Fundraising and Recruiting: University Tandem

Who ever would have imagined the similarities in recruiting for coaches and those of the development office. I certainly have been on both sides, both as the recruit and the recruiter. In recruiting anyone there is always cultivation, solicitation, and the ask. The article poses the question: Can an effective fund-raiser become an effective recruiter? I believe that in order to work in college athletics you must be able to do both. As a coach, at times you may be playing both roles of recruiting a donor to campaign for a capital project such as a new facility and also at the same time recruiting an athlete. You also are recruiting an athlete based on the tangibles that your university has to offer: uniforms, facilities, support-staff and notoriety. As a major gift officer or AD, you will work with the coach to get all of things accomplished. Lastly, all of these things can be measured by the success of your sports teams as the window to the university or college.

The article mentions 11 criterions in the recruiting process:

1. Pool of Prospects: As a coach you may start with a wide pool of athletes that have both recruited you and that you have seen at tournaments, seen video of etc. Working in development, you could potentially have a database of past alumni, student-athletes, and those that have given to the university on your own. You may also be soliciting fortune 500/1000 companies in your area.
2. Qualifying the pool of prospects: As a coach you could create a pool of your top 100 players based on both your needs and theirs. As a DII or DIII school even though you may want a High School All-American, is recruiting them worth your time and resources knowing they will probably go to a top ten program? The same can be said in the prospecting phase of campaigning for a capital project? You may create a list of prospects for your project but would do best to eliminate those that only have interest in what you are funding for.
3. Ability and Fit: As a coach you may have certain standards or playing style, will this player fit? The same applies in the fundraising process; you will not want to add someone to a list for a $1 million dollar ask when their capacity is only $100 dollars.
4. Contact the prospect: I know that coaches send hundreds of pieces of mail to potential recruits so that they can gage what players to actually go for. In development, you may invite a prospect to a game, special event, or even go to lunch with them depending on what your budget and needs are.
5. Research the prospect: As a coach, you can go to a player’s game, watch video and contact their coach to find out information about a player. In development, you can get in touch with your respective foundation to do a report about a potential donor. They have the capacity to find out about their giving capacity, what they do for a living, any affiliations they have with the university, past giving history etc. I know this has been a great tool used in the development office I currently work in.
6. Personal Contact: For a coach, this can be done through an official/unofficial visit. These visits can determine how potential players fit with the teams values and mission. In development, this is known as a contact visit and can take place during a lunch, visit to the home, dinner or special event and is known as the solicitation stage.
7. Personal Connections: Recruiting is always about personal connections. As a coach a player may want to come to the school because of its success, a parent may be an alumni or previous student-athlete. There are often many reasons. In development there are also the same kind of personal connections. Maybe you were an alumnus (as is the most case) and you want to give back to your university or you are a company who wants to get involved in your local community. If you can make the personal connection between the potential prospects you have a good chance in getting them to contribute to your needs.
8. Personal Visit/Ask: When you feel that you have built on a connection with the potential prospect, it is time for the ask. Maybe you have lunch with the player and then ask them if they would like to be a part of your program. The same will go for a major gifts officer, where you may ask them to give a lead gift of $2+ million dollars for a capital campaign.
9. Stewardship: After a player commits to your program you may will want them to follow up with them. A players often wants to know that the coach is excited for them to be a member of the program. In development, if you give a lead gift, you could send them a personalized thank you card from a coach or a gift package as a thank you.
10. The continuous process: As the article states, a coach’s job is never done. I remember my coach always stating that the four years always go by so fast and soon she would be building relationships with other players. The same is true in development; you will be working on one capital project to begin another. At the University of Minnesota, they just finished a campaign for a new football stadium and are now working on baseball stadium and basketball practice facility.


After doing this due diligence analysis project fundraising and recruiting are very similar. To get back to he question, there is a symbiotic relationship between fundraising and recruiting and working together to get things accomplished. I believe that is why coaches especially in football, go towards athletic administration when they would like to have a career change.