Tell Me How The Boosters Work...

Collegefbfan

Collegefbfan

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First off, "boosters'" these days might be the wrong term. But how does it work? And explain it to me like I am 5. Like this is what I am thinking: A very successful businessman graduated from College X. A super pharmacist that starts a company graduated from the same college. So does a tech genius. And others that are/were very successful also graduated from College X.

Now, it is time for an upgrade to facilities, or the hiring of a great coach, or buying out of a sucky coach that needs to be gone. Does the college reach out to these successful financial graduates (boosters?) and say, "Hey, we need a lot of dollars to do such and such." Do these successful graduates care that much about college football? Is that how it works when it gets down to brass tacks? What do these "boosters" get out of it?

I am not trolling. This is one area of the sport that I am lost on.
 
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michaeljordan_fan said:
The only thing better than being rich is letting everyone else know you're rich
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I get this aspect of it. And not calling you or anyone else out in regards to this. But a very simple diehard fan like me, I am not gonna know the name of the boosters that forked over the dollars to put a putt putt course outside the locker room, or each player has his own personal massage chair, etc.
 
Not exactly sure how it works out financially or how they get it from the boosters. I guess wealthy people care that much about football and bragging rights for their school?

As far as what they get out of it.. I have heard boosters can get a say in coaching hiring/firing, they can get exclusive access to watch practice, they can sometimes travel on the team plane

That’s all I know


If you had a billion, wouldn’t you earmark a few million each year to help boost your favorite team?
 
Sgt Brutus said:
If you had a billion, wouldn’t you earmark a few million each year to help boost your favorite team?
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I’m not in the know on this other than what my old Red Raider golfing buddy has told me about what Tech has been trying to do.

I think what you stated is exactly a part of it is. There are some that have so much money they have to find a place for some of it… and one of those places needs to be of the “tax write off” ilk.

Here’s the other part from what I understand. I think NIL has consolidated many of the non BMDs into “collectives” as they are referred to now. Put together a thousand of those $1,000-10,000 boosters (use your term) and you have $1-10 million annually. Many alumni/boosters can afford to send in $100-500/month.

Say a school graduates 10,000 a year or 300,000 over a thirty year period. If only 5% (15,000) of that alumni group are willing to contribute $200/month to a collective that adds up to $36 million/year.

Here’s the kicker, smaller schools like Wake Forest don’t have near as large of an alumni base as Ohio State does. Smaller school, less graduates per year.
 
I can briefly explain my own experience which is similar to other people I know who have contributed at OU over the years. I started out fairly small with an annual contribution to the football program. I was a hot shot stock broker with some extra cash. Then it was a bigger contribution for a stadium expansion. Another big contribution to make changes to the field. $$$ for the baseball program to upgrade some stuff. More money for other programs that were asking for help. Fast forward to when I got married and my wife is an OU grad too so the idea of giving money was fine with her so long as we also gave to the academic side. That was fairly typical of most of my friends who are long time donors. Then it got to the point where we were being asked for money every time we turned around. Yeah some of us had done well in our careers but damn! I started getting that "funny feeling" about the time NIL reared its ugly head. I knew what was going to happen. So did a lot of other people I know. Some of us refuse to play the NIL game until there are some reasonable limits put on it. But the real problem is a transfer portal that allows a player to make a money grab and then go buy a bus ticket any time they want. My wife put her foot down and said she was only going to give to the academic side from now on. I am still willing to help with capital improvements, etc. but not NIL. I'm not the only one who feels like this. I know OU needs new blood to start writing checks if they want to run with the big dogs. Hell, I even got a request a couple of days ago to help pay for the Homecoming expenses at OU. WTF! There's no limit to it. It's like if you ever make one contribution to a political candidate you're going to be bombarded with requests for more contributions the rest of your life. The players did deserve some help but this system is a joke.
 
Goldbug said:
I can briefly explain my own experience which is similar to other people I know who have contributed at OU over the years. I started out fairly small with an annual contribution to the football program. I was a hot shot stock broker with some extra cash. Then it was a bigger contribution for a stadium expansion. Another big contribution to make changes to the field. $$$ for the baseball program to upgrade some stuff. More money for other programs that were asking for help. Fast forward to when I got married and my wife is an OU grad too so the idea of giving money was fine with her so long as we also gave to the academic side. That was fairly typical of most of my friends who are long time donors. Then it got to the point where we were being asked for money every time we turned around. Yeah some of us had done well in our careers but damn! I started getting that "funny feeling" about the time NIL reared its ugly head. I knew what was going to happen. So did a lot of other people I know. Some of us refuse to play the NIL game until there are some reasonable limits put on it. But the real problem is a transfer portal that allows a player to make a money grab and then go buy a bus ticket any time they want. My wife put her foot down and said she was only going to give to the academic side from now on. I am still willing to help with capital improvements, etc. but not NIL. I'm not the only one who feels like this. I know OU needs new blood to start writing checks if they want to run with the big dogs. Hell, I even got a request a couple of days ago to help pay for the Homecoming expenses at OU. WTF! There's no limit to it. It's like if you ever make one contribution to a political candidate you're going to be bombarded with requests for more contributions the rest of your life. The players did deserve some help but this system is a joke.
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I hadn’t been out of college a couple months when the requests for donations started coming. I worked my way through engineering school and it was tough. I sent them a letter asking them to never ask again and they haven’t. Yeah I could do some things now but no one helped me when I needed it. They can figure it out like I had to.
 
Goldbug said:
There's no limit to it. It's like if you ever make one contribution to a political candidate you're going to be bombarded with requests for more contributions the rest of your life. The players did deserve some help but this system is a joke.
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I'm hearing the term "donor fatigue" more and more. At least from the old guard.
 
Deep Creek said:
I'm hearing the term "donor fatigue" more and more. At least from the old guard.
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I get you. I have worked in the fund-raising arm of a non-profit before. The mantra is to keep asking until they say no. A certain percentage will drop out at each level, but the remaining donors will be enough to make the ask worthwhile.

*volunteer
 
Kburjr said:
I get you. I have worked in the fund-raising arm of a non-profit before. The mantra is to keep asking until they say no. A certain percentage will drop out at each level, but the remaining donors will be enough to make the ask worthwhile.

*volunteer
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There is a benefit to building a huge number of small donors compared to a small number of large donors. But damn, some of those large donors are VERY LARGE!

I think if I was an AD at a school like Stanford, I'd be tempted to Tiger Woods to fund Men's and Women's golf by himself. Doubt it would make a dent in his net worth. Same for UT asking Scheffler and Spieth to fund the rusty cow golf programs.
 
I can tell you that it changes over time, and the alumni association always tries to get you early on for just a minimal amount. The base fundraising starts with the annual monthly donations, that's where most of the work gets done. When there is a larger expenditure needed the high level donors are the ones that get contacted first. When I was just a Century member I would get the calls a couple of times a year to renew my pledge and see if there is anything additional I'd like to do a one-off donation for. As you move up in the annual donation hierarchy you get a lot of extra perks but with that comes a lot more sales pitches, and I equate them with timeshare pitches. It's nice getting to glad hand with the players and the coaches, but there's always a 'while we have you here...' aspect to it. I'm not a high enough donor to get the personal call from Aggie VIP's to be the namesake donor for something but have heard about it from friends.
 
Many thanks. I was wondering about the tax write off part. Yeah, and the NIL part has to suck. I would be pissed if I was giving money for FSU to get DJ Ewweyuglyday, and he turn out like he has in Tallahassee. Or any other player there.
 
Collegefbfan said:
Many thanks. I was wondering about the tax write off part. Yeah, and the NIL part has to suck. I would be pissed if I was giving money for FSU to get DJ Ewweyuglyday, and he turn out like he has in Tallahassee. Or any other player there.
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Tax write off is a big part of it, the NIL tax write off ability is still a very gray area though. The way I look at NIL is the same as season tickets. Would I be pissed if I dropped thousands on season tickets in any given sport and the team sucks ass? Of course. But will I keep buying them in hopes that the product gets better? Most likely. NIL is the same. You aren't donating to get guaranteed success, but the hope that things work out.
 
Collegefbfan said:
First off, "boosters'" these days might be the wrong term. But how does it work? And explain it to me like I am 5. Like this is what I am thinking: A very successful businessman graduated from College X. A super pharmacist that starts a company graduated from the same college. So does a tech genius. And others that are/were very successful also graduated from College X.

Now, it is time for an upgrade to facilities, or the hiring of a great coach, or buying out of a sucky coach that needs to be gone. Does the college reach out to these successful financial graduates (boosters?) and say, "Hey, we need a lot of dollars to do such and such." Do these successful graduates care that much about college football? Is that how it works when it gets down to brass tacks? What do these "boosters" get out of it?

I am not trolling. This is one area of the sport that I am lost on.
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I think many things motivate booster:

-Ego like @michaeljordan_fan said
-Tax benefits
-Legacy... as in having a facility named after you
-Sometimes booster go together and pool their money
-And lastly, with NIL there is now the potential to look at this like it's an investment or return for services. (I pay you 100k and you endorse my product and company)
 
PeoplesChicken said:
I think many things motivate booster:

-Ego like @michaeljordan_fan said
-Tax benefits
-Legacy... as in having a facility named after you
-Sometimes booster go together and pool their money
-And lastly, with NIL there is now the potential to look at this like it's an investment or return for services. (I pay you 100k and you endorse my product and company)
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Legacy also for getting your kid accepted.
 
fordman84 said:
Tax write off is a big part of it, the NIL tax write off ability is still a very gray area though. The way I look at NIL is the same as season tickets. Would I be pissed if I dropped thousands on season tickets in any given sport and the team sucks ass? Of course. But will I keep buying them in hopes that the product gets better? Most likely. NIL is the same. You aren't donating to get guaranteed success, but the hope that things work out.
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Oh yeah for sure. With season tickets, I would go to the game, tailgate, drink, take in the scenery, drink some more, watch the game, drink a little more. Have a good time.
 
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