University of Dayton launches Champions & Scholars Fund

The University of Dayton recently announced the formation of the Champions & Scholars Fund, which will serve as a comprehensive annual fundraising arm of the athletics department. The money raised from this fund will go to support the 400 student-athletes at the University of Dayton.

With the launch of the new fund, Dayton created an excellent website to educate donors and prospects on the new processes and avenues for communication. Complete with an introductory video from the athletics director, the site features links to Facebook, Twitter, the Dayton Alumni Association, and a Contact Us tab. There are also numerous links to explain what the Champions & Scholars Fund will support, as well as information on capital projects and athletics endowments.

Dayton demonstrated a key part of launching or re-launching an annual giving program through this website. By utilizing the power of a press release as well as an informational website, Dayton is creating a one stop shop for information on their new fund. No doubt there are other mediums to communicate the message, but with the creation of a new venture, there is great need to win the first impression. Dayton does that with the Champions & Scholars Fund.

Taylor Wood

ASU teams up with Pat Tillman Foundation

This article was contributed by Drew Ossakow, a Master of Sports Administration Student at Ohio University. Drew is currently completing his internship at Indiana University, where he was also an undergraduate student-athlete on the swim team.

Arizona State athletics used the start of this fall sports season to announce a new kind of partnership with the Pat Tillman Foundation.  The two organizations came together to form the PT-42 Legacy campaign, which is aimed at raising funds and awareness in order to support military scholars and ASU student athletes as they chase their educational goals.  Donations to this fundraising campaign will be split between the groups, and allows the Sun Devil Club to create the PT-42 Student Athlete Scholarship Endowment, with the goal of providing 42 scholarships for ASU Athletics’ 21 sports.

Both organizations have worked together in the past to honor the legacy of Pat Tillman, but wanted to do something special in conjunction with his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame this December.  As a way to kick off fundraising for the PT-42 campaign, ASU Athletics is encouraging fans to purchase commemorative merchandise highlighting Tillman’s Hall of Fame induction.  Also, at the November 13^th home football game against Washington State, ASU is also planning a celebration to honor Pat Tillman as part of Veterans Day weeklong festivities.

The PT-42 Legacy campaign is a very creative way for raising funds to endow scholarships.  It would be hard to replicate what the Sun Devil Club and the Pat Tillman Foundation have done because of how unique the situation is and how similar the missions are of both groups.  However, it does serve as a good example of an athletic department making the most of a special event such as a former player being inducted into the Collegiate Football HOF.

Schools partner with former student-athletes networking site

Baylor University and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock have both recently announced a partnership with Career Athletes, an online networking tool designed to help build a community of former student-athletes to network with and prepare for life after college. This service has been added to the athletics department to help not only current student-athletes, but also provide a service for those who have graduated.

In some cases, Career Athletes can be used to aide in the fundraising efforts for former student-athletes as well. By engaging them with other former student-athletes as well as current ones, there will be an opportunity for these alumni to connect with others. This will strengthen the bond they share with the school, opening opportunities for development and fundraising activities.

Many schools use Career Athletes as Baylor is the 7th school in the Big 12 to sign up for the program and the network features over 65,000 members across the nation.

Taylor Wood

ND hands out honrary Monogram Award to long-time contributor

This past weekend Notre Dame handed out an honorary Monogram this past weekend to Sgt. Tim McCarthy, the person responsible for the public service announcement every football gameday since the 1960s. The honorary monogram makes McCarthy a member of the Monogram Club, the collection of former student-athletes who have earned a Varsity letter during their time on campus.

While this particular bestowment featured a person who has contributed his time and talent, the idea of awarding an honorary letter to those supporters who have given large financial donations over a long period of time can be an effective development tool. Many donors long to have that connection with the playing field, even if they never participated themselves. Through a lifetime of dedication to the athletics department, an honorary Varsity letter could be an very effective form of stewardship.

For this idea to work, the current club members must be on board with the idea of bestowing a honorary letter to a non-Varsity athlete. Secondly, it needs to be regarded as one of the highest honors of the athletics department, allowing those who receive the award to feel specially honored, much like the bestowment of an honorary degree at commencement.

Taylor Wood

Helping Fans Show Support

All across college campuses, athletic departments are continually looking to award fans with university specific identifiers to show their support.  From there, it is typically up to the individual supporter to use these types of support identifiers.  As a result, athletic departments are frequently unsure if their supporters will even use an awarded membership benefit like a license plate holder.

In recognizing this, officials at Arkansas State University administered its “License to Howl” program this past Saturday.  At the event, officials from ASU Athletics, including student-athletes, coaches, cheerleaders, and Howl, attached special “A-State/Howl” license plates to the front bumper of ASU supporters vehicles.  By day’s end, over one thousand cars ended up leaving the ASU campus with “A-State/Howl” license plates, giving ASU Athletics a tremendous amount of support and visibility throughout the state of Arkansas.

Time and again, many athletic departments look to use license plate holders as a way donors can show their support.  However, in most instances supporters are sent or given license plate holders, with no mechanism for ensuring they are used.   With the success of the recent “License to Howl” program at ASU, many universities could begin using similar initiatives to ensure usage of membership identifiers like license plate holders.

Michael Speight

Athletic Departments Host Unique Events

Our last post on the dueling pianos fundraising event at Oakland University got me thinking about other unique events athletic departments are hosting to raise funds and awareness.  For instance, at Oregon State University the Beaver Athletic Student Fund is organizing an “OSU Crab Fisherman’s Tour” for its members.

Specifically, the BASF is hosting this event through one of its graduates, Dave Lethin, owner of the Aleutian Ballad.  The Aleutian Ballad was featured on the Discovery Channel original series Deadliest Catch, which chronicles the lives of crab fisherman on the Bearing Sea.  For a number of years, Lethin and his crew have been organizing tours for fans of the Aleutian Ballad.  However, this particular tour of the Aleutian Ballad exclusively for the BASF shows a great deal of creativity in attracting supporters of OSU Athletics to the BASF.

Overall, unique events like the “OSU Crab Fisherman’s Tour” with OSU Athletics and the dueling pianos event with Oakland University Athletics are becoming more and more common.  By and large, they provide athletic departments with a fun and unique way to attract and meet potential supporters.

Michael Speight

Re-energize Support for Texas Tech Basketball

Ever since the early 1990s, personalized seat licenses have been synomonous with premium seating at college stadiums and arenas throughout the country.  Not surprisingly, when the United Spirit Arena at Texas Tech University opened in 1999, a PSL program was started with Red Raider basketball fans.  However, in an attempt to re-energize support for men’s and women’s basketball, Texas Tech Athletics has decided to do away with its PSL program all together.

This year, to purchase season tickets for Texas Tech basketball, Red Raider fans need to only purchase tickets at listed season ticket prices.  From there, Texas Tech is offering season ticket holders the option of purchasing a 3-Point Option plan, which provides enhanced benefits on gamedays as well as first right to renew seats in subsequent years.  Furthermore, all current paid-in-full PSL account holders and yearly PSL purchasers will be given the highest priority in the new seat selection process.

Overall, the removal of PSLs in the premium seating section at Texas Tech University signals a major shift of importance in the athletic department.  With this decision, Texas Tech is hoping to uncover a new group of fans that have been looking for an affordable way to watch Red Raiders basketball.  More importantly, this shift in seating pricing could spawn an entire new generation of young fans and long-term supporters of Texas Tech Athletics.

Michael Speight

1200 Club increases support for University of Cincinnati Football

Recently, University of Cincinnati Athletics began soliciting membership to a new initiative for its football program called the 1200 Club.  The purpose of the 1200 Club will be to provide non-budgeted financial support to new Bearcats head football coach Butch Jones.  Through the 1200 Club, Coach Jones will have resources available that will allow the program to grow and compete on a national level.

Annual members to this elite club are those who generously contribute $1,200 or more each year to UC Football’s Traditions Fund.  In becoming a part of the 1200 Club, members are privileged to regular inner-circle updates through email communication, 1200 Club apparel, and invitations to exclusive 1200 club events.  Overall, Cincinnati football is looking to entice potential supporters by offering incentives that give fans access to inside information.

For a long time university athletic departments have been receiving donations for specific sports.  However, in the case of the 1200 Club, the University of Cincinnati athletic department is soliciting incremental donations for a sport where specific spending discretion for the head coach is directly related to the amount of support received.  In the future, look for more athletic departments to instill similar programs if much support is garnered from the 1200 Club for Bearcats football.

Michael Speight

Receiving Goodwill through giving back

A while back, Athletics Development Frontier did a post on the goodwill athletic departments can receive when they donate a portion of their athletics funds to the university.  Last fall, Oklahoma Athletics and a few SEC athletic departments, made sizable contributions to university areas outside of athletics.  As a result, each of these programs received a considerable amount of goodwill from all types of university supporters.

In attempt to receive similar forms of goodwill, University of Georgia Athletics recently made a $2 million gift to university.  In fact, the $2 million gift is in addition to the $6 million given to the university by UGA Athletics last year.  The decision to increase UGA Athletics commitment to the university was only possible after their yearly budgets had been calculated and interpreted.

To date, donations to the university by athletic departments are becoming more and more prevalent.  In fact, look for more athletic departments to consider and make contributions to their university as fund drives and budgets become finalized.  Moreover, as long as athletic departments continue to see a return of goodwill on such contributions, expect them to become even more common.

Michael Speight

John Purdue Club hosts Weekend of Events

The John Purdue Club at Purdue University is hosted a full slate of events this past weekend, ranging from two golf outings, two special dinners, an awards ceremony, a silent auction and a “Huddle in Heels” women’s football clinic. With such a jam-packed weekend of events, the John Purdue Club can count on many donors coming back to campus for the entire weekend to celebrate the sport and annual fund year that has just been wrapped up.

The golf outings took place on Friday and Saturday and featured the ability to win team and individual prizes. Each outing was followed by a special dinner. On Friday, participants had the chance to hear an update from the Athletics Director and other coaches. On Saturday, members of the John Purdue Club gathered to recognize those who have helped Purdue Athletics the most through their personal philanthropy and work as a volunteer for the club. This time also allowed the club to recognize those with 10 and 25 years of membership in the John Purdue Club.

The women’s Huddle In Heels event took place on Saturday afternoon and featured a chalk talk from the head football coach as well as the ability to meet many football student-athletes. This type of event makes sure all members of their club had an activity and reason to be on campus on Saturday.

Through an event weekend like this, the John Purdue Club is repaying their members and making them feel appreciated. This past weekend was an excellent example of stewardship for the members of the club and, in a way, provides an excellent chance to say “Thank You” to those who have helped make a difference for Purdue Athletics.

Taylor Wood