A note on the 2019 entry fee

This year we have raised the entry fee to $50 per player (10 player minimum per team). Since one of our core principles is affordability, we thought you should know why. There are several reasons. First, last year we had hoped to raise money via donations for a Community Ultimate Support Fund to be used to promote the growth of ultimate locally. In the event we raised much less than we had hoped, so this year we are including such funds in our core budget, i.e. in the entry fee. A portion of the proceeds from entry fees will go as donations to local teams  that help us put on the event (as BLU did last year). We want to make LA Throwback a participatory platform for Southern California teams to host friends from all over while using the funds raised by the event to help support those teams. Another portion of the proceeds will be going to support youth coaching, focusing on efforts to increase participation in ultimate among women and in underserved communities. In addition to wanting to help others with some of the money we raise, we have some new expenses this year that we didn’t have last year. We have incorporated as a California public benefit corporation, and that introduces some new overhead costs. Also, last year our fiscal sponsor, the American Beach Ultimate Association, provided us with lined fields for just the cost of having them shipped out here. This year we will be buying our own field lines. The cost of our party venue has also increased. Finally, as we noted in our budget report for last year’s event, while we were able to pay 35 people who helped us put on the event $12.50-$20/hr, the organizers received only about $6K total for six people who spent many months in work and planning to produce the first LA Throwback. In order to make the effort sustainable, we need to be able to pay the organizers fairly for their time as well. As we did for the 2018 event, we will publish a budget report showing you what the money gets spent on, including how much is paid to the organizers. We hope that the increased entry fee does not exclude anyone who wants to come from coming. If it is a hardship for you, please let us know.