Bagging Big Solutions is Only a Matter of Having the Right Hunting Partner
Since 2015, the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia (WFV) has teamed up with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) to host the Old Dominion One-Shot Turkey Hunt. In 2018, One Shot Turkey Hunt provided 42 new experiences for aspiring hunters, including a youth from the City of Richmond who knew only the urban environment, a son of a father on military deployment, several wounded veterans, and others who benefitted hugely from the experience.
The Wildlife Foundation of Virginia is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, founded in 1997 by a concerned group of sportsmen who recognized that, in order to conserve hunting and fishing heritage in Virginia, the growing problem of diminishing public lands had to be addressed. They recognized that without adequate opportunities for the public to enjoy outdoor recreation, the support base for conservation of these resources would disappear along with the land.
A primary fundraiser for the organization is the One-Shot Turkey Hunt, held for the fourth year in 2018. Not only does it generate funding for WFV, but those same proceeds support youth hunting opportunities to build the next generation hunter. The One-Shot Turkey Hunt event includes a series of smaller activities, including a guide/hunter dinner the night before the hunt, the hunt itself, and an after-hunt celebration dinner. The Foundation raises funds not only by selling hunt and celebration dinner tickets, but through sponsorships and individual donations.
WFV has limited staff and resources, and the effort to support such a large event, with all associated activities, is arduous and time consuming. In the past, the Foundation had leveraged one-off online solutions to collect payment for the hunt, dinners and sponsorships. The registration process, however, remained manual – and therefore awkward and often confusing. Managing registrants, collecting mailed-in payments, performing reconciliation tasks, and extrapolating information for reporting purposes was all performed manually by WFV staff. The need to create efficiencies and simplify the complex registration process highlighted the opportunity for DGIF and WFV to implement a new consolidated solution to fulfill its event registration and payment needs.
It was then that WFV placed Virginia Interactive firmly in its crosshairs for developing a more streamlined and robust system for processing payments. In January 2017, DGIF and WFV partnered with Virginia Interactive (VI) to launch a new mobile-friendly event registration website. Hunters, sponsors, and guests can now easily register for the hunt, or the celebration dinner, and easily make payments online.
The event registration solution includes an administrative component that provides significant efficiencies for the Foundation. Vastly improved capabilities include registrant information management, the ability to track registrations and sponsorship activity, view reports, deliver automatic messaging and reminders, and quickly generate printed materials for the event. Neither WFV nor DGIF had to lie in wait for long - the solution was configured and ready for production in less than 30 days.
Efficient, timely, mobile friendly, and with a greatly enhanced customer service experience, this partnership landed a trophy level final solution. With Virginia Interactive, the aim is always true for bringing home the solution!