Sponsor Spotlight: Helping Put Kids Into Sport
Originally printed in Sport Quarterly, December 2006

As the premier partner for KidSport™ in Nova Scotia, Aliant is following through on a commitment to youth in Atlantic Canada.

Three years ago, the Community Relations staff at Aliant undertook an assessment of where best to focus their partnership efforts. The result was a decision to get involved in programs for youth in a number of different areas.

“We went through a consultation process with both our employees and customers, to try and identify where best to put our money,” says Community Relations Manager Mark Duggan. “Overwhelmingly it came back to us that we should focus on children and youth. In the second phase, we consulted with subject matter experts who deal with children and youth – educators, health and fitness people, social workers – and identified some core areas where we focus on children and youth and have the most impact.”

In the end, Aliant identified literacy and education programs, youth at risk, and health and obesity among its core areas to get involved in programming.

“Our relationship with Sport Nova Scotia and KidSport™ has come from those goals,” says Duggan. “In part, KidSport™ deals with kids who are at risk and often growing up without adult supervision, the same kids who often don’t have the financial means to participate in sport. And, it is also obviously something that addresses the issue of physical activity among youth.”

While this is the first year Aliant has sponsored KidSport™ in Nova Scotia, they have been involved with the program in PEI and New Brunswick for a number of years. Recently Aliant has entered into a relationship with KidSport™ in Newfoundland and Labrador as well.

Duggan adds that Aliant is also active in supporting youth sports through their Marketing Sponsorship Program. “The Sponsorship program focuses on two core sports: title sponsorship of pee wee hockey, including the Aliant Atlantics Pee Wee AAA Championship that will be hosted in Wolfville, NS, in March and youth soccer, highlighted by the Aliant Cup Atlantic Championships in three youth age groups.” Aliant also sponsors the seven QMJHL teams based in Atlantic Canada.

Aliant receives over 3000 requests per year from different people and organizations looking for sponsorship help. “A lot of those are from organizations looking for support for individual teams or individual athletes that are headed to different events, and it’s impossible to respond to them all. So by focusing on the programs that we do, we hope to have an impact on a broad range of athletes.”

Duggan’s experience in working with community groups gives him a good perspective on the difficulties often faced by non-profit organizations, and he thinks Sport Nova Scotia has developed a pretty good model.

“The challenge for so many not-for-profit and community-based organizations is the time spent rais-ing funds often takes away from the programming they can offer,” he says. “So I think it’s great that Sport Nova Scotia can partner with government and private sector organizations like Aliant to work together to get funding to those that need it. It’s a real credit to Nova Scotia.”