First Big Move Program

We take seriously our mission to "inspire people to play chess", and that starts with kids. That happens at schools and their after-school programs. And that is why MegaChess will always support schools and any such chess programs. That support provides the resource in shortest supply at all our schools -- money.

The first MegaChess set was not sold but donated, donated to a school's chess club to draw more members. Since then, we have instituted a formal program of donations and discounts to schools. We call this the First Big Move Program. This is a program that goes beyond discounting a few MegaChess sets -- it supports school chess programs with across-the-board donations (including MegaChess discounts).

The First Big Move Program begins by recognizing that pledge drives are generally more successful than requests for donations to some general fund. Like most folks, we are more prone to contribute money or products to launch a chess class than to an organization that might or might not produce something tangible.

Next we secured the programing talent of Bizware Online Applications Inc, our parent company, to develop an online pledge management software application. This fielded the First Big Move website where schools can fill out an online form to launch a pledge drive. Bizware's software allows anyone on the internet to pledge using credit cards. The software tracks pledges as they collect to hit the pledge target, the amount needed to fund the pledge project. Once that goal is met, only then are the credit cards debited. Managing all this behind a secure ecommerce gateway turned out to be a unique challenge.

The First Big Move website also has cute tools like a thermometer that shows how close the pledge drive is to meeting its target. And then we added a handy feature where pledge contributors can pledge amounts to buy specific chess pieces since most of the time there is a chess set involved. If the school wishes to, they can note the pledge contributor on each such "purchased" chess piece.

For almost every pledge drive, MegaChess pledges something. In those cases where a MegaChess product purchase is involved, our pledge represents our discount. But making a MegaChess purchase part of a pledge drive is not required. The First Big Move Program will support pledges for other chess training equipment, trainer salaries, facility costs, etc.

We also have a First Big Move Manager, Denny North, and he jumps in to help applicants field a successful pledge drive. There are lots of tips, tricks, and lessons-learned that he can pass on.