TrackResults 6th Annual Poker Tournament
TrackResults is hosting its 6th annual charity fundraiser event benefiting SendMeOnVacation.org on Sunday night, April 7th, coinciding with the blast-off of the ARDA World Global Timeshare conference in Orlando, Florida. Historically attended by only 100 invitation only sponsored poker players and special VIP guests, the incredibly fun annual Texas Hold ’em poker tournament (no cash prizes) is the primary source of support funds for SMOV cancer survivors. This event will occur at the appropriately named “Main Event” entertainment center, and has been repeatedly referred to as the highlight of the conference for 200 or so of the 3,000 or more attendees whom attend ARDA World. Timeshare industry executives and their management teams enjoy genuine facetime, networking with other industry powerhouses, tons of laughs, open bar cocktails, and a truly powerful philanthropic evening.
TrackResults puts a unique twist on its fundraising approach for this event by not opening it to the public. Hospitality industry leaders are invited to sponsor the event by making donations to reserve a limited number of player’s seats in the poker tournament, relative to the size of their donation or pledge commitment. To get a seat in the game you must receive a sponsor seat or becoming a sponsor yourself. To see a who’s who list of these sponsors, become a sponsor, or obtain a ticket to the event, visit www.SMOVpokertournament.com.
As a SMOV fundraiser, 100% of the net proceeds go to cancer survivors as a fully funded vacation at timeshare resorts around the world. These vacations are no strings attached to the cancer patient, and the green light from their physician is the only requirement. All the resort inventory and travel expenses for the patient’s travel is donated by timeshare industry resort developers, hospitality industry suppliers, service companies and timeshare travel clubs. These recovery vacations provide palliative care for the survivor to help recover from the mental, physical, financial and emotional damage of battling cancer.
Last week, a new individual record was set in our fundraising efforts by Valentinov Danchev. Val has supported SMOV for the past six years, and this year Mr. Danchev pledged $10,000, on the spot, when asked to donate. The size of Val’s pledge is already in the upper limits of our TrackResults corporate fundraising efforts, however when asked “Which brand do you want us to deliver the invoice for your pledge?,” Mr. Danchev replied “This is not a business transaction by our resort, rather this is my personal donation to help these brave survivors on the path to full recovery. I believe in these fighters and have seen the devastation of cancer first-hand.” Danchev then pulled his personal credit card from his pocket, handed it to our staffer to swipe and said “Please charge this to my personal card now, I’ll handle the details of accounting later.” This donation was the highest single transaction amount ever tendered from a single individual rather than a corporate entity in our seven years of soliciting donations and hosting this fundraising event.
Each year Valentino, through his partners and associations with Vidanta resorts, SQN Escapes, and his internal staff at Fidelis marketing, brings in waves of support to many charities. They volunteer with time, enthusiasm, and a one-team-one goal mentality that mines their extensive travel industry network to donate vacation resort dates, rooms, and fun activities to SendMeOnVacation.org, and other charities, as true leaders in corporate citizenship.
Shawnah Sheehy, SMOV Board Member and COO of iMDirect Marketing said, “Running a non-profit is a constant labor of love. Organizing volunteers, donations, events, marketing and accounting is practically like having a second full-time job.” Cathy Backus, Founder of SMOV said, “Thank goodness we are lucky to have supporters like Val. He brings so much value to our organization, and his heart is in the right place.”
Chasing down C-suite executives for charitable donations can be an arduous task, requiring fundraisers to be willing to spend social equity and possibly impose on personal and business relationships. Fortunately travel industry professions are by nature a generous group, and it’s rare when we are soliciting yet “another ask” that we are turned down with some excuse espousing obstacles.
Drew Reynolds, TrackResults co-founder said, “Most CEOs and VP’s we approach can afford to write a personal check or whip out a credit card and donate a couple thousand dollars easily, and they do so because they really care. Val striking a personal check for 10k really sets the bar high for others to follow.” Todd Rogers, founder of the TrackResults poker tournament fundraiser said, “Even though some aren’t blessed with the good fortune of talent and success to be able to donate $10,000 like Val, virtually everyone is willing to donate something towards our cause. It may be a small donation or a pledge to go big next year, but everybody offers something up because I think we all lose a piece of ourselves when we lose someone to cancer. We just lost a friend and 25 year industry veteran named Brett Estes to cancer on February 7th. Brett was a great guy who helped others too. I recognize and respect that our sponsors are bombarded with requests for support donations; it can be overwhelming for them, and yet year after year they manage to find a way to say “yes, I want to help”.”
More about Kaloyan Valentinov Danchev:
K. Valentino Danchev is a successful businessman in the resort industry. He is the Founder of The Chilpayate Foundation, a non-profit organization created to assist children in need and their communities and an ardent supporter of Send Me On Vacation. Valentino is the CEO of Fidelis Marketing, the marketing firm that conducts all international timeshare sales for the Vidanta group of Mexico, which operates many hotel and timeshare brands including most notably the Grande Luxxe, Mayan Palace, and Grand Mayan / Grand Bliss brands, among others. www.valentino-danchev.com
More About Send Me On Vacation
Send Me On Vacation is a non-profit organization that strives to provide assistance to breast cancer survivors who have been financially and emotionally devastated by cancer treatments. Send Me On Vacation provides the opportunity for mental and physical healing through a holistic recovery plan, helping breast cancer patients and survivors back to full health. Send Me On Vacation believes that a memorable vacation is a key factor in renewing, restoring, and rejuvenating a cancer survivor’s body, mind, and spirit.
More About TrackResults
Established in 2005, TrackResults is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. TrackResults is the leading provider of business-intelligence solutions for the vacation ownership industry and the only ARDA member company that is focused exclusively on marketing analytics, sales intelligence, digital manifesting and industry specific software consulting designed to help developers, club owners, and vendors improve efficiency by engaging in empirical data mining and applying prescriptive analytics. TrackResults was the sole recipient of the 2015 ARDA ACE Innovator Award for small business.
TrackResults has created unique industry intelligence as a result of manifesting over 15 million tours, and its SaaS is accessible via any web browser or web enabled device. The TrackResults SaaS platform remains the only business intelligence software company designed from the ground up for the sole purpose of providing BI to timeshare and travel clubs. Over 300 sales forces and marketing teams in the vacation ownership industry worldwide trust TrackResults to provide a single truth that everyone can rely on. TrackResults is a Chairman’s League Member of American Resort Development Association (ARDA), Better Business Bureau (BBB), Resorts of Distinction (ROD), Resort Developers Association(RDA), Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers(CARE), Mexican Resort Developers Association (AMDETUR) and The Utah Technology Council.