Marin Fencing Academy Upgrades
Donation protected
MFA has been providing the North Bay Community with a very unique sports venue and art gallery. We've had hundreds (mostly children) come through our programs. Some have gone on to college, in part by their fencing experience. Some have gone to to become national champions in this sport. Most have simply had a safe, fun, and competitive environment from which to grow.
Running this type of niche business in an area such as Fourth Street in Marin County has incredibly high costs, but huge benefits for our students and the community. Unfortunately we do not have enough revenue to pay more than the most basics of our bills, and still we come up short.
At 5400 square feet we simply cannot find the budget to properly bring this facility up to the world class potential it has. If we did, we could be attracting some of the best coaches and fencers in the country.
In an effort to supplement our membership fees with some revenue focus ONLY to upgrade out facility and, after some sobering looks at our financial situation and dire need to increase our membership to 120 fencers, I've turned to GOFUNDME to help augment those costs. Your money will be spent ONLY on facility upgrades including painting, printing and mounting of fencing related (current and historical) art work, upgrades to our rest rooms, lighting, and 4th street frontage upgrades.
For more details look to a list of specific projects we'll have at the club.
This campaign is an ALL OR NOTHING campaign using GoFundMe. If we do not reach our goal of $20,000, all donations will be returned. So, you have nothing to lose, unless we succeed! :-)
We are currently at 90-95 fencers, and at a significant inflection point in our growth. We need to be at 120. That small delta is what keeps up from being able to afford the venue upgrades which would, along with other programs we have ongoing, bring us to a level of national recognition. That's our goal. More fencers. National coaches to add to our staff, and an amazing addition to the cultural community in the San Francisco Bay community.
To members, families, and friends, please help up bring MFA up to its visual potential. I promise the results will be a community facility everyone will be proud of, and self sustaining over time.
We were lucky enough to have a great director put together an amazing 15 minute documentary. If you haven't seen it please do. It tells a story as to what fencing and MFA stands for. Have a look.
http://youtu.be/JPXPWYpcfcg
Thank you in advance.
Tom Tully
Organizer
Tom Tully
Organizer
San Rafael, CA