Great Funding Idea

This article from The Naperville Sun reports on a really great idea—by sharing unused event tickets—for creating some funding for charities.

An excerpt.

“With the professional basketball and hockey seasons reaching their apex, and Chicago's two professional baseball teams poised for 2010, the timing for a new online ticket service couldn't be better. And for those of us who never seem to get the cool seats, a new Naperville-based business is ready to help folks get in the game.

“In mid-February, veteran businessman Kevin Nemetz launched Tix 4 Cause, an online ticket-buying service that he said he once called, "Stub-Hub for the heart."

“Nemetz said he has watched unused tickets go to waste at venues throughout the area, and figured they could be put to a better use.

"Since 2003, I have had the goal and desire to assist charities by creating a Web site that served as a ticket exchange for the donation and sale of unwanted or unused season tickets in sports, music, theater and other entertainment activities," Nemetz said. "You have these corporations and season ticket holders that use about 40 percent of the tickets themselves. The other 40 percent they either give away, sell or eat. And it seemed to me charities could benefit."

“Tix 4 Cause now means those $200 scout seats that may be vacant at U.S. Cellular Field can be filled on a summer's night and a local non-for-profit group or charity can reap the benefits. Nemetz said for a $349 annual membership fee, organizations can join a growing list of other members who will benefit from ticket sales. Early membership and ticket sale action, Nemetz said, has been brisk.

"We already have 35 organizations who are members on the Web site, and about 200 others that are in the pipeline," he said. "We just completed a trip to New York and have a number of groups there we think are going to be interested. In just the five or six weeks we've been up and running, we've moved a total of 58 tickets and only had four that expired. People are already finding out about this, and usually within the first day they are posted, they're gone."