Successful Fund-Raising in Athletics
by Fred Oien, JFSG Consultant and Former Athletic Director at South Dakota State University
Athletic development activities are a perfect "snapshot" of a development model. Such activities include the development of a donor base through identifying individuals and institutions who have shown an interest in the program through event attendance, single athletic event ticket purchases, and season ticket orders. Loading the bases with potential donors requires diligent data base management and a moves management strategy, which includes stewardship. Typically ticket priority and seat licensing are used to move these groups to initiate their first and subsequent annual gifts.
Annual donors, consequently, require a specific set of stewardship strategies to increase their annual gifts, and long-term relationship building can lead to potential major gifts and eventually potential endowed and planned giving. Regular communication with annual donors should include strategies such as donor recognition, thank you acknowledgements, publications, targeted event invites and personal contacts.
Over time, consistent relationship building will result in a higher probability of major, endowed and planned gifts. The opportunities for a successful capital campaign are a direct result of an athletic department's diligence and patience. An analysis of lifetime giving, increased giving over time and understanding the capacity of the donor to make a capital campaign gift ensures improving the success of a campaign.
As a former athletic director, I believe that transitioning donors from annual gifts to major gifts requires a full history of the donor. In almost all cases, our major gifts came from donors with a long history of supporting the program. These major gifts were the result of working with individual donors over several decades and over several athletic directors' leadership. Continuity in development officers and athletic leadership was a significant factor in our major gift solicitations.
My best experiences as an athletic director occurred after we made the decision to be a fund-raiser for the university and not just the athletic department. Our association and assistance paid us multiple dividends. For example, SDSU Athletics just received a gift of $2.8 million due to the work of the planned giving officer in the development office, with whom we had limited contact. And, athletic development brought gifts to the SDSU Art Museum of over $300,000 from an athletic contact with an interest outside our domain. Multiple asks in proposals became our theme, and donors really seemed to respond well.
Athletic departments that take this approach will gain so much more from significant donors who also want to help their university.
