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USCB recently unveiled the school's first athletics booster club, and it also announced plans to sell sponsorship ads on the outfield fence at the Sand Sharks' home baseball field at Hardeeville's Richard Gray Baseball Complex.
"We didn't choose this economic depression that we're in," athletics director Kim Abbott said, "and yet this is when we're trying to grow."
Like the athletics department itself, which launched two years ago with only a handful of programs, the Sand Shark Club booster club is starting small. Membership dues are as low as $25 for students, and a top-level membership is only $100 and includes two season tickets for USCB's 29 home baseball games.
All Sand Shark Club members also will receive a T-shirt and a car window decal.
"We're excited about it, because it's our first and because we think it's really affordable and a real way for people to be part of our athletics program," Abbott said. "We've had golf tournaments in the past, and a lot of people couldn't play in that, or you go to other booster clubs, and the highest level of giving is well into the thousands, if not more."
Abbott said she felt it was important to keep the dues low to make the club accessible to more potential members, pointing out even the highest level of membership isn't enough to be tax-deductible.
"We're all in hard economic times, so we really depend on people doing what they can," Abbott said.
Last month, Abbott said USCB had postponed its plans to launch softball and women's soccer until at least the 2010-11 school year, and the Sand Sharks were conservative in their scheduling for the spring season in light of the school being hit with a budget cut of nearly $700,000 in state funding, about 24 percent of its budget.
Abbott said the need for a new fundraising tactic was necessary as the department adds teams -- the baseball team and the men's and women's track teams make their debut this spring, joining men's and women's golf and cross country among the Sand Sharks' roster of sports. The funds will go toward general expenses such as travel, entry fees, uniforms and paying officials.
With the start of the Sand Sharks' first baseball season slated for Jan. 31, the school also is offering signs on the outfield fence at its home park. For $500, companies can get a 4-foot by 10-foot color sign and a public-address announcement during every home game. In addition, one home game will be dedicated to each sponsor, Abbott said, with a representative from the company throwing out the first pitch and having a say in other promotions for the day.
"Being the only college venue in town, we're hoping some people will respond," Abbott said.
