HSES: 886 Sports Fundraising

The callout box contains a scenario for you to consider. Drawing upon information in the textbook and using support from additional outside resources, craft a written response that addresses the questions therein.

The Context

You are the Associate Athletics Director for Fundraising at Hawksville University. The university has been monitoring the news and debate surrounding Native American team names and mascots and have elected to rebrand from the Blackhawks to the Meadowlarks (the state bird of Kansas) for the 2024 academic year.

Your marketing and branding team has estimated it will cost the university approximately two million dollars to rebrand and you’ve been directed to develop a fundraising campaign that will launch on August 1st, 2024 – the same day the university will be announcing the new university brand.

The Assignment

1. Research at least two other universities that have rebranded in the last twenty years. What was the fan reaction (positive and negative)? What can you learn from what they did to develop fundraising messages?

2. Propose a campaign name – why did you choose this and what are you hoping the initial reactions will be from people who hear/see the name?

3. Sketch out at least three different giving levels for the campaign – each level should have a name/title, amount, and specific benefits. You can see an example hereLinks to an external site.. https://williamsfund.com/levels-benefits/

4. Develop a script for your fundraising team to follow when angry donors call in to complain about changing the name. What will be the consistent message to communicate to these donors? Why did you choose this messaging?

5. Use Adobe Spark or Canva (free) to create a Twitter graphic you’ll put out on September 1st. Be sure to log in with your KU account so you have full access to Spark (details here).