The Pool Trust
The Pool Trust is the best idea I've had about what can done to make Pool more Popular and Self Supporting.
So I'm putting my idea here that I typed out in the Test Area of AzBilliards.com I'm 336Robin on that website.
I hope that at some point someone will find favor with it and do something about it. I'd love to see AzBilliards do it because they
are set up perfectly for it. Listed below is the post and at the bottom is a list of questions that I've made up for a Poll to go with it.
Eventually I'll be brave enough to post it so that people can register there opinions of it. Right now its in the Test Area.
The Pool Trust
Many people have tried to find the right idea to make a big difference in the popularity and success of Pool.
This is the best idea I've had so I'm putting this out there so you can read the post and take the poll to see how you like it.
Read the post first and then take the Poll and be completely honest whether it be positive or negative.
Its my hopes that someone will see this idea as an opportunity and take steps to make it happen. This would give the players in the US a voice in what happens with Pool on a national and a world wide scale. One person can't do it. I'd love to be in on the planning of something like this. So here's is the proposal and how it could work.
We could create an Organization that represented Pools interests and within that Membership Organization we could have a protected foundation.
Lets call this proposed foundation "The Pool Trust"
This foundation could raise money for the purposes of funding Pool from now on through interest earned in the market, so were talking about building a large sum of (protected money)
that we would dedicate ourselves to building. Something like this is totally possible when you consider how many people play pool in the US.
This large fund of money would be designed to operate from produced interest and many people would become members as well as corporate sponsors.
The interest could fund good things for Pool in an ongoing fashion. So, if all this happened? How would you want that money spent?
This is the purpose for the above Poll.
The money in the fund would be secure from tampering. The interest from it is what's available to spend. In the beginning some of the current years deposits may have to be available
to pay the expenses of the trust until the trust was built up to the level that its past years earnings could support all of its operating expenses. If the administration of the Trust were
done by a Pool entity that already had offices, office equipment and an online presence etc. then those expenses would be minimal. So there would be 2 parts.
The administration of the trust membership (which takes in money and awards memberships) and then the setup of the trust fund and the oversight of such (which can be done in my state by a local bank) our local credit union
offers a very affordable trust management service through NC State Employees Credit Union. All they would do is set the account up, set the investments and then review the earnings each year and pay those
out according to how the trust is set up to the payee which would be the entity assigned which funds would be managed by a board of selected persons. The board would be limited as to what they could do
with the money because that is something that could be generally decided on with in certain parameters like you will see in the poll above.
(Once deposited to the trust) the funds would be held in trust in a Mutual Fund (within a legal foundation trust) and the rules decided on for the trust would protect
the funds and guarantee the level of payouts to be no more than the interest earned in the previous year.
The main goal would be to build the trust to the point where all monies spent would be limited to (interest earned in the previous year)
This concept is being used today in many organizations including the government of Norway to help fund their countries yearly liabilities so its known to work.
That fund grants the government of Norway access to 4% of the funds earnings per year so it continues growing. (At a point if monies continue to come in) We could have access to all interest
earned in the previous year and sometimes that can be quite a lot, 2017 large cap growth funds typically made over 10%.
Some years interest earned will be down (so liabilities should be controlled) and a plan to use some of the (current year membership money to pay the already low expenses) or have a separate
fund raising drive to cover those separately during the years while the trust is building.
This however is a hypothetical situation that could be created and there are several poll questions to answer to register your opinions. I've tried to go into enough detail
here at the poll level to let you know that this could be done and is currently being done by other organizations. Due to the amount of people that play pool small donations
can end up going a long way when a lot of people are involved.
What I like about it is once properly funded the money going into Pool is ongoing forever and its nearly automatic. It would require a board of people
to decide how to best administer the funds but there could be rules to govern what the board could do and those rules could be decided on at inception
by the taking of opinion polls of those people that would be supporting the organization and consultation with other foundation systems.
The strength of the organization grows with each donation and the help to the sport is never ending as donations/memberships are sold everyday.
As the membership grows more people will want to be a part of it so they would be known supporters. This means yearly incoming money.
The best part of it is that it empowers people to get involved. So setting it up right and running it according to its bylaws is something that has to be done.
It gives people a chance to be a part of the success and that gives them a chance to band together in all kinds of ways...for the sake of Pool.
When you have something like this relationships can be formed to insure the strength builds and each passing year is better than the one before it.
Tournaments could ask to be included in Pool Trust Points toward a finals and for every player a dollar is paid into the trust. That's not enough to hurt anyone.
Locations could ask to be Pool Trust Certified and they might kick in $100 a year to be known as such. Corporations that wanted to be known as
supporters could give what they felt they could and be awarded a status of giving and people that supported the trust would look to them first to do
business with. Even league systems could make tax deductible donations and be known as supporters. Since Pool is made up of a lot of Mom and Pop
businesses this could work out very well for Cue and Case Makers, Wholesalers of Billiard Products etc. Players would not be alone in making it work.
It would be all of us together and no one would be given an unfair advantage to control the monies coming out of the trust the choices of how that would be spent would be
generally decided on at the point of trust creation.
.
There are thousands product manufacturers who would want to be involved. Think of the big ones and ones who need a tax deduction.
The home pool market is bigger by far than the Pool that goes on in bars. How many people do you think there are in your county that have a pool table
in their home? Now think about how many counties there are in your state and those numbers start getting really big. All of those tables require cloth,
they buy cues and accessories and the list goes on. Would you use a table mechanic that was a Pool Trust Member? With every table or pool product sold might
be a way to fund a small donation to the trust producing a stream of incoming money that would grow with each additional product sold this way.
Membership could be noted by simply providing a key chain to hang on your cue case that would cost pennies to produce.
To get it you'll be giving a donation and providing your contact information to the membership organization and with each addition an active and involved Pool Trust is built.
People would start to know the Pool Trust logo and want to know about it. They might see the plaque on the wall of the Pool Room displayed where the Leagues play
and ask about it. There might be a pamphlet or just a web address that people are directed to so that Pool Leaguers can read it, find out about the world of Pool and join.
When you consider the digital infrastructure that we already have and what small easy steps could be taken to make this happen to get in touch with a large
group of people for membership the realm of possibilities could be very wide and deep.
People like having a reason to come together and there are a lot of ways to do that under this umbrella.
Occasional membership drives in pool rooms to recruit Pool League Players where they make a small donation, fill out a form that gets sent in and if they threw in a couple of dollars to get a keychain to hang on their Cue Case just to be part of the "In Crowd" the amounts of Pool Players alone x those dollars could make a huge difference. Also a growing foundation and growing demand to see Pool Played might help in getting the sport in the Olympics and national recognition as a sport and not so much as a fringe sport or gamblers habit. I see a lot of potential but it needs your opinion and support.
This could be a new subject for Billiard Radio. I could see this making the Billiard Magazines.
The entity that was in charge of day to day operations could be one that already is suited for the job and could be a Pool related business.
All of the details can be posted to a website. I don't see any problems in working things out so that things can be made to go to good ends.
I started talking about this in thread awhile back and here is that link but I probably go into more detail here. https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=480710
The reason for the idea is that we have no such membership organization at this time and Pool in this country is largely unorganized
existing as a part of the market which hasn't always been kind to it. A membership organization would give us a say in developing interest
and in the future of Pool that we currently don't have.
An interesting development that I learned on 10/12/18 is that the BCA will be running the BEF or Billiard Education Foundation.
If Junior Pool can have an organized foundation then why couldn't Pool (Pro or Amateur) have one?
My opinion is that we should make our own future. We have the numbers, all we need is some organization and we supply the funds. If each interested person contributed to Pool
at some point with a one time donation that donation would continue growing. As it became better more people would get on board the Pool Train.
A lot of people might give a small amount yearly.
To give you a loose idea on how it could grow 40k people kicking in $20 for a one time only donation = 200k in one year that amount left alone
would double every 8 yrs by most estimates depending on interest levels 7 to 8 percent. You can use the Simple Savings calculator at Bankrate.com
to check those numbers yourself.
Of course the number of people joining will start slow and then pickup as things progress.
In a normal market I'd figure the funds doubling every 8 yrs and then you'd have 400k. 10% of that is 40k. So it could be cash positive early on.
Not everyone is going to get on board right off but things would build.
There could be ways to give every year that are automatic and there could be bequests, tax deductible donations, memberships and online recognition of different levels and the list goes on and even a committee could get together
member benefits or discounts on products etc, etc.
If all those 40k people liked it and got on board and gave $20 to the trust a year then that computation would be $1,467,107.50 in five years. Go do the numbers on
the calculator at Bankrate and see what you come up with.
It's easy enough to see that the money would grow and it could end up being something very special.
I think its possible that something like this gains a lot of steam and in 5 to 8 yrs we could have a fund large enough to cover its own expenses and provide some funds for Pool from interest alone.
It would take work and people could be involved making it happen, it would have clear transparent rules of operation.
I think it could spell a much needed "do over" for Pool but that is a hope and I'm optimistic. I'm willing to do my part but everyone has obligations.
It could take some time to set all of this up but it wouldn't matter if it took awhile to get there. Once set in motion the goal of the trust would always be there.
Registering your opinion through the poll questions is important.
Your support for this idea means that you would be willing to become members putting some of your money to work for the betterment of Pool.
Consider Seriously and Look well to the Poll.
Poll Questions : These are Yes or No Questions
How do you feel about this concept and how would you want the money spent?
1. I would want to Fund Pro Pool Events Only. (choose one of these first five choices. Leave the other 4 blank, then answer the rest.)
2. I would want to Fund Amateur Events Only to regrow Pool from the bottom up because Amateurs support Pool and keep it alive.
3. I would want only some money for the Pros.
4. I would want only some money for Amateurs.
5. I would want the money split equally between Pros and Amateurs.
6. I think Pros need to do something for Pool besides just play for the money (support the trust, do something for the membership etc. )
7. I would donate only if and when it was run right, went well and was popular.
8. I would never donate, none of my business.
9. I would donate something to start it and take a chance that it would work out.
10. My donation would be "one time" and at or under $20
11. My donation would be "one time" at or below $40
12. My or my company donation would donate yearly for the recognition and advertisement and for a tax deduction.
13. It would help me decide to support if this were done as a tax free status educational corporation.
14. I would gladly pay a little more yearly on my Az membership if they would give me a new status to reflect my membership and giving level.
15. I am open to discussion on how to do this, just do something.
16. I would approve if a Pool company handled membership but was not in charge of the money in the trust in any way as stated.
17. I would do business with Pool Businesses that were known supporters that supported the trust.
18. I would like to see All Pool Events eligible for Pool Trust Points in which a dollar per player went to the trust.
19. I would support it by spreading the word and asking my room to be a Pool Trust Location.
20. I want a key chain to hang on my cue case so people will know I support the Pool Trust if it comes with membership.
21. I would attend Pool Trust Tournaments, buy Pool Trust Products and attend Events because I'd like to hang out with like minded people.
22. I think Amateur Pool at venues deserves more attention because they spend the money that keeps Pool alive.
23. I would want the activities of such an organization posted to a website.
24. I would want Board Members to change at determined intervals to prevent problems.
25. I would want the administration of the membership part directed by someone at Az because its a good fit. We would know who the members were by online status.
The donations to the trust would be more automatic and they could easily publicize and advertise for it making it a success.
View Poll Results
The Pool Trust is the best idea I've had about what can done to make Pool more Popular and Self Supporting.
So I'm putting my idea here that I typed out in the Test Area of AzBilliards.com I'm 336Robin on that website.
I hope that at some point someone will find favor with it and do something about it. I'd love to see AzBilliards do it because they
are set up perfectly for it. Listed below is the post and at the bottom is a list of questions that I've made up for a Poll to go with it.
Eventually I'll be brave enough to post it so that people can register there opinions of it. Right now its in the Test Area.
The Pool Trust
Many people have tried to find the right idea to make a big difference in the popularity and success of Pool.
This is the best idea I've had so I'm putting this out there so you can read the post and take the poll to see how you like it.
Read the post first and then take the Poll and be completely honest whether it be positive or negative.
Its my hopes that someone will see this idea as an opportunity and take steps to make it happen. This would give the players in the US a voice in what happens with Pool on a national and a world wide scale. One person can't do it. I'd love to be in on the planning of something like this. So here's is the proposal and how it could work.
We could create an Organization that represented Pools interests and within that Membership Organization we could have a protected foundation.
Lets call this proposed foundation "The Pool Trust"
This foundation could raise money for the purposes of funding Pool from now on through interest earned in the market, so were talking about building a large sum of (protected money)
that we would dedicate ourselves to building. Something like this is totally possible when you consider how many people play pool in the US.
This large fund of money would be designed to operate from produced interest and many people would become members as well as corporate sponsors.
The interest could fund good things for Pool in an ongoing fashion. So, if all this happened? How would you want that money spent?
This is the purpose for the above Poll.
The money in the fund would be secure from tampering. The interest from it is what's available to spend. In the beginning some of the current years deposits may have to be available
to pay the expenses of the trust until the trust was built up to the level that its past years earnings could support all of its operating expenses. If the administration of the Trust were
done by a Pool entity that already had offices, office equipment and an online presence etc. then those expenses would be minimal. So there would be 2 parts.
The administration of the trust membership (which takes in money and awards memberships) and then the setup of the trust fund and the oversight of such (which can be done in my state by a local bank) our local credit union
offers a very affordable trust management service through NC State Employees Credit Union. All they would do is set the account up, set the investments and then review the earnings each year and pay those
out according to how the trust is set up to the payee which would be the entity assigned which funds would be managed by a board of selected persons. The board would be limited as to what they could do
with the money because that is something that could be generally decided on with in certain parameters like you will see in the poll above.
(Once deposited to the trust) the funds would be held in trust in a Mutual Fund (within a legal foundation trust) and the rules decided on for the trust would protect
the funds and guarantee the level of payouts to be no more than the interest earned in the previous year.
The main goal would be to build the trust to the point where all monies spent would be limited to (interest earned in the previous year)
This concept is being used today in many organizations including the government of Norway to help fund their countries yearly liabilities so its known to work.
That fund grants the government of Norway access to 4% of the funds earnings per year so it continues growing. (At a point if monies continue to come in) We could have access to all interest
earned in the previous year and sometimes that can be quite a lot, 2017 large cap growth funds typically made over 10%.
Some years interest earned will be down (so liabilities should be controlled) and a plan to use some of the (current year membership money to pay the already low expenses) or have a separate
fund raising drive to cover those separately during the years while the trust is building.
This however is a hypothetical situation that could be created and there are several poll questions to answer to register your opinions. I've tried to go into enough detail
here at the poll level to let you know that this could be done and is currently being done by other organizations. Due to the amount of people that play pool small donations
can end up going a long way when a lot of people are involved.
What I like about it is once properly funded the money going into Pool is ongoing forever and its nearly automatic. It would require a board of people
to decide how to best administer the funds but there could be rules to govern what the board could do and those rules could be decided on at inception
by the taking of opinion polls of those people that would be supporting the organization and consultation with other foundation systems.
The strength of the organization grows with each donation and the help to the sport is never ending as donations/memberships are sold everyday.
As the membership grows more people will want to be a part of it so they would be known supporters. This means yearly incoming money.
The best part of it is that it empowers people to get involved. So setting it up right and running it according to its bylaws is something that has to be done.
It gives people a chance to be a part of the success and that gives them a chance to band together in all kinds of ways...for the sake of Pool.
When you have something like this relationships can be formed to insure the strength builds and each passing year is better than the one before it.
Tournaments could ask to be included in Pool Trust Points toward a finals and for every player a dollar is paid into the trust. That's not enough to hurt anyone.
Locations could ask to be Pool Trust Certified and they might kick in $100 a year to be known as such. Corporations that wanted to be known as
supporters could give what they felt they could and be awarded a status of giving and people that supported the trust would look to them first to do
business with. Even league systems could make tax deductible donations and be known as supporters. Since Pool is made up of a lot of Mom and Pop
businesses this could work out very well for Cue and Case Makers, Wholesalers of Billiard Products etc. Players would not be alone in making it work.
It would be all of us together and no one would be given an unfair advantage to control the monies coming out of the trust the choices of how that would be spent would be
generally decided on at the point of trust creation.
.
There are thousands product manufacturers who would want to be involved. Think of the big ones and ones who need a tax deduction.
The home pool market is bigger by far than the Pool that goes on in bars. How many people do you think there are in your county that have a pool table
in their home? Now think about how many counties there are in your state and those numbers start getting really big. All of those tables require cloth,
they buy cues and accessories and the list goes on. Would you use a table mechanic that was a Pool Trust Member? With every table or pool product sold might
be a way to fund a small donation to the trust producing a stream of incoming money that would grow with each additional product sold this way.
Membership could be noted by simply providing a key chain to hang on your cue case that would cost pennies to produce.
To get it you'll be giving a donation and providing your contact information to the membership organization and with each addition an active and involved Pool Trust is built.
People would start to know the Pool Trust logo and want to know about it. They might see the plaque on the wall of the Pool Room displayed where the Leagues play
and ask about it. There might be a pamphlet or just a web address that people are directed to so that Pool Leaguers can read it, find out about the world of Pool and join.
When you consider the digital infrastructure that we already have and what small easy steps could be taken to make this happen to get in touch with a large
group of people for membership the realm of possibilities could be very wide and deep.
People like having a reason to come together and there are a lot of ways to do that under this umbrella.
Occasional membership drives in pool rooms to recruit Pool League Players where they make a small donation, fill out a form that gets sent in and if they threw in a couple of dollars to get a keychain to hang on their Cue Case just to be part of the "In Crowd" the amounts of Pool Players alone x those dollars could make a huge difference. Also a growing foundation and growing demand to see Pool Played might help in getting the sport in the Olympics and national recognition as a sport and not so much as a fringe sport or gamblers habit. I see a lot of potential but it needs your opinion and support.
This could be a new subject for Billiard Radio. I could see this making the Billiard Magazines.
The entity that was in charge of day to day operations could be one that already is suited for the job and could be a Pool related business.
All of the details can be posted to a website. I don't see any problems in working things out so that things can be made to go to good ends.
I started talking about this in thread awhile back and here is that link but I probably go into more detail here. https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=480710
The reason for the idea is that we have no such membership organization at this time and Pool in this country is largely unorganized
existing as a part of the market which hasn't always been kind to it. A membership organization would give us a say in developing interest
and in the future of Pool that we currently don't have.
An interesting development that I learned on 10/12/18 is that the BCA will be running the BEF or Billiard Education Foundation.
If Junior Pool can have an organized foundation then why couldn't Pool (Pro or Amateur) have one?
My opinion is that we should make our own future. We have the numbers, all we need is some organization and we supply the funds. If each interested person contributed to Pool
at some point with a one time donation that donation would continue growing. As it became better more people would get on board the Pool Train.
A lot of people might give a small amount yearly.
To give you a loose idea on how it could grow 40k people kicking in $20 for a one time only donation = 200k in one year that amount left alone
would double every 8 yrs by most estimates depending on interest levels 7 to 8 percent. You can use the Simple Savings calculator at Bankrate.com
to check those numbers yourself.
Of course the number of people joining will start slow and then pickup as things progress.
In a normal market I'd figure the funds doubling every 8 yrs and then you'd have 400k. 10% of that is 40k. So it could be cash positive early on.
Not everyone is going to get on board right off but things would build.
There could be ways to give every year that are automatic and there could be bequests, tax deductible donations, memberships and online recognition of different levels and the list goes on and even a committee could get together
member benefits or discounts on products etc, etc.
If all those 40k people liked it and got on board and gave $20 to the trust a year then that computation would be $1,467,107.50 in five years. Go do the numbers on
the calculator at Bankrate and see what you come up with.
It's easy enough to see that the money would grow and it could end up being something very special.
I think its possible that something like this gains a lot of steam and in 5 to 8 yrs we could have a fund large enough to cover its own expenses and provide some funds for Pool from interest alone.
It would take work and people could be involved making it happen, it would have clear transparent rules of operation.
I think it could spell a much needed "do over" for Pool but that is a hope and I'm optimistic. I'm willing to do my part but everyone has obligations.
It could take some time to set all of this up but it wouldn't matter if it took awhile to get there. Once set in motion the goal of the trust would always be there.
Registering your opinion through the poll questions is important.
Your support for this idea means that you would be willing to become members putting some of your money to work for the betterment of Pool.
Consider Seriously and Look well to the Poll.
Poll Questions : These are Yes or No Questions
How do you feel about this concept and how would you want the money spent?
1. I would want to Fund Pro Pool Events Only. (choose one of these first five choices. Leave the other 4 blank, then answer the rest.)
2. I would want to Fund Amateur Events Only to regrow Pool from the bottom up because Amateurs support Pool and keep it alive.
3. I would want only some money for the Pros.
4. I would want only some money for Amateurs.
5. I would want the money split equally between Pros and Amateurs.
6. I think Pros need to do something for Pool besides just play for the money (support the trust, do something for the membership etc. )
7. I would donate only if and when it was run right, went well and was popular.
8. I would never donate, none of my business.
9. I would donate something to start it and take a chance that it would work out.
10. My donation would be "one time" and at or under $20
11. My donation would be "one time" at or below $40
12. My or my company donation would donate yearly for the recognition and advertisement and for a tax deduction.
13. It would help me decide to support if this were done as a tax free status educational corporation.
14. I would gladly pay a little more yearly on my Az membership if they would give me a new status to reflect my membership and giving level.
15. I am open to discussion on how to do this, just do something.
16. I would approve if a Pool company handled membership but was not in charge of the money in the trust in any way as stated.
17. I would do business with Pool Businesses that were known supporters that supported the trust.
18. I would like to see All Pool Events eligible for Pool Trust Points in which a dollar per player went to the trust.
19. I would support it by spreading the word and asking my room to be a Pool Trust Location.
20. I want a key chain to hang on my cue case so people will know I support the Pool Trust if it comes with membership.
21. I would attend Pool Trust Tournaments, buy Pool Trust Products and attend Events because I'd like to hang out with like minded people.
22. I think Amateur Pool at venues deserves more attention because they spend the money that keeps Pool alive.
23. I would want the activities of such an organization posted to a website.
24. I would want Board Members to change at determined intervals to prevent problems.
25. I would want the administration of the membership part directed by someone at Az because its a good fit. We would know who the members were by online status.
The donations to the trust would be more automatic and they could easily publicize and advertise for it making it a success.
View Poll Results