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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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.

Professional Conduct: Development Officers are Never ‘Off-Duty’

Read and pondered Ross Bjork’s post on NAADD this morning (found here: http://www.nacda.com/sports/naadd/spec-rel/020810aab.html) about professional conduct.  In it, Bjork, Senior Associate Director of Athletics at UCLA, points out that first impressions, presentation skills, and professional etiquette are all important to the work that we do, and most importantly, that “It is okay to have fun socially but be mindful of your surroundings and who is watching.”

Because first impressions create the lens through which we may be seen for an extended period of time, it’s important to keep in mind that even though we are off the clock, we’re not really ever off-duty.  Recently, I was invited to attend a gathering by a generous supporter of the program, and got to put this adage into practice.  We have a tradition down here, affiliated with Mardi Gras, called “12^th Night.” In the Catholic faith, it’s the 12^th night after Christmas, purportedly the night when the wise men first meet Jesus. In the Louisiana faith, it’s the first Mardi Gras party night of the year (officially, anyhow)!

In attendance at this party was our Athletic Board president, two other Board members, several co-workers, our largest annual donor, and many other alumni and friends of the university.  Without indemnifying anyone in particular, I’ll say that the beverages were in no short supply, and everyone was feeling A-OK.  I had a drink or two, as is my custom (there is a great John Lee Hooker tune, that I use as my guideline in such situations) and, by the end of the evening, I am certain that I was among the most sober folks in the room.  I made several visits, made some good connections, and even established a couple of follow up meetings (I had to work quickly!) and, by avoiding the temptation to follow suit and let my hair down, hopefully made a good impression on everyone in attendance (at least so far as they could remember!).

Monday morning, our largest annual donor emailed me and complimented me on my professionalism in the face of such temptation.  Actually it was a good-natured ribbing about ‘always being on the clock,’ but I figure that has to be worth something.

If nothing else, it’s better than the alternative, which could be losing the support of that donor because of actions that I may not have even remembered.

Ross says it better than I do, so please, check out his write-up on the NACDA/NAADD website:http://www.nacda.com/sports/naadd/spec-rel/020810aab.html.

William Broussard

Transparent ideas from the National Sports Forum

I have had the privilege to attend the National Sports Forum in Baltimore for the last two days. While the conference is more focused on sponsorship and marketing, I have found many parallels with development that can be utilized to help grow development offices.

Sponsorships

In a panel with representatives from some major sponsors in sports including Anheuser-Busch, Cintas, and Sports Clips, the consensus was do your homework and less-is-more in the early stages. Sponsors get hundreds of emails a day with ideas and proposals, but it is better to contact the sponsor after you have done extensive research into the company and ways the two brands match-up going into the future. This works the same in development. Very few schools have the luxury of getting large donations from unfamiliar figures. It is a daily challenge for fundraisers to gain the best understanding of the prospect to get the initial foot in the door. If you choose to approach the prospect via email, it isn’t going to do much good to send the large development brochure. Sum up the message into a couple of paragraphs and personalize it to that particular prospect.

New Media

New media such as Facebook and Twitter is a hot topic in sponsorship and marketing because no one has figured out how to make consistent revenue from the medium. Many development offices have dabbled in the practice, with the main goal spreading news about the offices to followers. While this can fulfill some objectives, one tactic being discussed extensively at NSF is using new media as a focus group to gain feedback. Allowing followers or fans to contribute to the school or feel as if they have insider information is a great way to build rapport with the group and gain important feedback from donors, particularly younger demographics.

Ticket Sales

Major League Baseball teams have one of the toughest tasks in attempting to sell tickets for 81 home dates between April and September. Because of this challenge, baseball teams have gotten extremely creative with season ticket holder programs. One such idea is a new customer reception at the beginning of each season. This reception not only allows the team to thank the new customer, but to also educate them. It is a great way to get in front of new customers early and ensure a relationship before renewals come up the next year. This is a strategy that can be utilized by development offices with new donors to grow their relationship but also to educate on the benefits of becoming a donor.

Sean Phifer

Xavier's Dan Cloran gives a developing perspective

Dan Cloran spoke at the Follett's Sports Business Forum at Ohio University on October 2.

Dan Cloran treated the Follett’s Sports Business Forum with an educational and inspirational presentation on athletics development and advancing in the world of sports. Cloran, the Executive Director of Athletic Development, Annual Fund, and Alumni Affairs at Xavier University in Cincinnati, gave the audience of undergraduate and graduate students many key tidbits to carry into the sports industry.

Cloran outlined his career path to his current position, which includes a stop in the retail world at Sherwin Williams before finding his true calling as the director of development and alumni affairs at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School. While at Moeller, Cloran learned the art of development and went on to work as a Development Consultant for Field Development Consultants.

Cloran described the steps he took to develop the All for One Club at Xavier University, which has led Xavier to double its annual fund during his tenure. While handling most of the day-to-day operations of the All for One Club during his eight years at Xavier, Cloran recently handed over the reigns to Matt Mattmiller to allow him to focus on more of the large donors at Xavier.

Cloran structures his presentation to the large crowd of undergraduates and explained what development really means. He stated that development isn’t fundraising, “that is selling candy bars,” but cultivating a relationship between a donor and the institution. He quoted one of the great developers of all-time, Roberto Clemente, to say, “If you have a chance to make life better for other and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on earth.” This is what Cloran tries to do on a daily basis.

Cloran concluded his talk by talking about some of his greatest success stories while at Xavier. These included cultivating a relationship with one Xavier’s biggest donors by changing light bulbs at their vacation home and helping them with whatever they need to be able to ask them for a donation and receive a commitment on the spot. He also told the story of using Xavier’s first African-American basketball player to show donors the influence they have on Musketeer student-athletes.

Cloran did a fantastic job of giving the audience a view into his every day life as a developer for Xavier University. It was clear to everyone in the audience that this man loves what he does and is very successful at it.

Wade Martin speaks to students, shares from experience

Wade Martin, Senior Corporate Sales Manager at the Cincinnati Bengals, opened his presentation at the 2009 Follett’s Sports Business Forum with an engaging video of Jimmy Valvano’s speech at the 1993 ESPYs. While the speech is mostly remembered for the line, “Don’t give up, Don’t ever give up,” Martin highlighted an anecdote earlier in the speech where Coach Valvano spoke about “how to go from where you are right now to where you want to be.”

In highlighting this, Martin was stressing to the crowd to have a plan to achieve your goals, but to do so with an open mind. An Athens, OH native, his first job was at Miami (OH) University, a place he surely never thought he would work. Yet, he used this analogy to show the audience the importance of keeping an open mind. In the sports industry, there is no set to path to achieve your goals.

The presentation also stressed the point of staying humble and willing to do any job at any time. To do this, he used the football analogies that students should “mix the Gatorade, throw a block, and, in time, they will score a touchdown.

As far as what students can do while in school, Martin suggested they do not waste time, because there are plenty of others that will be working hard. They should also focus on an honest self-evaluation and experiencing events that are open to them.

In the end, students found Martin’s presentation both informative and practical, providing real world advice that can be applied right now and once they enter the sports industry.

OU Sports Business Forum to be covered by ADF

ADF will be attending the Ohio Universtiy Sports Business Forum this weekend in Athens, OH. The forum, which features a wide variety of figures from sports business, will be held later today and Saturday.

On the schedule to present are:

• Dan Cloran- Executive Director of the All for One Club, Xavier University
• Jamie Fluker- Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Development, NCAA
• Jon Niemuth and Brett Fuller- Ellerbe Becket
• Brian Gainor, Account Executive, GMR Marketing; Partnership Activation, Inc.
• Wade Martin- Senior Corporate Sales Manager, Cincinnati Bengals
• Tom Stultz- Senior Vice President & Managing Director, IMG College

ADF will be reporting on the insights and stories covered over the weekend. More posts and coverage of this event will be coming shortly.

Principles of Practice for Fundraising Professionals

As entry level professionals in the field of fundraising, we are always searching for best practices, role models, and benchmark institutions to which we can learn from in the coming years. One stepping stone of professional development that we feel is extremely important is to establish a personal set of guiding principles to which you can refer to whenever making an important decision.

These personal principles are certainly developed over time, but the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has provided a starting block for those who are looking for guidance. Their suggestions, titled “Principles of Practice for Fundraising Professionals at Educational Institutions,” highlight a few of the key areas fundraisers should be aware of. We have chosen to include a few of them below:

Integrity:

• Fundraising professionals must respect that their relationships with prospective donors, donors, volunteers, and employees are professional relationships and may not be exploited.

Confidentiality:

• Safeguard and respect donor and prospective donor information.
• Record and keep information relevant only to cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Make sure that volunteers, vendors, and external entities with access to constituent information understand and agree to comply with the organization’s confidentiality and public disclosure policies.

Public Trust:

• Provide prompt, responsive and truthful replies to donor and public inquiry in accordance with the organization’s stated policies.
• Pursue gifts only that fall within, or advance, the institutions’s mission or priorities.

Disclosure:

• Be truthful about the institution’s mission, intended use of funds, and capacity of the institution to use donations effectively for the intended purpose.

Compensation:

• Do not accept external compensation for the receipt of a gift or information leading to a gift.

For a complete list of CASE’s Principles, click here.

Spice up your presentations with Animoto

This presentation service can be used for many applications of athletics development.

Presentations are a typical tool for almost all business situations. Whether it is a board room, an external operations meeting, or a major gifts ask, the presentation is a crucial part of athletics development.

That is where Animoto can come into play. Rather than make a simple PowerPoint presentation that is plain and uneventful, Animoto claims to be the end of all slide shows, making pictures video oriented with narration and editing capabilities.

The applications for this tool for development are many. For one, it could be used to display a new and exciting facility to get the ball rolling on a capital campaign. The photo effects could be utilized as a student-athlete piece to describe the importance of giving back. One could even use it as a way to recap a successful donor event where attendees can remember the special night by viewing the presentation.

Click here to view a quick demonstration video that shows just some of the capability of this tool. Quick and easy to learn, Animoto can be used as a unique presentation avenue to stir the creative juices in development offices around the country.

Ponder's operating principles from FOAD

Today Rob and I attended the Fundamentals of Athletics Development (FOAD) session at NACDA. During this time we were able to dicuss the art of development with young fundraisers as well as hear some best practices from successful industry professionals. More posts on the knowledge shared during this session will come later, but here is a small sample.

Stephen Ponder, Senior Associate Athletics Director, Development and the Sun Devil Club at Arizona State University and , spoke on the first steps taken after breaking into the industry. In the conclusion of his speech, Ponder highlighted some of his operating principles, which follow:

• Be passionate about what you are doing
  • Ponder stated that as a fundraising professional, you cannot raise money if you are not passionate about your job. People will give to those who can display their passion for the school and also the position.

• Follow up with people
  • This was interesting as he commented that not only should donors be sent a follow up thank you, whoever gave you the contact should recieve one as well. This increases the lines of communication and keeps everyone on the same page.

• Know your priorities
  • Every development professional should be cognizant of what they are supposed to do every single day. Whether it is notes, calls, visits, or other duties, a fundraiser should know what they need to do.

• Customer service
  • Ponder emphasized that this is a crucial part of the operation, but it did not mean always telling the donor yes. It also means treating everyone with respect and in a way that shows you care. If a certain benefit occurs at one level, don’t bend the rules and provide it to lower levels. It diminishes your brand.