- Joined
- Aug 29, 2011
- Messages
- 266
- Reaction Score
- 1,095
As the ideas for the Thank You to Coach Calhoun were passed around (billboard, bronze statue, etc.), the board was pretty disorganized with the proper direction to take. While the pledge amount kept rising, there were no actual donations made and people were a bit frustrated with the organization for the most appropriate way to say thanks to Coach Calhoun.
In the end, what we have done here is nothing short of amazing! Bringing in more than 30K for the cardiology center is more than most forums could possibly imagine, and given the new ideas coming in for future donations I think we need to get a bit more organized and plan to up the ante.
Suggestions:
-Set a new goal, most people don't like to give to something that is already fully funded. I think we can push this to 50K!
-Create a Facebook page and use it as a window into our donation page with the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center. We can use North Social apps for a very low fee that will allow us to get an extra viral push with the donations. Directing people from outside the Boneyard to a forum may be a little low brow and untrustworthy for some, and using facebook as a window may give a little more street cred. I worry about sending people directly to our donation page with the cardiology center, because at a minimum we should drive people to a page to market the Boneyard and increase our user base.
-Work with the cardiology center to have creative donation options. There was a post about donating for every win and it is a terrific idea! Lets see if we can "can" some of those options on our donation page to make it easier for people to give bigger donations.
-Ground game: Print out simple fliers explaining our thank you to coach, and have a couple of 'yarders hand them out to people as they enter the stadium.
-Email game: Talk to the people at the cardiology center to see if they have email captures for our campaign so we can go back to current donors and hit them (me included) up one more time before we present the donation (giant check anyone)
-Media game: What we have done here is newsworthy and we should attempt to use that as leverage to reach out to new donors through the media. Give them a direct link and some guidance on a story to write to help us reach a broader audience. I work for a company that sells media databases. While the local people are easy to find, I can easily generate a national media list for us to get our story out. Going national may be a far cry, but at a bare minimum we should get the CT reporters on board to help us out.
-Create an end date - We can't keep this open ended. An end date for the campaign (end of season) will help us generate urgency. We can also then have a formal presentation of the donation, maybe even get Coach Calhoun there for it.
Sorry for the incredibly long post, but what we've done is great and I think there is more juice for us to squeeze out. Lets not rest on our laurels now! I'm more than happy to spearhead the organization but don't know our contacts at the cardiology center and who has been running this for the Boneyard. Anyone game?
In the end, what we have done here is nothing short of amazing! Bringing in more than 30K for the cardiology center is more than most forums could possibly imagine, and given the new ideas coming in for future donations I think we need to get a bit more organized and plan to up the ante.
Suggestions:
-Set a new goal, most people don't like to give to something that is already fully funded. I think we can push this to 50K!
-Create a Facebook page and use it as a window into our donation page with the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center. We can use North Social apps for a very low fee that will allow us to get an extra viral push with the donations. Directing people from outside the Boneyard to a forum may be a little low brow and untrustworthy for some, and using facebook as a window may give a little more street cred. I worry about sending people directly to our donation page with the cardiology center, because at a minimum we should drive people to a page to market the Boneyard and increase our user base.
-Work with the cardiology center to have creative donation options. There was a post about donating for every win and it is a terrific idea! Lets see if we can "can" some of those options on our donation page to make it easier for people to give bigger donations.
-Ground game: Print out simple fliers explaining our thank you to coach, and have a couple of 'yarders hand them out to people as they enter the stadium.
-Email game: Talk to the people at the cardiology center to see if they have email captures for our campaign so we can go back to current donors and hit them (me included) up one more time before we present the donation (giant check anyone)
-Media game: What we have done here is newsworthy and we should attempt to use that as leverage to reach out to new donors through the media. Give them a direct link and some guidance on a story to write to help us reach a broader audience. I work for a company that sells media databases. While the local people are easy to find, I can easily generate a national media list for us to get our story out. Going national may be a far cry, but at a bare minimum we should get the CT reporters on board to help us out.
-Create an end date - We can't keep this open ended. An end date for the campaign (end of season) will help us generate urgency. We can also then have a formal presentation of the donation, maybe even get Coach Calhoun there for it.
Sorry for the incredibly long post, but what we've done is great and I think there is more juice for us to squeeze out. Lets not rest on our laurels now! I'm more than happy to spearhead the organization but don't know our contacts at the cardiology center and who has been running this for the Boneyard. Anyone game?