Pride

Short post today - I have spent a good part of the last couple of days watching the various conference basketball tournaments. One theme runs through almost all of them - pride. For a small number of schools that pride will lead to a national championship every few years. For the vast majority of schools, and there are 350 or so Division I Men's basketball teams that pride is associate with making the NCAA tournament. For most of those schools, be they winners of the Patriot, Horizon, WAC, Mountain West or one of the many other smaller conferences, there is a huge opportunity and value associated with that TV time created by the tournament.

That pride doesn't lead directly to gifts - but it does lead to interest. It likely is the difference between the next mailing hitting the circular file unopened and landing in the basket of mail to be checked this weekend with the bills. So how do you leverage that pride? Social media ads would be one easy, quick and cheap way to do so, as is email or a voice broadcast message. Make sure that your constituents are aware of the success - and pair it with a message that connects back to your mission. Make sure everyone knows when your team will be on national or regional tv and in that message, let them know that your team completed 1,000 hours of community service in the off season working with the elderly or that your coach has created a scholarship for disadvantaged youth who are academically qualified. Whatever your mission message is tie it into the story of the team.

Their pride has their attention, your mission will get their money.