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Sport Innovation/Review of the 5th Test

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McGrath Foundation Pink Test - Vodafone Test Series: Australia v Sri Lanka

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3-7 January 2013 | Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG): Sydney, NSW


Background

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Arguably one of Australia’s best cricket fast bowlers, Glenn McGrath played over 400 First Class matches, taking over 900 wickets. In 2005, The McGrath Foundation was founded to honor his late wife Jane, after publicly battling breast cancer.


The foundation strives to supply all Australian families fighting breast cancer with the optimal support of a breast nurse, regardless of their financial or residential situation. They estimate 150 nurses are needed to achieve this goal. Over the past four years, the Foundation’s 80 breast care nurses have supported over 17,800 families throughout Australia.


In conjunction with the independently run Vodafone and Cricket Australia (CA) Test series, the McGrath Foundation has been involved in the past five Sydney Tests at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to raise money for breast cancer support. The four previous Pink Tests between 2009-2012 raised over $3.5 million.


This Wiki article will focus on the fifth, and most recent ‘Pink test’, in January 2013.


Goal

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The two goals of the fifth ‘Pink Test’ in Sydney were to raise money for the McGrath Foundation, and have as many people as possible in the SCG crowd wearing pink on the Jane McGrath day.


Objectives

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The main objective for the Pink Test is raising money for the McGrath Foundation. This will be achieved through various fundraising initiatives including; collecting donations at the SCG and online, auctioning Test memorabilia and selling pink McGrath Foundation merchandise. "The McGrath Foundation does not set targets for any of its fundraising initiatives as they understand that every dollar makes a difference." - Colin Lieu, Communications Officer, The McGrath Foundation.

The measure of success in this example will be based on a comparison to the previous Pink Tests.


The secondary objective is to encourage the crowd wear pink on the ‘Jane McGrath Day’ on Saturday the 5th. This will see the SCG transformed to a sea of pink to help raise awareness of breast cancer and the McGrath Foundation. ‘Jane McGrath High Tea’ will be run to co-inside with the Jane McGrath Day at the SCG. Tickets will be sold in advance, with the proceeds going to the McGrath Foundation.


Lifecycle

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The lifecycle for this project is one year. This lifecycle may run parallel to the review period of the 2012 Pink Test.

  • The McGrath Foundation must first renew their contracts with the major stakeholders and sponsors (Cricket Australia, Vodafone and the SCG) to proceed with another project.

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  • The Foundation can begin preparation of 2013 pink merchandise. This includes designing and outsourcing production of limited edition clothes and accessories.
  • Additional sponsors (Mt Franklin and Greys Online) are approached.

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  • The date of the Test is released by CA on 19 July, 2012.

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  • Announcement of Test via Foundation website.
  • Promotion of the Test via Foundation and CA websites and Channel 9 begins in November (as cricket season commences).
  • Volunteers are sourced to work during the Test.
  • Tickets are sold to the High Tea.

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  • Stock/Merchandise moved into the SCG
  • Volunteers are contacted and confirmed

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  • Test Match begins

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  • Removal of stock/merchandise from SCG

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  • Evaluation of the Test



Stakeholders

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  • The McGrath family
  • The McGrath Foundation staff, volunteers & sponsors
  • The McGrath Foundation breast cancer families
  • All other Australian families suffering from breast cancer
  • Vodafone Australia / Vodafone Foundation
  • Cricket Australia / Cricket Cares
  • Sydney Cricket Ground / The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust
  • Cricket NSW
  • Australian Cricket Team Players
  • Spectators at SCG Test
  • Spectators watching via TV in Australia and overseas
  • Channel 9 Broadcast network and staff
  • Outsourced memorabilia producers



Specifications

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Fundraising at ground: 3-7 January

Limited edition pink bandanas will available on all days of the Sydney test. Volunteers will distribute these to the crowd for a gold coin donation.


Fundraising online: 3 January, 12:01am - 7 January, 11:59pm

The ‘Donate & Win’ promotion automatically enters the online donator into a draw to win prizes (Allan Border Medal travel package and signed playing shirts). Winners notified via email on 10 January 2013.


Test memorabilia auctions: 8 January, 5pm - 13 January, 9pm

Signed Test memorabilia is put up for auction via Grays Online auction site following the conclusion of the Test match.


McGrath Foundation pink merchandise: 3-7 January

McGrath Foundation merchandise is available for purchase at the SCG during the test. Merchandise is available worldwide for purchase via the Foundation website all year.


Jane McGrath Day pink crowd: 5 January

In conjunction with the distribution of various McGrath Foundation merchandise, the SCG crowd will be encouraged through adversing to ‘pink up’ on the Jane McGrath Day.


Jane McGrath High Tea: 5 January, 12pm

Tickets sold online in advance of the event for $75 each. During the event prizes and gift bags will be available to guests. Mt Franklin water will sponsor the High Tea.



Priorities

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Priority Matrix

Time Cost Scope HR
Constrain x
Preferred x x
Flexible x


Time is the constraint as the date (3-7 January) of the Test is decided by Cricket Australia. The Australian ‘International Summer of Cricket’ match dates, including the Sydney Test, were released on 19 July 2012. Furthermore, although the Test is scheduled to run for five days, the nature of cricket is such that a Test may only be played until a team has won the match. This affects the project by potentially limiting the days that fundraising can occur.


The two preferred priorities have an inverse relationship due to the fundraising nature of the project. While the scope or performance measure is to raise as much money as possible, the difference between the cost spent and the money raised is the main objective.


Finally, human resources (HR) are the most flexible resource with the recruiting and utilization of volunteers in fundraising initiatives. More volunteers produce greater opportunities to extend the fundraising capacity and overall scope of the project.



Evaluation

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When the goal of a fundraising project is not specific in defining a value amount as a target, it may be difficult to establish success or failure of the specific goal, and overall project. However, based on the comments directly from the McGrath Foundation, the fifth Pink Test is viewed as a success.


"The 2013 Pink Test was the most successful so far". - Colin Lieu, Communications Officer, The McGrath Foundation.


While the total amount of money raised from the Test has not been released, a rough estimation can be made: If the average crowd attendance of cricket matches at the SCG is 30,137 people, and the Test was played for 4 days, and if half the crowd made at least a gold coin donation to purchase a bandana ($1), and a small portion of the crowd (20,000 people) purchased merchandise at the SCG ($30), and $40,000 is donated online, there would have been $700,274 raised. This is just an estimate, however I predict the figure could have been increased if the Test was played for the full 5 days as scheduled.


More specifically, the following conclusions can be made on the individual deliverables:


Jane McGrath Day pink crowd - Exceeded expectations.

The success of the crowd wearing pink can be best demonstrated visually (below). The crowd wore pink on every day of the Test, not just on the advertised Saturday.



Jane McGrath High Tea - Success.

The success of the High Tea was evident as tickets were sold out prior to the commencement of the Sydney Test. Mt Franklin water and the SCG sponsored the event, which also minimised the running costs.


Test memorabilia auctions - Success.

With the donation of auction space from Grays Online, the one-of-a-kind auction items raised $26,622.



References

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  • All About Cricket (2013). The Stuff Of Our Century (1-10): Pink Test. Retrieved from www.alloutcricket.com.
  • Colin Liue. Personal Communication. February 18, 2013.
  • Grays Online (2013). McGrath Foundation 2013 Pink Test Auction. Retrieved from www.graysonline.com.
  • Vodafone Australia (2013). McGrath Foundation & Vodafone Foundation. Retrieved from www.vodafone.com.au.
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