Hello Huskies!
 
During my many interactions with our fan base, a large number of supporters ask "How is NIU Athletics weathering the challenges of state and campus budget reductions?"  As an answer to that question, and in order to highlight some of our success stories in this area, this month's Frazier's Corner is dedicated to the importance of revenue generation and the key pillars of our fundraising efforts.

As we recap and review our fundraising efforts in 2017-18, you will see in some of the charts and graphs below how the revenue generation initiatives and improvements we have made over the last five years have moved NIU Athletics forward, allowing us to grow the brand and expand our resources. Many of these initiatives were developed specifically to be self-sustaining, with potential for growth.  While I am proud of the progress we have made, it is time to take the next steps.
 
 
First, I want to share some recent advancements in the area of revenue generation for NIU Athletics. Since the launch of the CAMPAIGN TO SUSTAIN initiative at the 2017 Victor E. Ball, we (YOU), have officially raised over $1,000,000 in support of Huskie student-athletes and our programs!  I could not be more proud and grateful to all of you who have generously stepped up to the challenge. With another round of significant budget cuts mandated for 2018-19 for athletics, we certainly aren't out of the woods, but we appreciate the unwavering support you have given to our department.
 
The second round of great news comes from Dave and Linda Nelson, as they have officially committed a lead gift of $250,000 toward the CAMPAIGN TO SUSTAIN! Their amazing commitment to this campaign, and in particular to the renovation of the Nelson Club, speak volumes about their passion for NIU and their dedication to ensuring we have great success for many years to come.  The Nelsons feel strongly about wanting the "Club" to be a place for Huskie fans.  We are excited about being able to upgrade the premium experience in the Convocation Center for our fans, and are optimistic the vision the Nelsons helped create will provide an opportunity for others to engage with NIU Basketball and other events in the facility.   

 

 

 














On the endowment side, we continue to make progress.  A few weeks ago, we received a commitment of $75,000 from a former letterwinner to endow a men's golf scholarship. This is in addition to two $75,000 Cost of Attendance scholarships, and a $100,000 scholarship toward women's tennis we received recently. Watch the videos below to hear more about two of these generous gifts and the motivation behind them.  I love the momentum we are seeing with our endowments, as this undoubtedly helps "sustain" our programs for years to come.


 


These are just a few snapshots of what is currently being finalized on the fundraising side. I hope to share more updates like this with you in the near future!
  
We are making headway in other revenue areas as well. With an increased focus on giving for scholarships and  Cost of Attendance through this year's Huskie Athletic Fund drive, we have increased donations by more than 236 percent since last year. Our premium seat sales have increased 16 percent year-over-year and our teams have raised more than $260,000 that directly supports our sport programs. We have a large number of donations in hand for the Nutrition Center, with a number of pledges committed toward this important project. Personally, I hope we can complete this project as soon as possible as it will have tremendous impact on our student-athletes.
 

 













FOUR PILLARS OF ATHLETICS FUNDRAISING
 
NIU Athletics has been able to remain stable during a time of tremendous financial challenges thanks to YOU, our tremendous Huskie supporters.  During the past few years we have aggressively shifted our focus away from traditional fundraising models with a targeted approach to subsidize budgetary shortfalls based on necessity, so that we can ensure athletic and academic success. With your encouragement and contributions, we have centered our Huskie Athletics fundraising efforts around four key components, or pillars. 
 
Pillar #1 – Annual Giving
The HAF annual fund is absolutely critical to our overall athletics operation. At its core, the funds generated through our annual fund gives our department financial flexibility to cover a wide array of operational expenses. I cannot stress enough how important this area is for us.  Due to the unrestricted nature of these gifts, it also provides us the ability to take advantage of unique opportunities for the department should that situation arise.
 

 
As a department, we have a number of initiatives and needs for our programs. With a strong unrestricted annual fund, we have the ability to continue to move our programs forward once we cover our basic operational needs. We really need to see this area thrive. As a result, we will roll out a "Drive for 25" campaign aimed directly at increasing the number of contributors to NIU Athletics with the goal of reaching 2,500 members. Historically, we have hovered around 1,200 to 1,300 Huskie Athletic Fund members, and now is the time to be aggressive in this area to uncover new Huskie supporters in the months and years ahead.  I will certainly share more about the "Drive for 25" in the coming months.   
 
Pillar #2 – Victor E. Ball
Victor E. Ball, our premier fundraising event, puts a face on our Cost of Attendance fundraising initiatives. As I have said before, this event was born out of need and it is critical to providing Cost of Attendance resources to our student-athletes if we hope to continue to be competitive both nationally and within the MAC.  We were so fortunate to partner for a fantastic event at the NIU Naperville campus in April. The appearances by Chicago sports stars Dan Hampton, Bill Buckner, Bill Wennington, along with NIU alum and panel host Barry Rozner, not to mention our fantastic student-athletes, made the night one to remember.

I thought this was the best Victor E. Ball yet, and from a financial perspective, it absolutely was as we netted more than $170,000 for Cost of Attendance!  Thank you to everyone who made this year's event such a tremendous success.       
 
Pillar #3 – Gift-In-Kind
Gift-In-Kind donations consist of donated services or items that would normally be purchased by the NIU Athletics Department.  Examples of these donations include our wonderful apartment partners, numerous food and beverages providers, our generous wheels/car program contributors, an incredible nutrition supplier, printing and event assistance, additional training facilities for our teams, and so much more. We have been fortunate to have so many longstanding partnerships and, quite frankly, genuine friendships, in this area. The support we receive through Gift-In-Kind cannot be overlooked.
 
In a time when state and university resources are at a premium, Gift-In-Kind donations are of tremendous value as it helps minimize our operating expenses.  More importantly, it allows us to focus our spending on our student-athletes.
 
We are proud to share that we generated more than $550,000 in Gift-In-Kind donations in 2017-18. 
 
Pillar #4 – Huskies Invest 
Huskies Invest: A Week of Giving is about supporting the most fundamental and important part of our athletic department and that is the student-athletes. This week is special as it allows us to shine a spotlight on our student-athletes across every program, and ask Huskie Nation to help us grow.  Throughout the week, we capture videos and stories focused on the student-athletes telling their story.
 
This past November, we saw 175 donors contribute $115,000 during Huskies Invest: A Week of Giving.  Looking ahead to this fall, we are looking at November 5-9 to once again hold this key initiative.  Our student-athletes are the reason we do what we do, and we want you to get to know them even better as we feature them in 2018-19.    
 
MOVE TO PHILANTHROPY
 
One of the keys for us as a department moving forward is the idea of philanthropic giving. While we truly appreciate the level of giving we currently receive from our wonderful supporters, much of which would be considered transactional in nature, we need to transition to philanthropic giving. For us to truly thrive, we need to shift our mindset to focus on what is important and that is the benefits that come with transforming the lives of our Huskie student-athletes.
 
OTHER REVENUE GENERATION
 
In addition to the Huskie Athletic Fund, here are a few more examples of our ongoing revenue generation efforts in other areas of the department.  As you can see, we have realized a 427 percent increase from these additional revenue streams since 2013.
 
 CONVOCATION EVENTS

• Secured the bid to keep the IESA state wrestling tournament at NIU for an additional five years.
• Secured three Jehovah Witness convention weekends for FY19. This will bring approximately $15,000.00 in additional revenue to the facility and 9,000 people to the community.
• Confirmed two additional cheer competitions for FY19. We have six total cheer and dance competitions scheduled for 2018-19.
• Added Illinois Math and Science Academy to the high school graduation line-up. The Convocation Center is now home to 16 graduations. High school graduations bring approximately 70,000 people to campus and DeKalb community.

 
HUSKIE SPORTS PROPERTIES/LEARFIELD

• Huskie Sports Properties hit goal of $1.11M (first time in NIU history).
• Signed 11 new multi-year agreements in 2017-18, an increase of 45%.
• Added 26 new partners – a 46% increase - totaling $254,089 in new revenue.
• Saw a 68.9% increase in revenue over last year.
• Manager- Business Development, hit both New Business and Total Sales Goals for 2017-18.

 
TICKETING

• Successfully hosted 2017 IHSA football finals, which drew 24,600 people to Huskie Stadium and generated $262,980 in ticket revenue.
• Successfully hosted 2018 IHSA basketball super-sectionals which drew a combined 5,400 fans and generated $54,400 in ticket revenue.
• As of May 15, 2018; have renewed 77% of 2018 football season tickets, which has already surpassed last years' final renewal rate of 72%.

 
MARKETING

• Increased paid attendance for women's basketball by 16% in 2017-18
• For the second year in a row, Women's Basketball saw increased attendance at Education Day as three new schools, including one from inner city Chicago, attended. School tickets sold increased by 14%.

 
I know this is a lot of information to digest but overall, I hope you get the sense that thanks to a variety of initiatives across multiple areas, revenue generation at NIU IS on the upswing. We have a dedicated group of staff members who meet regularly and are specifically focused on this critical aspect of our department. Despite continuing budget challenges and cuts, we have a lot to look forward to thanks to our student-athletes, hard-working staff and our great base of Huskie supporters, which we look forward to building on and most of all, increasing in 2018-19! 
 
If you want to get involved in any of the pillars mentioned above, please, feel free to call the Huskie Athletic Fund Office at 815-753-1923 or go online to HuskieAthleticFund.com.
 
Thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful summer!
 
Go Huskies!
 


 


Sean T. Frazier
Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics