Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) President Ali Nihat Yazici

Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) President Ali Nihat Yazici

AY: Our annual budget in 2006 was 4 million USD. For 2007 we project a budget of 6 million USD. By 2010 we target 20 million for the federation.

Our strategy in the federation is to diversify our revenue sources. We raise funds from sponsorships, sales, tourism, certificates, entry fees and government subsidies. We have 200,000 members and charge €3 per year.

Our sponsor, the Turkiye Bankasi, gives them bank savings cards as their Turkish Chess Federation membership card.

Although the bank card has no funds, it encourages members to bank there which is what the sponsor is interested in but I should underline that the Bank is looking at chess as a social responsibility project and a learning tool for the kids.

We authorize clubs to collect entry fees for tournaments if they wish. We give them receipt booklets and they must turn over all collections to the federation. We return 90% back to the clubs in the form of credits for chess paraphernalia.

We raise funds from sales of chess books and equipment. We sell mainly chess textbooks at €3 each. The printing of these textbooks was advanced by our sponsoring bank. We raise sponsorships valued at €400,000 per year.

If the percentage of sponsorship reaches 40%, this raises alarms for us because we do not want to be dependent on one revenue category alone.

For example if the economy is bad, our government subsidy may decrease. We have a government subsidy which in 2006 was 300,000 Euro. This year we are negotiating to double this to 600,000 Euro.

From tourism we raise commissions. We have an agency which finds us the least expensive hotels and from these hotels we negotiate commissions. We have a good agency, the same one in these last four years. Our biggest source of income is from Trainers` Certificates.

Here is the full interview.