From the Nominator

In August of 2019, the Cougar Athletic Fund launched the Pledge Per Win Campaign, designed to engage and motivate alumni and football season ticket holders to support above and beyond their annual contributions in a fun, unique way without using limited departmental financial resources. The campaign offered the opportunity for alumni and fans to make a "Pledge per Win" for each Cougar Football victory. In addition, we took the pledge one step further and encouraged participants to "Double their Impact" by contributing twice their pledged amount for an Apple Cup (rivalry game against the University of Washington) and/or bowl game victories. With this inaugural campaign, we finished the 2019 football season with 246 pledges that included 185 donors who doubled their pledge for an Apple Cup and/or bowl game win. In total, we received $13,210 per win, equaling $79,260 raised to benefit student-athletes for our six-win season.

From the Judges

Camaraderie, adaptable, inexpensive. What appealed to the judges was how this campaign taps into a constituency with proven affinity in a way that generates camaraderie within a framework that aligns fans’ philanthropic support with their desire to win. The campaign ties these two endorphin-generating events (making a philanthropic gift and a team win) together for an extra boost of good vibes. Tying additional pledges to certain milestones (the Apple Cup rivalry, in this instance) reinforces the good feeling of winning with the good feeling of giving. As well, through social media, the campaign is interactive by tapping into the fun of a shared sports season. This campaign engages the community, is inexpensive, and does not require additional staffing. Further, it is creative, had clear goals, a clear strategy, was effective in deploying a modest budget, and showed clear results. We applaud Washington State University for their clever combination of traditional campaign tactics with contemporary social media tools. This campaign model could lend itself to other, non-sports entities.