Donkey Ball Puts the Fun in Fundraisers

For an attention getting fund raiser that is actually fun, Donkey Ball can't be beat. All a school, church or organization has to do to organize a Donkey Ball game is contact one of the handful of remaining family businesses that still raise and train the donkeys to play ball, gather a bunch of good sports willing to ride the donkeys while playing a ball game, and sell tickets to all the donkey riders' family and friends. When an organization has a Donkey Ball fundraiser, the donkey troupe and the referees are provided, along with tickets, marketing materials and insurance; after paying for the donkeys, the remaining funds go to the worthy cause the organization was raising money for. The riders have a blast, the audience laugh themselves silly, while the donkeys do pretty much whatever they want to do. A Donkey Ball fundraiser is good fun for all concerned.

Donkey sports were quite the rage in the 1970s when I was a teen. I had heard of Donkey Baseball and thought it sounded like fun, so when I had the opportunity to play a game of Donkey Basketball, I didn't hesitate. All I did was show up and hop on a donkey; now the riders have to have a short training session, sign a waiver and wear helmets and pads. The game is raucous and there have been some minor injuries, but only to humans. Despite the concerns of animal rights groups, the owners of the donkeys claim that no donkeys have been hurt. Safety precautions for donkey and human are taken in to consideration. In donkey baseball, for instance, large, soft plastic bats are used with plastic balls. The batter hits while standing up, then mounts the nearby donkey to "run" the bases.

If the donkey is in the mood to run, that is. When donkeys don't want to do something, they just... don't! Not to mention that part of their training involves sudden stops and bending the head down so the rider slides off. When I played, I spent most of my time attempting to coax my donkey toward my basket instead of my opponent's basket. I was too busy trying to reason with my balky beast to notice that the referees were also encouraging and rewarding the donkeys for, shall we say, uncooperative conduct. The games are definitely played for laughs; they are not really competitive. Donkey Baseball has been compared to a clown rodeo. I would say Donkey Basketball is similar to the Harlem Globetrotters where the donkeys are the Globetrotters. Because, make no mistake, the donkeys are really in charge!

I thought donkey baseball, donkey basketball and donkey races had gone the way of the leisure suit, but I discovered that this quirky, charming past time is alive and well. Actually, donkey ball has been a small town fixture since the days of the Great Depression. I was able to find only three companies providing donkey sports, however. Buckeye Donkey Ball in Ohio, Donkey Sports, Inc. in Washington State, and Dairyland Donkey Ball, LLC out of Texas each have websites (see below) full of information like what area they each will provide donkeys for, what exactly is provided, how to prepare for and what to expect at your Donkey Ball fund-raising event. Considering how few businesses still provide donkey ball, and the increasing protests against it, it's hard to say how long donkey ball will be available. If your organization would like to have some old-fashioned, hilarious fun in its next fundraiser, give one of these little family owned businesses a holler and set up a Donkey Ball fund raising game of your own.

Resources:

personal experience
http://www.donkeyball.com/
http://www.donkeysports.com/
http://www.dairylanddonkeyball.com/