JUNE 1994
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 10 / $5.00
PhilanthropvJoumal
Philanthropic edge
Sports a winning pitch for fundraisers
From charity golf tournaments to
weekend tailgate parties,
sports events offer a key strate-
^ to boost fundraising by North
Carolina nonprofits. Experts
say people are becoming more
sophisticated about using
sports as a way to bring in
donors.
By Barbara Solow
P feiffer College Campaign
Director Cindy Benson
knows she faces a challenge
in attracting potential donors to
campus.
“We’re not exact
ly on the main drag
in Charlotte,” she
says of the school’s
location in Misen-
heimer - about 35
miles northeast of
the city.
But Pfeiffer has
an advantage that
other area schools
might not share.
The men’s bas
ketball team, the
Falcons, has gone to
the national champi
onships for the last
four years. And one
of the school’s re
cent graduates - Antonio Harvey -
has been playing with the Los
Ang^s Lakers.
“When you have a good team, it’s
w
A.
4^-
r V
I
FIELDING
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SPOHSANDeiVlHG
SPECIAL REPORT
like a snowball,” Benson says.
“Sports allows you to show off your
campus and gets outsiders to come
in and see what’s going on. Every
time you have an opportunity to do
that, you are one step closer to get
ting a donation.”
Her experience is echoed by
fundraisers throughout North
Carolina who see sports and philan
thropy as a winning combination.
From booster club outings to
charity golf and tennis tournaments,
sports play an important role in non
profit fundraising — a role that
experts say is likely to grow as com
petition tor donors increases.
Strategies
vary depend
ing on whe
ther the spon
sor is a uni
versity, non
profit hospi
tal or corpo
rate giving
program.
While some
organizations
raise money
directly from
ticket sales
from sports
events, others
use indirect
means such
Sports and
philanthropy are a
team. This special
report examines;
• High school
boosters. Page 8.
• Small colleges.
Page 14.
• Professional
sports. Page 12.
• Special Olympics.
Page 4.
as inviting key donors to tailgate
parties or scheduling fundraising
meetings around home games.
Look for SPORTS, page 22
Major leaguers
College booster clubs raise big-time dollars
Entities that support college sports
are evolving into sophisticated
fundraising organizations at
large and small schools through
out North Carolina.
By David E. Brown
/ t is not curing cancer. It is not
closing the curtain on world
hunger.
But it is perhaps the most overtly
passionate form of philanthropy.
And it can fluctuate literally on the
way a ball bounces.
Its devotees are given to blood
curdling screams, and dressing
funny. They schedule board meet
ings and family affairs around the
organized gut-checks and acrobatics
of young men known as intercolle
giate athletes.
Big, big money is involved in what
traditionally have been called “boo
ster clubs”- groups that are evolving
at large and small schools into
sophisticated foundations.
For the most part, funding for col
lege sports is a cycle that stays with-
in the realm of the
^ school’s Depart-
* * * ment of Balls and
Bats: Checks are
written tor scholar-
ships to attract
game-players of re
cognized potential
whose degree of
success on the field
or the court helps
determine how big
the next round of
I checks will be.
As booster or
ganizations grow.
FIELDING
DREAMS
mBAND GIVING
SPECIAL REPOItr
Wake Forest grad Arnold Palmer
they all have at least a stated goal of
sharing some of the wealth with the
academic side of the house — partic
ularly at a time when athletic depart
ments are fighting a public percep
tion that these energetic pastimes
have become too big a business.
In the older programs, it’s already
happening. At the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for
example, the Edncational Foundation
- also known as the Ram’s Club - has
helped endow professorships and
bail out a library in a financial pinch.
At smaller schools such as UNC-
Charlotte, it’s an ideal.
“We’ve not been in a position to
make contributions to the university’s
scholarship fund,” says Forty-Niner
Club Director Bob Young. “But we
hope to be in that position one day.”
Look for COLLEGE, page 21
Getting involved
MMs family
mixes work,
philanthropy
In building a successful hosiery
business, the Millis family of
Hi^ Point helped build its com
munity. Philanthropy, in the
Millis philosophy, is pmi: of doing
business and being civic leaders.
By David E. Brown
High Point
/ n the latter years of the 19th
century, men who didn’t start
with much were shaping a
booming mill town around a hi^ spot
on the rail line in North Carolina’s
industrious midsection.
As High Point began to grow
around the factories, the people who
made it big were elbow to elbow with
those who just got by, and they were
well aware of the relatively few cir
cumstances that separated them.
The needs in the community were
easy to see, and they hit home.
Charity was an important element of
successful business to those who
would establish their families as the
town’s leaders.
Jim Millis followed his grandfather
and his father as the head of one of
the largest hosiery manufacturers in
the town once known as the world
hosiery capital. By the time he came
home to the mill from World War II
and college, the community expected
-PROFILE
as
something more than socks from the
Millis family.
“You get asked to get involved in a
lot of things,” he says, “and fortunate
ly I had the opportunity to plan my
business time so I could get involved.”
'The mill that started as Hi^ Point
Hosiery in 1904 now is in the hands of
Sara Lro Corp., the giant nonpareil of
the industry, and Jim Millis worries
that it will be harder for the “sons and
grandsons” of his generation to stay
interested in local philanthropy as the
family-owned businesses are sold to
outsiders.
Millis tries to limit his worrying,
though. He wants a visitor to the
offices of the James H. and Jesse E.
Millis Foundation to know right up
front that he is enjoying himself very
much ri^t now. He’s long past fret
ting about the possibility of boredom
in retirement.
He and Jesse keep tabs on 17
grandchildren and a growing 5-year-
Look for MILLIS, page 21
poiiiDFifs^'
Connections 3
Foundations 6
Grants and Gifts 17
In June 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
R.S.VR 16
Professional Services... 18
■ A
Weaving a living
All in the family
Volunteers shelved
Making airwaves
800 Eastern North Carolina
As the Council on
ipUrl^fi
After criticizing the library
After losing state funding.
residents who otherwise
Foundations studies family
director, a volunteer
public radio stations are
might be on welfare are
foundations, leaders call for
group was asked not to
trying innovative ways to
making it on their own pro-
linking family and commu-
handle Wake County's
solicit financial support.
ducing and selling hand
made crafts.
nity foundations.
annual book sale.
• Page 4
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• Page 8
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