YouTube videos: Educating your donors and communicating your fundraising message

Hope College, located in Holland, Michigan, has recently launched a viral campaign of YouTube videos directed toward educating viewers on a wide range of university-related topics. One of these videos explains, in approximately two and a half minutes, endowed student scholarships at Hope College.

In the brief, but comprehensive video, a number of key fund raising tactics are employed. First, the video begins with a mural of student pictures, putting a face to those who benefit from endowed scholarships. Second, the basic financial aid model is explained in a simplified form, shedding light on the percentage of students who receive some sort of aid and the average amount of money students receive each year. Third, the opportunities available to students as a result of donor support as well as a complete breakdown of the allocation of donor funding are given.

Once this information is communicated, the stage is set to present a goal and to solicit support for the future – which is exactly the strategic approach taken in the video. The goal is to increase the endowment by $140 million, with $50,000 designated for student scholarships. The video continues to explain the amount raised and the total number of endowed scholarships to date – 623. The last major piece to any fund raising strategy, stewardship, closes the video with a formal “Thank You.”

In an interactive age, disseminating information in a short, easy to watch, entertaining way will surely reach a wider audience and be more effective at communicating the message. Many athletic departments publish brochures or attempt to explain the process illustrated above in written form on their website, a more traditional approach. The innovative and creative example shown here by Hope College sets the bar for future donor communication.

To view the Hope College Endowed Scholarships video, click here

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Matt Kirinovic

Diversity in the Development Workplace: The NAADD Diversity Initiative

The official release regarding the call for applications for this year’s National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) Diversity Initiative came out recently, and as a past recipient, I thought I would do my best to promote and recommend development officers, interns, and graduate assistants to apply for this award.

As a recipient in both 2008 and 2009, I was able to attend the NACDA national conference, which is an invaluable networking opportunity and educational experience.  As is the case with all national conferences, attendees have time to attend sessions which are extremely valuable, interact with peers and potential mentors from across the nation, and conduct important business.  In addition to this, the Diversity Initiative provides a training session called “Fundamentals of Athletic Development” that pair each attendee with a mentor in the field and in peer groups of young professionals. My mentors, Kay Hargrave, Associate AD at Auburn, and Lu Merritt, Director of Athletic Development at Virginia Tech, are seasoned professionals in athletic development, and my participation afforded me an opportunity to pick their brains and profit from their experience and insight.

Furthermore, having an opportunity to interact with the NAADD Executive Committee members is an unusually neat experience.  They are clearly devoted to increasing diversity in the field of athletic development because of the amount of time they spend genuinely interacting with each participant and the large group. I can’t think of many fields where individuals who are immensely successful, and at very successful athletic programs, would not only spend their time with you and encourage your development, but also share secrets of the trade.

More information is available in the release, but individuals interested in applying for the NAADD Diversity Initiative scholarship should contact Jason Galaska, NACDA Assistant Executive Director, at jgalaska@nacda.com.  And by all means, if you have more questions regarding my experiences as a participant, please feel free to contact me at broussardw@nsula.edu.

Dr. William Broussard

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What’s in YOUR subject line? How to increase your open rate

When sending a mass e-mail out to a large group, be it donors or season ticket holders, determining the correct subject line can play a large role in the open rate. How often will you open an e-mail that says, “Event on Tuesday” over an e-mail that claims, “Meet Head Coach on Tuesday!” My chances are with the latter.

In the February 24 edition of “Selling It,” an e-newsletter sent by the National Sports Forum, the Los Angeles Clippers‘ email strategy was described in detail and its application can pay dividends across the sports industry.

In an effort to grow their e-mail open rate, the Clippers devised a plan to determine the best subject line for mass blasts. Let’s say they were going to e-mail 2,000 people who had purchased tickets in the past year to advertise a special rate. They would take 10% of those 2,000 (200 people) and divide them into five different groups of 40 each. From here, the team would devise five different subject lines and send the e-mails to the subscribers.

After waiting two hours to allow subscribers to open their messages, they checked the monitoring software for each group. The subject line with the most opens and click-throughs was determined to be the most appealing and sent to the remaining 90% (1,800) of subscribers.

This approach allowed the Clippers in increase their open rate from 8% to over 12% in a short amount of time. While this approach was designed for a ticket office, it no doubt has applications for a development operation. As e-mails become a more important part of the communication process, having the correct subject line will become increasingly important to get your message across.

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Taylor Wood

Oklahoma State and Pickens sue over life insurance fund-raising plan

Oklahoma State University and T. Boone Pickens, an OSU alumnus and the athletic department’s largest donor, have sued the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company over a life-insurance plan on alumni. The Oklahoma State University Athletic Department’s fund raising arm, the POSSE, established the Gift of a Lifetime program in 2007 that was expected to raise as much as $350 million after all 27 alumni had died.

The details about this case are being protected and what has been released is complicated, but the basis of the university and Pickens’ claim is that the insurance company “understated the costs of the program, overstated its potential financial benefits and charged the university inflated premiums.” Congress intervened with similar programs in 2006 and 2008, warning charities and fund raising organizations that these programs were set up to disproportionately benefit insurance companies.

Planned giving is certainly not the most popular giving method in most athletic departments, but if properly administered can be a lucrative gift option for the university. Oklahoma State’s case reveals the legal complexity of planned giving and identifies the reason many fundraisers steer clear of the giving option.

Due to the nature of planned giving, athletic departments need to be extra cautious, seek experienced legal advice, and partner with a trusted insurance company. If these precautions are not taken this form of giving becomes a less appealing big risk-big reward option.

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Matt Kirinovic

Arkansas State Red Wolf Club partners with local businesses

Arkansas State’s Red Wolf Club is building on the success of a football promotion to bring local businesses to the newly renovated Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field. ASU worked with the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce during football season on the annual “Paint the Town Red” promotion that rewarded Jonesboro area businesses on showing their Red Wolf pride. The Red Wolf Club is bringing ten category winners to ten different games to show its appreciation for the organization’s participation in “Paint the Town Red.”

Baseball at a lot of schools can be an afterthought, but Arkansas State has invested quite a bit of money in its program in recent years with its $250,000 stadium upgrade. The Red Wolf Club is showing off these renovations to local area businesses that have already shown an interest in ASU Athletics. Bringing the business to the games along with 50 employees or clients allows the Red Wolf Club development staff to get in front of Jonesboro area citizens within its upgraded stadium.

While not every school has the facility options that Arkansas State does, these events brings in supporters from local area businesses engaged in the football program to a baseball game. Tying it in with a successful football program that has community buy-in increases its chances of success.

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Sean Phifer

Make Jim Pay – Washington State uses radio talent to bolster new campaign

Washington State University, in need of a variety of facility upgrades to service all their sports teams, has launched a new development fund called the Student-Athlete Excellence Account. This new fund is designed to improve the experience for all WSU student-athletes and engage a donor group that includes former student-athletes, alumni, and university friends. The most unique part of this campaign is the use of their color analyst (and former WSU head coach), Jim Walden, for the fund drive.

Jim Walden has been describing Cougar football for the past nine years and, in an attempt to spur giving to the Student-Athlete Excellence Account, is putting up his own money as a matching gift to the athletics department. For each $5 donated to the new account, Jim will donate $1 of his own, up to $100,000. However, if the account grows to $1 million, Jim will donate an additional $100,000 for a total of $200,000 for WSU student-athletes.

The use of radio/television talent in fundraising is not unique, but the degree that Washington State is utilizing their long-time football analyst is impressive. Schools looking for a unique way to engage fans and facilitate new donations should look to WSU for an example of a creative, and perhaps effective, plan. To see the “Make Jim Pay” video and read more about the account, click here.

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Rob Norris

Careerball: The sport athletes play when they’re through playing sports

Review: Careerball: The sport athletes play when they’re through playing sports, by Russ Hafferkamp

Hafferkamp, Russ. (2009). Careerball: The sport athletes play when they’re through playing sports. Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publishing.

The quandary that many athletes face when their athletic careers end is that much of what has led to their success all of their lives, and the activity(-ies) that has consumed their lives can threaten to stall or compromise a successful transition into a career.  The author of Careerball advises former athletes to keep their heads up, work as hard as they can, and success will be theirs in the end.

A true statement, almost without exception. However, one doesn’t need to be a former athlete to appreciate this advice, or profit from it.  Much of the advice that the career coach offers in his self-published tome is so widely applicable that it is a book-long challenge to identify what Careerball actually is. It doesn’t keep the book from being an enjoyable and at most times instructive read, but I was left wanting when it came to the book’s promise to identify a particular or unique way that former athletes could successfully approach career development based on character traits they develop as athletes (that somehow, non-athletes cannot develop or share).

Hafferkamp offers sage advice, interesting considerations, and useful perspectives for student-athletes who are at a crossroads in their lives. He is the CEO of a consulting firm that specializes in career counseling for former athletes.  Sections on the unique perspective that an athlete develops, and how that shapes perspectives in ways that can be as beneficial as they are deleterious were engagingly written.  Chapters 11 and 12 focus on identity formation and transitions unique to high school and college athletics, and serve as an excellent precursor to an advice section that cites survey data from 300 former professional and collegiate athletes about athletic experiences and career development.  Sharp transitions and excellent antitheses appear sporadically (e.g. his suggestion that athletes’ focus on their craft makes them determined and mentally strong, but can also keep them from exploring other aspects of their development). Chapter 4 focuses, at one point, on stereotype threat research, which is very interesting.

However, platitudes dot the landscape of the book.  Statements such as “athletes are good at setting goals,” and “(they) don’t lose hope,” and claims that student-athletes are competitive, work well with others, and are loyal are so widely applicable that one does not have to be an athlete to identify with them.  Additionally, entire chapters that one suspects will be aimed specifically at a niche, selected audience instead reaches out to a very wide one, instead (chapters on “Personal Interests,” “Time Management,” and networking and mentorship) are not without merit, but also not germane specifically to student-athletes.

An interesting read, it is framed unfortunately as a book for former athletes on the subject of career development instead of as a book on career development that highlights ways that athletes may or may not benefit from their athletic identities.  The book’s shining moments are when his tone is reflective, even autoethnographic (as an athlete and father of an elite athlete) and less like self-help.

William Broussard, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of Athletics at Northwestern State University, Louisiana.

Indiana University Receives $15 million gift, names Basketball Development Center

Cook Hall is currently finishing up its finals stages of construction.

Indiana University recently received a $15 million gift from The Cook Group, the single largest gift in IU Athletics history. As a part of their For the Glory of Old IU campaign, the gift will name the basketball development center after the benefactors-Cook Hall. Located adjacent to Assembly Hall, the facility will house the Men’s and Women’s basketball teams, providing them with valuable practice and training space.

This announcement comes on the heels of an impressive facility expansion project, which included the construction of a new North End Zone Student-Athlete Development Center, loacted in Memorial Stadium, which houses the football program, a 25,000-square-foot weight room and administrative offices.

With a gift of this size, IU is now taking the proper steps of stewardship, announcing the receipt of the gift and the naming of Cook Hall in numerous press outlets. The release even included a nice quote from Bill Cook, who commented on what the gift meant to him and his wife. Their affinity towards IU makes this gift a win/win situation for both sides.

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Taylor Wood

Bison Club launches annual calling program

The Bucknell Bison Club began their annual student-athlete and coaches’ Call-Athon Program earlier this month. The program is designed to systematically reach Bucknell alumni with help from the individuals they most directly support – the student-athletes and coaches. Each student-athlete is asked to devote two hours of their time per day, three days a week over a three-month period. The primary goal of the program is to either thank those who have made a gift to the Bison Club or varsity sports program during the fiscal year or to solicit support from those who have not yet made a gift.

There is significant value in using student-athletes and coaches in development efforts. In most cases, a thank you phone call from a student-athlete is more significant for a donor because the student-athlete can personally reflect on their opportunities and experiences made possible by the donor’s support. In turn, this phone call gives the donor an opportunity to engage the student-athlete or coach and ask questions about their team or the Bucknell Athletic Department. This unique interaction will bode well for long-term cultivation and increase the donor’s propensity to give.

Bucknell’s Call-Athon Program is not necessarily an innovative or novel idea, but it is consistent and systematic. It signifies one last strong push for donations as the fiscal year comes to an end (June 30). The success of this type of program is highly contingent on the “buy-in” the Bison Club establishes with coaches and athletes. The clear guidelines and expectations in the program make this seamless for Bucknell and will help ensure the program’s long term viability.

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Matt Kirinovic

UNCW delights donors with “Dancing with the Stars” event

The University of North Carolina Wilmington used a unique fundraising event to raise money for student-athletes through its “Dancing with the Wilmington Stars: Seahawk Style” banquet. The event raised $110,000 for the Seahawk Club, the development arm for UNCW Athletics. The contest Wilmington-area celebrities paired together and included a champion based on a judge vote and a fan vote. The fan vote was conducted based on people in attendance and an online poll. UNCW charged $10 per vote, with all funds benefiting Seahawk student-athletes.

The Dancing with the Stars event was the first of its kind at UNCW and the results exceeded department expectation despite bad weather the night of the event. The concept ties together the extremely popular television show with UNCW athletics in a banquet-type format. Participants danced to popular music from different decades and delighted 450 attendees of the event.

This kind of event is a great way to involve donors in a fun environment outside of the stadium or arena. It provides a new fundraising event strategy from the more common auction used at many schools. It rides the popularity of the television show “Dancing with the Stars,” which is popular amongst older demographics. Other events similar to this could have similar success around shows like “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol.” These events might also gain support if they involve student-athletes.

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Sean Phifer