AVRE's March Mania Fundraiser

Will you be AVRE's first March Mania CHAMPION?

We are asking our community partners to rally their friends, family, and networks to support our work through a fun and competitive event – AVRE’s March Mania. By becoming a fundraising "team", you will help raise funds to support our mission to create opportunities for success and independence with people who are blind or visually impaired. 100% of the proceeds will go directly towards critically needed programs and services for people who are blind or visually impaired within AVRE's nine-county service area in the Southern Tier. Plus, you'll help raise awareness of our mission and help your friends feel good about doing good.

What is March Mania?

Instead of filling out a bracket, we invite you, your friends, business, or club to form a team and BECOME the bracket. Once the tournament is full, a bracket will be formed that pits teams (donors) against each other in a single elimination tournament – the team with the highest amount raised will win each round (think of dollars as points).

How does March Mania work?

To participate, each team must submit a minimum $25 entry donation on AVRE’s March Mania donation LANDING PAGE. Once entered, each team will receive a link to their team-specific fundraising landing page (named after each team), which will serve as your online donation portal. Teams are encouraged to ask colleagues, friends, and family to support their team by donating directly on their team page. AVRE will make this simple by creating a unique link you can share via social media, email, etc.

Teams must submit all donations prior to each scheduled round’s day and cut-off time. After each round, the donation totals will remain undisclosed, but throughout the tournament, anonymous teasers such as highest donation, lowest donation, and average amounts will be announced. The cumulative amount donations raised by your team will set up your team for the next matchup and help you advance closer to the final. The “brackets” will be updated on AVRE’s social media and March Mania event page.

What the WINNING team will receive:

• Mention on website, all social media, press, and select printed materials
• Tickets to AVRE's Annual Dining in the Dark fundraiser (Fall, 2021)
• Pizza party for you and your friends to watch your favorite sporting event on AVRE's full-wall projection screen (when it's safe to do so).
• The inaugural AVRE March Mania Championship Winner Engraved Trophy (to be passed on annually to each subsequent winning team)

This event will be a fun way to not only help AVRE raise funds for programs and services, but also to spread the word about all of the good work being done by AVRE within our communities. Click HERE to learn more.

Starting a March Mania "team" is easy to do, and it's fun. We will give you all the tools you'll need to be successful and make a difference. Please consider creating your own team, reaching out to friends to combine a team, or asking business/ organization contacts to consider joining in!

Timeline:

Team Registration: Now through March 19th (or until tournament is full)

First Round: Closes at 3PM, March 23^rd

Mania Sixteen: Closes at 3PM, March 26^th

Mania Eight: Closes at 3PM, March 30^th

Mania Four: Closes at 3PM, April 2^nd

Mania Championship: Closes at 3PM, April 5^th and WINNER announced 6PM

• Beginning at 3:01PM the day after each round completes, fundraising for the next round begins and will be added to your cumulative amount from previous rounds.
• If your team is eliminated and you still have people wanting to support this fundraising effort, please encourage them to pick another team to support – maybe an underdog, a friend’s company, etc.?

Questions? Contact:

Bill Emmons (607) 761-0271 or william.emmons85@gmail.com

Jaclyn Boushie-Bombard (607) 724-2428 x125 or jboushie@avreus.org

Social Media’s Role:

The idea here is to foster a competitive environment that mimics a basketball tournament. In order for this to work, we will look to participating teams and supporters to actively post on social media – both personal or organizational pages as well as on the AVRE March Mania event page on Facebook.

AVRE will be reaching out to local personalities as potential “sportscasters” to do mock reporting throughout the tournament, playing off the teams social media posts and “stories”. Teams will be responsible for sharing these videos and AVRE will provide links, hashtags, and other pertinent information once your team is registered.