Approaching the biggest season of his career, Banff alpine skier Paul Stutz needs all the help he can get.
More specifically, he needs $23,000 to pay for a summer of training on decent snow, which means trips to Oregon and Argentina. A lack of funds meant he wasn’t on snow until October last year, so he took a page out of the online marketing playbook and put together a crowd-sourcing campaign on the Pursu.it athlete web site, which gave him 60 days to reach his fundraising goal.
Then the water came.
One day after Stutz launched the fundraising campaign, sandbags were being filled in Banff, Cougar Creek wiped out Canmore properties and Calgary was under mass evacuation.
Stutz promptly put his campaign on hold, knowing ski racing was the furthest thing from people’s mind.
“I wanted to be sensitive to what was happening. I asked Pursu.it to change the campaign. While others were experiencing so much loss, I didn’t want to be asking for donations. I wanted to be sensitive.”
Now that nearly everyone has returned to their homes, Stutz is again asking his fans to support his racing career. As an independent athlete, he does not receive Alpine Canada national team funding, even though he earned a World Cup start based on last year’s domestic performances. To reach the next level, he needs more training on snow, hence the $23,000 request from the public.
“Last year, I was struggling financially and that meant I didn’t ski until October at Norquay. I missed summer training. This season, I do need miles on snow. This goes to offsetting costs,” Stutz said.
Other athletes have had success with Pursu.it, which gives the public a chance to fund athletes personally, while earning ‘givebacks’ along the way. Those who donate to Stutz can earn anything from a T-shirt to a day of skiing to full sponsorship treatment on helmets, hats and other equipment.
If he raises the full $23,000 in the allotted time period, he’s free to spend it on training. If not, the money goes back to the donors.
Not all campaigns are successful, however, biathlete Megan Imrie reached her $10,000 fundraising goal on the website. Thus far, Stutz has raised $435 on the Pursu.it website.
“It’s a great way to do microfundraising. It gets everyone involved in pursuing the Olympic dream,” Stutz said. “It’s a perfect platform for me to raise awareness through social media.”
In the meantime, Stutz has spent more time in the gym preparing for his shot at Sochi and says he’s feeling healthy and strong. He’ll have a shot at the Olympic team as one of the country’s top slalom racers, but still has to earn the opportunity.
“The Olympic movement will pick up momentum in the next few months. We don’t just want to be in Sochi, we want to be competitive.”
To see Stutz’s campaign, which includes his pitch video, visit https://pursu.it/campaign/paul-stutz.
