I’m not a big social media user. I have a grand total of 15 wonderful people who follow me on Twitter @TheRealJohnHook. But I do get emailed notices from Twitter when something is posted that their algorithms believe I’ll be interested in. I must admit that occasionally the algorithm is right and I will click on the link.
Last Wednesday afternoon I clicked on such a link. The official Twitter feed of Penn State University Head Football Coach James Franklin sent out a tweet that read in part:
We need EVERYONE locked in on being 1-0 in the NIL race. There is power in our #750kLivingAlumni & we need everyone to take PRIDE & COMPETE NOW. Let’s do this together Nittany Nation.
Donate to @HappyValleyUtd & help us compete TODAY! #WeAre
The gist of the message being, to my mind, that if every one of the 750,000 Penn State alums donated to the NIL collective, then Penn State could be No. 1 in the NIL race. “NIL” is the NCAA’s Name, Image & Likeness policy that allows student-athletes to engage in activities – such as making money from endorsement deals, social media, personal appearances and signing autographs – that are in accordance with the laws of the state where their schools are located.
This tweet followed on the heels of a series of pieces Ben Jones wrote on StateCollege.com from interviews with Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft. One of the topics covered in those columns was the various athletic facility upgrades that the Penn State Board of Trustees approved two months ago. And although Kraft stated, “I would say about half the money is raised for most of the facilities,” he later followed that with, “If we can’t raise the money – you can’t put a shovel in the ground.”
The primary point is fundraising. There are 1.8 million nonprofits in the United States, and just about all of them need to raise money to exist and serve their missions. Meaning you are probably the regular recipient of fundraising appeals, including the two above – Penn State NIL and Penn State athletics.
I have worked in the nonprofit sector for almost 25 years and fundraising is a tough business. As with a number of things, there are many ways to do it. But what works once usually doesn’t work twice. The well-known grassroots campaign that raised millions through viral social media and small donations is the one out of 100,000 that clicked. Everyone tries to imitate it and almost all fail.
The “if everyone gave money” fundraising tactic above is another method, but in my experience it’s usually not very successful. One method that generally has a decent success rate is the fundraising “match,” where people give money knowing that whatever amount they give will be matched by someone or something. People know their donation is doubling, which makes them feel better about it. And it’s often a more successful method when the matched money is coming from a person. Because, as odd as it sounds, there are those who will give because they like the person who is matching and want to support the cause, but also because there are those who don’t like the person who is matching and they want to make that person pay up.
Penn State has been in the fundraising business for many years and has created whole teams of people dedicated to identifying prospects, qualifying them, answering their questions, overcoming their objections and getting them to give. Just last year they closed out their “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence” having raised $2.166 billion. That seems like a successful effort!
But, this is a new era in college athletics, and according to those who run the show, Penn State needs to be a “player” financially if it expects to be a winner on the field, court, rink, diamond, etc. Meaning Penn State athletics needs to raise a lot of money – significantly more than it ever has in its past. Unprecedented amounts of money. And that’s if they just renovate the steel erector set that is Beaver Stadium rather than replacing it.
Now, the new Big Ten media rights agreement will start dumping tens of millions more dollars in Penn State athletics’ lap in the next few years. That’s helpful. And obviously, James Franklin and Pat Kraft are putting out the call for help. But this may be the time to pull out all the proverbial stops, to do everything humanly possible to ensure athletic financial success.
Here are some thoughts on that. Maybe it’s time Penn State gets the elephant in the room out.
What would happen to Penn State athletics fundraising if they called the football stadium Paterno Field at Beaver Stadium and put the statue back? I hear the crowds erupt at home games every time Paterno’s image appears on the jumbotrons.
This Thursday will be five years to the day when then-University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi announced she was removing Papa John’s name from their football stadium and just calling it Cardinal Stadium. At the time President Bendapudi said it was her prerogative and her responsibility to make that decision.
If this truly is a time to pull out all stops and do everything humanly possible to help the athletic department raise money, does Penn State President Bendapudi want to use her prerogative and her responsibility to, instead of removing a name from a stadium, put one on instead? From conversations I’ve heard, people want to talk about this.
