RaceNewYork
RaceNewYork Discussion => Racing Discussion => Topic started by: Dollar Bill on October 27, 2010, 10:35:46 PM
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Usually that title is the start of a good joke but this is the truth. Gordon's primary sponsor for the next 3 years is the AARP and the AARP Foundation. The actual sponsor will be themed "Drive to End Hunger". It's an awareness campaign to let people know about starving elderly Americans. When I first heard this I thought that since times are tough and hunting for sponsors in NASCAR is becoming more difficult than previous decades that maybe Hendrick might get between 5-8 million per year. It was reported that the deal is around 14 million per year for only 22 of the 36 races a year.
I am sometimes a little slow but it took me about 20 seconds to realize that the AARP is spending 42 million in 3 years to make us aware that there are starving ederly Americans. I would love to see the marking strategy dynamics on this one. I wonder how much food $42 million would buy? Do they actually plan to make more than 42 million in proceeds off of this sponsorship?
I would rather buy a bag of groceries and give it to a homeless or elderly person than trust this AARP scheme.
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/opinion/10/27/one-menz-jmenzer-jgordon-aarp-sponsorship/index.html (http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/opinion/10/27/one-menz-jmenzer-jgordon-aarp-sponsorship/index.html)
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VERY SAD!!
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Its just the way it works!!! Thats what they keep telling us. Just think if they are spending that much on a sponsor.... how much are the CEO's getting to take home. I am sure they dont donate any of there money to the cause.
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UN-REAL !!
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One of the strongest looby groups in Washington. If they are spending 42 million on Jeff bet they are spending way more there.
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I can see it now, the front of car vinyled like a set of false teeth.
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Makes ya wanna puke don't it ?
Not real good at math... BUT, how many old folks aarp membership dues does it take to equal 42 million ?
Or maybe, its more Obama money ?
Gordo's race car is afterall a Govt. Motors Car [GMC].
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AARP is a non-profit corporation completely un-affiliated with the government.
Some financial references from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARP
AARP's total revenue for 2006 was approximately $1 billion and it spent $23 million on lobbying
AARP earns more income from selling insurance to members than it does from membership dues.
According to AARP's 2008 Consolidated financials, it was paid $652,000,000 in royalties from insurance companies that sold products referred by AARP. AARP also received an additional $120,000,000 for the ads placed in its publications.
If you read the whole article they aren’t without controversy but they also sound like they are a pretty well run organization. If you don’t like them don’t join or use any of their services. I haven’t previously joined but seeing as they’re willing to advertise (which is what sponsorship is) via racing, I think I will.
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Terms of the sponsorship involve him having a turn signal installed in his car and reuiring it to always be on, and for him to dump Chevy and drive a Buick.
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If they want to sponsor my car i will delivery the food in my race car!
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Does he have to change his number to 50 and drive slower? ::)
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Thewackyracer, bakes, laffman & mcd23 - thanks for the humor - I needed that!
BigBadBob - thanks for the info.
J
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The seat will be lower so all we see is his knuckles on the stearingwheel!!!
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Dollar Bill...
The cynicism is understandable. Many non-profits return little of the funds they gather to the cause they support. I got to thinking maybe I’d put my foot in my mouth with my snap judgement of the “goodness” of AARP intentions... found a charity ratings site... AARP doesn’t look bad at all, specifically the AARP Foundation, the non-profit arm of AARP.
I don’t understand why they only got a 2 star rating, but the program expenses is an impressive 88%... also impressive is the revenue/expenses chart indicating this number has been trending upwards in recent years...
Program Expenses: This measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Administrative expenses (salaries, etc.) 1.9% of the total budget, a very low number... no one’s salary is over $240k
The $14 million per year to Gordo would represent about 11% of the $127 million budget reported for 2008... seems like a reasonable percentage for advertising. Of course the for-profit arm of AARP will benefit also, but these guys are high profile enough that if non-profit side was sketchy, somebody would be singing about it.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3205
Directly giving food is of course a good thing too. Please send doughnuts (any type but chocolate covered) to:
BigBadBob
P.O. Box....
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i would have thought it was going to be kleenex after hearing on tv all week
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I guess we'll be seeing the first ever buick lesaber cup car then
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All that new sponser money still ain't gonna make Jeffy's Balls any bigger. They are raisins now.
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Don't forget the white snowball wig on top of his helmet.
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An odd deal for sure.
But I've otherwise got no gripe with AARP.
Membership gets me 10% off most motel rooms, unless I use the internet to reserve, which earns the 10% instead.
When my mother was in the last few years of her life, her medical expenses beyond what Medicare would pay was insured by one of AARP's companies. AARP paid for everything she needed or wanted medically, and never once griped or complained or drug their feet. That included hospital, nursing home, etc. In fact, we heard almost nothing from them as they paid $thousands for her care. Premium, as best I recall, was around $120 per month.
I won't knock that.
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AARP is also a huge political lobby, ostensibly representing it's 40 million members. But how many of those members that just joined for the discounts actually know what the group lobbies for?
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/November/05/npr-aarp-health-care.aspx
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Those dirty rat basterds. Just kidding... check these out...
AARP urges focus on long-term care
http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/533705/AARP-urges-focus-on-long-term-care.html?nav=5010
AARP Tax-Aide, the nation's largest free, volunteer-run tax preparation and assistance service, is seeking volunteers across the state to help taxpayers needing assistance preparing and filing their 2010 tax returns.
http://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/aarp_taxaide/
AARP Revs Up Campaign To Protect Social Security From Deficit Cuts
http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/2010/10/25/aarp-revs-up-campaign-to-protect-social-security-from-deficit-cuts/?boxes=businesschannelsections
In addition to protecting Social Secuirty the above article also states, “...the AARP is lobbying to get current recipients some payment to make up for the fact that they won’t get an automatic cost of living adjustment in 2011, for the second year in a row.”
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Hey, I don’t know maybe the AARP is the devil’s own. But your link could raise some eyebrows too, not only for being a year old and referencing information from 1993, but for the source... Kaiser Health News.
The following is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Family_Foundation
Kaiser Health News is part of the Kaiser Family Foundation...
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. The Foundation states that it is a "non-partisan source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public."
Sounds good right?
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) claims to be separate from Kaiser Permanente, but...
In reference to KFF... “According to the Washington Post 2009 article...changed a "sleepy grant-making organization" (some $30 million a year interest on the $400 million endowment) into a primary news source organization.”
“The launch of the Kaiser Health News (KHN) in 2009 meant that KFF could through the news outlet tell people...what the two political parties were saying on health topics.”
“...does not describe the previous and current "partnerships" with newspapers... the Kaiser name gets out with each article... unmentioned is the permanently funded (by KFF) professor chairmanships at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University. These are Henry J. Kaiser Professorships. The same four universities have experts who often show up in newspaper articles supporting... Kaiser Permanente ...”
“Certainly any lead group that controls information going both to the politicians and to the voters has a lot of power over this large area of the state and federal budget.”
“...the online KFF budget has over the years become less transparent...”
So... Kaiser Family Foundation (a non-profit) operates Kaiser Health News which seeks to influence politicians and the public and often supports Kaiser Permanente though it claims to be separate from it. And who or what is Kaiser Permanente? Well golly, it’s a health care organization... health insurance. In 2007 it made 2 billion in profits... that’s billion, not million and that was profit, not operating expenses...
$2,000,000,000.00 in profit.
Yeah sure I believe what they have to say about health care reform.
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I guess them lesabers make a good rally car, maybe theyre onto something
http://www.examiner.com/sports-car-in-tampa-bay/dirt-road-racing-buick-lesabre-vs-mitsubishi-lancer
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Good old AARP
Did Not support health care then changed to DID support health care... Whats that tell you?
Spend Millions to make people aware through race car sponsorship?
Sounds like they work way to much like the government!!
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Sounds like they work way to much like the government!!
Bingo!!
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It will surely bring the discussion up a few levels. This board proves that. Just think of the BTB $ this will bring to them through the NASCAR marketing machine.
But on a very local level, I remember doing a food drive and awareness campaign for Sister Jeans Soup Kitchen in Atlantic City when the TQ Midgets were running. I can tell you that the room was packed with hungry people that were really grateful to have a hot meal for breakfast. And I remember the workers were going full speed ahead to get the food out, and smiles were abound. We need to have a bit more compassion as things get worse in our society, JMO.
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We need to have a bit more compassion as things get worse in our society, JMO.
Absolutely! But the compassion needs to come from private groups like Sister Jeans Soup Kitchen, not the already bankrupt federal government spending more money that it doesn't have.
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This might be a better choice. http://www.freedomworks.org/publications/aarp-fears-competition-not-confusion-0
At 55 I get the AARP dogging me to join all the time. I keep telling them NFW but they insist. I'm going to give them triple B's phone number. ;D
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Better choice? Perhaps not. The article is 6 years old. Not only is the arpnow.org link dead but arpnow itself seems to have ceased to exist. And the article comes from Copley New Service, a part of Copley Press... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copley_Press
In the late 1970s, the American media reported that the Copley Press was used as a front by the Central Intelligence Agency. Reporters Joe Trento and Dave Roman claimed that James S. Copley, who served as publisher until 1973, had cooperated with the CIA since its founding in 1947. They also reported that a subsidiary division, Copley News Service, was used in Latin America by the CIA as a front. Trento and Roman also said that reporters at the Copley-owned San Diego Union and Evening News spied on antiwar protesters for the FBI. They alleged that, at the height of these operations, at least two dozen Copley employees were simultaneously working for the CIA. James S. Copley was also accused of involvement in the CIA-funded Inter-American Press Association.
Credible source? Not in my opinion. Just as the previous link from another poster is not credible in my opinion Here’s one that is, also previously listed... http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3205
This shows that they are an efficient fundraising organization. They give 88%, 88 cents of every dollar raised, to the causes they represent. They are not running a scam. In contrast, this link lists some organizations which might give you pause for thought... http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten.detail&listid=28
These 10 charities are not living up to their missions. Each spends more than 50% of its budget paying for-profit fundraising professionals to solicit your hard-earned money. They are ranked by the percentage of their total functional expenses spent on professional fundraising fees. As a result, very little of the charity's spending is directed towards its programs and services.
Rank Charity Program Expenses Professional Fundraising Fees
1 Disabled Veterans Associations 4.6% 94.3%
2 Children's Charitable Foundation 10.3% 87.3%
3 Firefighters Charitable Foundation 8.3% 86.4%
4 Disabled Police Officers of America 11.4% 85.9%
5 Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center 11.8% 85.7%
6 Operation Lookout 12.6% 80.8%
7 Wishing Well Foundation USA 10.3% 78.3%
8 Children's Charity Fund, Inc. 5.7% 78.1%
9 Coalition Against Breast Cancer 18.3% 78.1%
10 Children With Hairloss 24.5% 72.3%
The Disabled Veterans Associations gives less than 5 cents of every dollar raised to the causes they represent. The Children’s Charitable Foundation gives about 10 cents of every dollar raised to the causes the represent. Etc. All of the organizations in this list have an efficiency this is far less than the 88 cents on the dollar of the AARP.
Back to the OP... Your post implies that $8 million per year is OK for a sponsorship dollar amount but that $14 million is not. So you’re not opposed to the advertising, just the dollar amount? My understanding is that $8 million would have gotten them the “AA” but they decided to spend the extra cash, add the “RP” and get the whole “AARP” on the car instead. Kidding aside, one assumes that they would pay less if they could, but apparently this is what it costs to advertise in NASCAR.
Advertising that’s not just plastered over the car in front of millions of TV viewers on Sunday but perhaps you’ll also be seeing Jeff Gordon’s smiling face on TV and print ads touting the “Drive To End Hunger” campaign. Will they recoup their $14 million per year investment? With their past history of efficiency I would guess they will, time will tell. Could $14 million be better spent in providing for the hungry? Well sure. Some posters, OP included, have made a great point that contributions placed directly into the hands of the hungry would be a marvelous thing. Could the AARP better spend $14 million?
No. They’re professional fund raisers. They do marketing analysis. They do demographic studies. They are a successful business. If, in their professional opinion, there was a better advertising option they would have taken it. If you disagree with their methodology then feel free to use your own multi-million dollar corporation to achieve national exposure for a good cause, while at the same time maintaining a steady flow of cash to keep your business solvent.
This costs you the tax payer nothing. The AARP gets no funding from the government as several posters have erroneously stated or implied.
If you don’t care for the politics of the AARP don’t join. If you don’t care for the lobbying the AARP does for preserving social security benefits don’t join. Good luck separating fact from fiction and opinion from slander in those regards. As is normal with politics the bullsh!t gets pretty deep.
Politics aside, the bottom line is that next year you’ll be seeing that AARP “Drive To End Hunger” car going fast and turning left. The choice on whether to contribute to the AARP, your local food pantry or drive on down to Mickey D’s will be not only yours but also a choice for the millions of NASCAR fans who will see this sponsorship slogan in action.