A little story...
Hello everyone! My name is Charles Bodner (LinkedIn) and I am the founder of NXTLVL Gaming Center. I am a graduate of Temple University's Fox School of Business where I double majored in Management Information Systems and Marketing.
I came up with the idea for NXTLVL after noticing 3 distinct needs in our society:
- The need for college scholarships to support students in reducing the cost for college and easing their debt burden.
- The need for gamers of all backgrounds to come together and share their passion for gaming in a safe, fun, and afforable environment.
- The need for free technology oriented classes to supplement socioeconomic factors that may make it difficult for some to learn needed skills in today's technology driven market.
What is NXTLVL Gaming Center?
NXTLVL Gaming Center is a non-profit cyber cafe where 100% of the proceeds go towards creating college scholarships for technology related studies. We strive to give gamers a safe place to come play their favorite games all while helping others get to the NXTLVL of their education!
So how will NXTLVL accomplish this?Gaming for a cause: When you play, you give!
Unlike traditional non-profits, NXTLVL has a business model to support it's efforts. We earn revenue by running a gaming center (or cyber cafe if you will) where visitors will pay a small hourly rate to play. Other revenue streams include optional memberships (with perks), food sales, game trade-ins, direct donations, and grants.
The goal is to have a variety of game consoles, PCs, and games to encourage gamers from all walks of life and interests to share their passion together while supporting their local community. We will also host regular events and tournaments based off the needs/wants of our customers where they will compete for great prizes, either purchased by us or donated from gaming developers and manufacturers.
We will also host free to the public technology and computer related classes to help those who may not have the resources to learn them otherwise.
The facts and the impact!
Let's look at some of the facts about today's college education.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average salary for someone who doesn't graduate from college makes almost half of what a person with an associates degree will make.
- On average, a 2 year degree will earn an individual close to the national average of $41,000 a year.
- A four year college graduate earns on average $55,000 a year and a master's degree earns $65,000+ a year on average.
- Average student debt is $29,000 with the total student debt outstanding at over $1 Trillion!
- 35% of all student loans are in delinquency because of their inability to pay for numerous reasons including: poor job market, majors that aren't in demand, and stagnant salaries. (just to name a few)
- The most wanted/valuable majors today are in the technology and science field: #1 Biomedical Engineering (median pay $97k), #3 Computer Science (median pay $97k), #4 Software Engineering (median pay $87k), #8 Management Information Systems (median pay $88k). (again just to name a few)
After looking at some of these facts we see the need to help students to get into these technology oriented fields. NXTLVL wants to help to achieve this, but in a way that we find fun! Gaming isn't a subculture anymore like it was when most of us were young, it is mainstream and the demand for a unique gaming experience is there! Here's a little snippet from "Video Games, The Movie" explaining just how popular games are in today's culture.
The Nitty Gritty!
Our goal here is to raise $80,000 which should be an easy task considering how many dedicated gamers we have out there! Now this sounds like alot of money (and it is) but once the startup costs are taken care of, we are left with minimal operational costs. Here is the breakdown of the startup cost:
- 30 Samsung LEDTV's @ $500 each
- 30 Lounge Chairs @$250 each
- 15 XBox 360 @$200 each
- 15 Playstation 3 @$200 each
- 10 Refurb Nintendo Wii @$80 each
- Bulk Game Library Budget @$5,000
- 1 Year 3,500 square foot Building Lease @$42,000
- (Currently reaching out to PC manufacturers for 20 donated gaming PC's) not included in the $80k startup cost.
In terms of projected revenue, we are looking at a conservative year 3 estimate of $175,000 from rental revenue alone. (this is with the assumption we will be operating at an average of 25% capacity year round)
We can only do this with your support!
You guys are the bread and butter! Show us your support by donating financially or by simply sharing this campaign with your friends and family! We are also open to in-kind donations of the required items above! Thank you so much for your support!
