Crowdfunding Success – URU put the IWF Workshop knowledge to good use
At the IWF Youth World Championships in Las Vegas, the IWF held a Crowdfunding Workshop for its Member Federations. The participants learned about what is Crowdfunding, how it works, its benefits and some examples.
IWF was happy to be informed that Uruguay Weightlifting Federation put the information provided to good use and started its own Crowdfunding Project. They had a dream to improve their Training Center, which at the beginning was just an old, abandoned building, waiting to be transformed to the first and only Weightlifting Center owned by the Federation.
Many years passed with little to none improvement due to funding problems. Crowdfunding was not their first idea to get money for the project, as it is not a very common thing in Uruguay.
It wasn’t an easy task to organize and make people believe in this project. However all the interested parties were invited to participate, and starting with a smaller circle (lifters, families) the project has begun. The first steps made by lifters and their families inspired the government and some sponsors to also contribute in this project.
The Federation offered free weightlifting training for children as “Companies with Corporate Social Responsibility Program” as they only asked for some community service in exchange for their donation. After agreeing with some other partners too, they finally had enough money for the Training Center.
In the new facility, up to 30 lifters can train at the same time, has a Doping Control room and a multipurpose room for educational purposes, where they soon held a course in the framework of the IWF Development Program.
The priority objective was to be able to develop weightlifting and with the new training centre, lots of new lifters can take on the sport. The next stage of the project is to fully equip the training centre and to host regional events.
The IWF encourages all Member Federations to consider Crowdfunding in order to develop weightlifting.
