We created this landing page and video as part of our campaign execution for their 2012 membership campaign.

We created a landing page with a custom video as a part of our work the Bulldog Club’s 2012 campaign.

Pursuant Sports Announces Partnership with

Clemson University Athletics

USING DONOR INTELLIGENCE THROUGH SMARTDATA TO GENERATE GROWTH AND RETENTION

Pursuant Sports begins engagement with Clemson University Athletics to bring a data-driven, comprehensive fundraising strategy to the IPTAY program.

Client Profile
Clemson Athletics’ IPTAY (I Pay Ten A Year) membership program is one of the oldest collegiate athletic booster clubs in the nation. Widely considered to be the father of athletic fundraising, IPTAY is the heartbeat of Clemson Athletics. With more than 16,400 members strong, IPTAY is able to support and continue the growth of the Clemson athletic program. For more than 75 years, IPTAY has played a major role in providing student-athlete scholarships, as well as building and maintaining the facilities that are essential to Clemson Athletics.

“We have teamed up with Pursuant Sports to elevate our fundraising initiatives and increase awareness of our brand in IPTAY. Since working with Pursuant, we have truly ramped up our acquisition goals, taken a proactive data-analysis approach, and enhanced our IPTAY fundraising brand. Pursuant’s thought leadership through a comprehensive program has challenged us to change the way we speak to our donors.”
- Travis Furbee, Assistant Athletic Director/Director of IPTAY Annual Fund

Challenge
Even with a powerful fundraising history and a well-known brand, the Clemson Athletics staff desired to take a strong leap forward in maintaining their place as one of the premier collegiate fundraising departments in the country. Like many successful organizations, they face the issue of continued organizational growth. IPTAY needed to find ways to grow outside of their ticket base by bringing in new members and cultivating them into lifelong supporters, while at the same time stewarding their current core donors to growing levels of commitment.

Solution
Clemson Athletics engaged in Pursuant Sports’ Philanthropic GPS program, which took a deep dive into the organization’s fundraising history for a comprehensive analysis. Then, by utilizing SmartData analytics—a donor intelligence system that examines donor behavioral data—IPTAY will be able to use targeted messaging to current donors and non-donors. This messaging will be crucial to creating a lasting relationship with IPTAY’s members by speaking in ways that specifically resonate with them through multichannel communications. Pursuant Sports has begun Phase One with Clemson Athletics, developing a two-year comprehensive strategy that includes a direct response and online program, as well as a major membership acquisition campaign surrounding IPTAY Day this fall.

“It was important for our team to know where this amazing institution had been, so we could make informed recommendations as they move forward,” says Greg Colunga, lead consultant for Pursuant. “As a part of our data analysis, we found an expected strong loyalty to the IPTAY and Clemson brand, but a missing systemic and scalable way that they could identify, cultivate and upgrade donors from the lower levels of their file without giving them ticket packages in exchange for their philanthropic gifts. To grow quickly, the organization needed to invest in an infrastructure that could scale with them as they bring a more personalized experience with IPTAY and Clemson Athletics to their donor base moving forward. IPTAY was one of the original innovators of collegiate athletics when they started in 1934, and now they are looking to innovate again nearly 80 years later.”

Tell us how we can help create a comprehensive plan for fundraising success through our contact form.

Arizona Wildcats Bear Down on

Fundraising

Pursuant Sports’ creative campaign helped University of Arizona start a national movement

Client Profile
The University of Arizona Athletics is an integral part of the university and local community, boasting 19 teams and almost 500 student-athletes. Arizona provides exemplary leadership, world-class facilities and necessary support so that its student-athletes can compete with integrity while also achieving academic success.

Challenge
Arizona Athletics sought out Pursuant Sports to help grow their Wildcat Club membership base. For the effort to have a significant impact, however, the athletics department needed to broaden the donor base beyond the immediate radius of local game patrons.

The end goal was to substantially increase the number of participants in the Wildcat Club, a group whose gifts fund scholarships, facilities, equipment, team travel and other tools that help Arizona student-athletes succeed.

Solution
Pursuant Sports crafted a vibrant campaign that distributed creative media across several communication channels to invite nonmembers to join the Wildcat Movement. Going beyond traditional athletics fundraising, the Wildcat Movement was philanthropic—focusing on
developing loyalty to the program and dedication to the department’s mission.

The campaign featured a specially designed microsite, an award-winning video, engaging and consistent messaging, tools to drive traffic, and methods to effectively convert prospects into members. Pursuant Sports drew from the ticketing database, social media feeds, and the athletic director’s newsletter list to reach alumni, parents, locals and the extended fan base, even if they hadn’t attended the university.

Prospects received campaign emails inviting them to join the movement. Recipients could then click through to the microsite, watch the video, and give online. To maximize usability, Pursuant Sports used technology to pre-fill the online donation form with a recipient’s known information, along with a suggested gift amount. The website also captured valuable data that was provided to the telemarketing center so callers could follow up with the most promising donors.

The video, which captured the spirit and excitement of the athletic program, was also broadcast
on the scoreboard during games. Fans could then go to a mobile-optimized donation form
through which they could give directly from their phones.

The Wildcat Movement was an idea that extended beyond one campaign to become the ethos
of the entire athletic department.

Results
The Wildcat Movement resulted in more than 525 new members with revenue twice the amount invested in the campaign.

The Wildcat Club video won Pursuant a 2011 Telly Award, which honors outstanding commercials, online content and video production.

Tell us how we can help you acquire new donors through our contact form.

We created this landing page and video as part of a campaign for the Mississippi State Bulldog Club. 

We created this microsite and email campaign as part of our ongoing work with Oregon State University Athletics. Donors were inspired to give based on the stories of Oregon State’s student athletes. 

We created this fundraising website as part of ongoing campaign work with Tulane University. 

We created this virtual athletic guide for the University of Georgia men’s tennis program. 

We created a virtual athletic guide for the University of Georgia volleyball program. 

We created a virtual athletic guide for the University of Georgia men’s basketball program.