Fundraiser aims to boost revenue of race
Fundraiser launched to boost limited revenue
After a “Razooly of a year,” leaders of the Kinetic Universe are restructuring the organization and asking for the community’s support with an end- ofyear fundraiser. The nonprofit has already raised more than half of its $10,000 goal.
Who or what is Razooly, you may ask? He was an infamous kinetic competitor.
“He was a racer back in the days when the rules were loosely followed,” said long-time volunteer and Kinetic Sculpture Race head judge Jenette Kime, also known as Goddess Jen-O. “So he had fun loosely following them and so anytime something happens, we always blame ( Tom) Razooly. He is still around and often comes to the race dressed in black from head to toe.”
Despite the bad omen, the Kinetic Universe team did its best to create virtual events.
“It’s the only way we know how to spend Memorial Day weekend,” Kime said. “People still watched, so at least we had something. However, it was free so there was no revenue stream from the event. It was a way to keep the brand out there and still have some sort of an event that’s had a huge impact (on our community).”
Though the coronavirus pandemic forced the Kinetic Sculpture Race to shift to the Kinetic Sculpture in Place, the board of directors has taken advantage of the lull to rethink the future of the Kinetic Universe.
Kime is on a four-person transition team working to restructure the nonprofit’s board of directors.
“We are responding to a number of urgent legal, financial, and organizational matters. It’s not glorious work, but it begins rebuilding the platform for a glorious race. We’re still waiting for the IRS to respond to our latest communications with them. We applied for COVID relief money and are investigating other grant opportunities. We’re still working to capture knowledge from the folks who have been doing the heroic work, before they completely burn out,” the transition team wrote in a December newsletter.
“It’s really hard to find people who want to participate at a particular level,” Kime told the Times- Standard in a phone interview on Tuesday. “People like to go volunteer for the weekend but to be on a board or meet year-round is a different level of participation and sometimes it’s difficult to find people who would be that devoted.”
Board members tend to get burnt out and serve a much longer term than expected, Kime said. “They tried to run the organization and put on events and that burns people out, so we’re really trying to change the structure of the nonprofit and have a board that’s really more strategic.”
If it weren’t for the pandemic, Kime said the team might not have had the time to consider the restructure.
“We probably would have been business as usual if there would have been an event, so not having an event and not having the money coming in gave us more time to really start thinking about how we are structured and is this the right structure to move forward into the future,” Kime said.
The transition team is looking for two groups of people: those with fundraising, marketing and accounting skills who can run the board and event coordinators who can run the show.
“We’re all looking forward to next year,” Kime said. “We’re hoping that things will be better and that we can have something that’s a little more normal, but there will probably be a lot of changes with regards to crowd size or how we organize the race. If we are able to do something, it will be dictated by whatever the state says is allowable.”
In the meantime, Kime urged the community to keep an eye on the Kinetic Universe website for a live stream on New Year’s Eve .
More information on the fundraiser can be found at www.kineticgrandchampionship.com.
Though the coronavirus pandemic forced the Kinetic Sculpture Race to shift to the Kinetic Sculpture in Place, the board of directors has taken advantage of the lull to rethink the future of the Kinetic Universe.