We Need Your Help!

Sponsor or Donate
Magic Center Region welcomes sponsors to help us produce the regional tournament, provide scholarships for teams that cannot afford the registration fee and help offset the expenses of Central Florida teams that advance from Florida's state Odyssey of the Mind tournament to the World Finals or EuroFest. Please let us know about any contacts you have who might be interested in partnering with us.

We also welcome and greatly appreciate: 
  • Monetary donations — We ask individual donors to research their company's charitable matching policies in the event matching funds can stretch a donation even further.
  • In-kind donations — The Magic Center Region welcomes in-kind donations that meet some of our specific needs. Among them are printed materials, food to feed our tournament volunteers, T-shirts for the judges and officials, and print and media coverage. In-kind donations are valued based upon the fair market value of the donation. Corporate and business donations are welcome! We encourage creative suggestions and wish to accommodate our supporters' needs and interests.
For more information about making a monetary or in-kind donation, please Contact Us form at right.

Advertise
In addition to sponsors, we welcome advertisers in the Magic Center Region Tournament program. We expect to print 1,000 to 1,500 programs for the 2016 tournament.

To learn more or to place an ad, download the Regional Tournament Program Advertisement Form from the Forms page. Please spread the word to potential advertisers you may know.

    CONTACT US!

Volunteer
"Behind each one of our finalists
is a volunteer support network
that can proudly claim to be one of those
thousand points of light that I like to talk about."
​   
— George Bush, President of the United States,
referring to Odyssey of the Mind volunteers
It takes an army of volunteers to keep the Magic Center Region thriving, and we'd welcome you to join us as we support our teams in their creative endeavors. There are many ways you can put your talents to good use:
  • Coach — Coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team is hard work — that yields huge rewards. You'll be able to work with children, foster their talents, further their education, enable them to express themselves creatively and see them build self-esteem while achieving at their full potential.
  • Spontaneous Workshop Judge — We always need volunteers to help at our spontaneous workshops. Not only do volunteers serve a great need by proctoring a problem and providing feedback to teams, but they also will see and hear outstanding problem solutions that they can share as examples when training their team.
  • Tournament Judge — Teams of judges evaluate the performance of teams in the Long-Term, Style or Spontaneous portion of a competition. Each judge is trained ahead of time in the area for which he or she has a responsibility and works alongside experienced Problem Captains and Head Judges. Because of the importance of teams being scored fairly and consistently, judges must be present for the entire tournament. Magic Center makes every effort to assign judges to the problem and rule that most interests and suits them.
  • Tournament Worker — Our tournament workers serve many roles: manning the information desk, selling concessions or merchandise, monitoring the doors of Long-Term performance sites, running scores to the scoreroom, helping to feed the judges and much more.

Volunteer Grant Programs

   If you work for a company that offers a volunteer grant program (i.e., the company provide grants to the nonprofits for which its employees volunteer), please track and submit the hours you log with us. Many local companies offer generous volunteer grants — such as $15-per-volunteer-hour grants or a $500 grant after 20 hours of service. Magic Center can stretch those dollars to help more students in Central Florida.
   Check the policies at your employer, as they vary widely from company to company and often change, but some area companies that may offer such a program include Aetna, Allstate, Boeing, CenturyLink, ConocoPhillips, Covidien, CVS Caremark, Dell, Disney, ExxonMobil, HCA, Intel, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, NextEra Energy (FPL), Outerwall (Coinstar/Redbox), RealNetworks, Southwest Airlines, Sprint Nextel, SuperValu (Save-a-Lot), Symantec, Time Warner, Verizon, Walmart and Wells Fargo.
   Many other area companies alternately (or even additionally) offer team volunteer grants when groups of employees volunteer together. Among them are Best Buy, BNY Mellon, Charles Schwab, ConocoPhillips, CVS Caremark, ExxonMobil, Kohl's, Siemens and Walmart. 
   If you work for a company that offers this benefit, please talk to your co-workers about banding together to support the Magic Center Region at the regional tournament.
Odyssey of the Mind is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Donors may deduct contributions as provided under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.

A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED
FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE.
REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
The toll-free number is 800.435.7352.