philosophy, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, with general manager Eric Edelstein at the helm, believes that community and charitable involvement are essential ingredients in the business of professional sports. Not a day goes by, Edelstein claims, that the fax doesn’t ring in a few requests for donations from charities.

“Lots of people are going to ask. If there is any possible way to say yes, we find a way to say, Yes! That’s been our approach for community involvement. Whatever we can do, let’s do it.”

That mindset led Edelstein and his administrative team to create the framework and fundraising arm that would create sustainable giving. “We wanted to be responsive to the community’s needs as they ask for it,’ says Edelstein. “And, knowing that we’re a small business with a small budget, we wanted to find a way to get cash into the hands of worthwhile charities.”

During the 2009 season, the Naturals, with the help of corporate partners and fans, donated more than $200,000 in cash, donations and benefits. They hosted over 100 charitable events with some 400 charities served.

Launch-A-Ball fundraisers held after every Friday night home game raised more than $6,000 for charities from the sale of rubber baseballs. Pack the Park Mondays raised another $6,000-plus for 12 different non-profits that participated in promoting Monday games.

Another program gives high school teams the chance to play on the Arvest Ballpark field. Schools can purchase blocks of tickets wholesale to turn a profit for their own programs, and then gain the chance to play a game at the park. “We had two high schools participate last year,” Edelstein recalls “We have five already scheduled for 2010.”

It seems the list of contributions never ends. They donate thousands of tickets and baseball memorabilia to charity fundraising events all over Northwest Arkansas, as well as to programs that support education or give underprivileged children a seat at the game.  They even set a Guinness World Book record for fans with kazoos.

Edelstein sees 2010 as an opportunity to build on the momentum to do even more.  Although first quarter will be the creative launch pad for what’s new, Edelstein hopes to see more communities and charities get involved.  Buying wholesale fundraising tickets, for example, is a great way for charitable entities to raise money without having to create an event. The City of Farmington did just that, creating a Farmington Night at the Game, and raised funds to improve their city ball fields.

Using the park as a host-site for charitable events is another example of the team “looking at roadblocks and how to get around them.” In 2009 they hosted Tour de Cure, the ALS Walk, Alzheimer’s Memory Walk, and The Cancer Challenge to name a few.

“We’re a small business, but what we lack in size, we make up in profile,” says Edelstein. “We’re good people doing good things.”

Professional sports do, indeed, make a good match to giving. “Sometimes people like something tangible even when they are giving. Here they can feel good about giving to a charity, but they can also go to a ball game. We work hard to figure out how everybody wins. There can be no loser in these deals. Everybody’s got to feel like they generated something good.”

Edelstein admits the economy impacted them in 2009, but more on big-ticket items, he claims. Advertisers, while greater in number, typically made smaller investments.

“There’s less left over, but with our mindset to create wins for everybody, it doesn’t necessarily stop us. Whatever a charity puts into it, they get out of it. And it’s endless. Anything that becomes an endless pot of money is what we’re trying to create. It’s sustainable charity.”

Pulling from their own marketing budgets to serve charitable giving, The Naturals created The Street Team, which includes a second mascot and inflatable pitching machine.

“People would ask us to make an appearance but if we were having a game, all of our resources were tied up.  We wanted to create something independent of our day-to-day baseball team that can still be out there to help when needed. The Street Team,” he adds, “ was everywhere!”

Edelstein and his inside team– who hail from Cleveland, New Jersey, Buffalo, Western New York, Iowa, and Huntsville, Alabama – now call Northwest Arkansas home. “I made it a point to assemble a team with a good mix of local people born and raised in Northwest Arkansas and also industry-knowledgeable people who have worked for minor league teams around the country. We bring ideas we’ve seen in other places.

“Our goal here is to be one of the best, and to have people from our industry respect us as guys who do it right. From the community perspective, I like to think that we are as progressive as there is out there, with room to grow.”

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