I do know about the Green Jacket event, and it is a great one. Thank you Larry Griffin for hosting. We probably haven’t been in 3-4 years. Things like this used to be high on my list because it allowed me to see my 49er friends in the long off season, but with football, that closes the gap for me. Still an extremely well done event.
Great info austinniner. Thanks for responding.
You seem to reinforce the others on the board in your thinking. Really makes a difference.
This is really good stuff >>>>>
“I want to help build something great. If everyone else had that same opinion, we would have a very large 49er club and would probably be in the SEC. Be part of the solution.”
- Age: 41
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): N
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N): N
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form): N/A
- Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): I don’t think anything here would move the needle much. Would be cool to get a behind the scenes look at the Athletic facilities. My employment has done that at UNCW and at ECU.
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: I think the benefits/points does make a difference. I think if you give more you should get better seats/perks. However, it should also be tied to attendance. A person that attends games across all sports should be rewarded as much as someone who gives money, buys a season ticket to football, but only shows up to half the games.
I spent many years away from NC and didn’t see the value in donating outside of attending events. No one reached out to the students much when I was in school in the late 90’s. Other than basketball I didn’t even know what other sports we played. I watched as much as I could online when I lived in the Midwest. When I moved back to Charlotte in 2013, I got season tix to basketball and then to football a couple of years later. I moved to Eastern NC and started a new job. With my current income with the new job I don’t have the disposable income to donate at this time. I hope that changes and I hope to get back to some more games in the next couple of years.
I know there are many people that are simply disconnected with the University. I work with several alumni, one who played on the baseball team a few years before I went to school there. I keep trying to get them to go back to the campus, but the interest just isn’t there. Some of these guys live as close to Mint Hill, but would rather watch the Tar Heels play than to catch a game at Halton. These guys are between 44 and 55 years old, and it will be a tough sale to get those folks out to a game, much less donate.
I think a lot of it boils down to connections not being made while they were students. I don’t think there was enough outreach to students back in the day. We were looking to go viral before viral was a thing. Had we hit that stretch o basketball in this age, I think it would be much more noticed by students and the casual fan.
I came to school as a State fan, but chose charlotte over them after orientation there. I gave the team a chance and never looked back. I remember it being a revelation to me I could get in for free.
In the end we rested on our laurels. I don’t think we did enough to capitalize on the success we had… from trying to start football to getting fans to games.
It’s a long battle to bring back the older demo. The front line needs to be the students we have.
Not sure that answers anything though.
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If, as we all hope, our basketball team begins to compete for the conference championship, Halton will start averaging around 7500. It will not take an excellent social media strategy, dorm storming, or magic beans. Consistent winning is fun and people will show up. For those of you that haven’t experienced a crowd like that during a win, it is awesome. Pushing up to 8500, or a sell out, will take a special game–well that is what it was like in the good days. Today we have more students, more alums, and Mike Hill. Maybe it can be even better. This kind of attendance is the the key to building the 49er Club.
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Nugget,
I respectfully disagree here. As much success as we had before, I wouldn’t say we really capitalized from a 49er Club perspective. We’ve all seen the numbers from back in the day. Honestly the 06 numbers were very similar to today’s figures.
Winning doesn’t cure everything. Strategy is important. App has done a ton of winning, and their booster club has 3400 members and they make less money than ours.
People need a reason to donate and they need a peace of mind when they do. It’s also cultural. ECU has an insane number of donors. We need to take steps to implement that culture here.
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- Age: 30
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N): N
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form): This is my first year of being a member so I will say the sticker.
- Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): I would prefer clothing.
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: Just to help the university. I have no idea where I stand with my points.
- Age: 42
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form): I like the C-pick flag. Also liked the NC State map with our logo and the cell phone credit card sleeve.
- Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): A nice mix of both really.
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: I like being part of building something, so while perks are nice, they are not my personal priority.
Age: 43
49er Club Member: Y
Former 49er Club Member: Y, been a member since 2014 (football brought me in)
Best Recognition: C-Pick Flag
Experiences or items preferred: Experiences, would love to see things like the away game bus trips become a common event.
Reason for giving: To help the program, don’t care about the points.
I’ll toss this out there as well, my brother lives out of town and comes in to see 2-3 football games a year. He asked about the 49er Club and told me he doesn’ t want to give money if he doesn’t know where it is going (this was during the previous administration). He did say that if he got a something soliciting funds for football expansion he would write a check. Although a good deal of the mistrust about squandering our funds is gone now it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reach out when we get ready do a big ticket item like that to new donors. Even if the revenue isn’t that great it could get people in the club and get used to the idea of donating.
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You raise a great point about dedicated giving and having specific “lanes” to give towards.
The organic and viral pop-up giving times (beard fund, 4-9 day) would seem to be a good avenue to continue down as well.
Welcome aboard!
Chidave, I’ve heard multiple friends/alum state that too about donating more if they heard expansion plans. I know it’s a long process and we are in the middle of the facilities study, but fans need something tangible. They need to see the plan, the vision that Hill has for us. Release some plans/renderings and have a coinciding fundraising initiative. The time is now while Healy’s record is 0-0 and has the attention of the fanbase.
I doubt those plans are ready until middle of next year. They could surprise us and come out early, but these things generally take a year or so to formulate.
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- Age: 34
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form): Flag was cool but I don’t need it
- Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): I think it’d be cool to be in the sideline or a shootaround sometime but it’s not necessary
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: I want to elevate the institution. That said, if we want broad support, there needs to be a reason to give.
- Age: 45
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Yes
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N):
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form):
Green Jacket… it’s ugly as sin, but that’s what makes it cool… need to have a reason to break it out periodically - Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): Experiences, no question at all… gear and knickknacks come and go, memories are timeless. Although a piece of a net from cutting down at a future Final Four would be a nice thing to have.
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: I have no expectations of personal benefit associated with my donation. I don’t need the white glove treatment… all I want to see if the money spent well and the trajectory of the program continue pointing up… I dont have the foggiest clue where I rank in the club and honestly don’t care, it’s about the end result for the teams. ( *my only points angle would be to get midfield and in the first couple rows once we slap a second deck on the football stadium…)
- Age: 48
- 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Former 49er Club Member? (Y/N): Y
- Best Recognition of your giving to Charlotte Athletics that you remember? (Could be a promotional item, sticker, or name recognition in some form): Name on the plaque at JRS for being an original FSL owner
- Would you prefer experiences or items related to giving level in the 49er Club? (Experiences could be sideline passes, access to shootaround, etc; items would be a flag, hat, shirt): These items would be “nice to haves”, but wouldn’t change my giving level/support to athletics.
- Does giving solely come with the thought of helping provide for a student athlete or is it based on the benefits/points structure?: A little of both but my #1 priority is to support the University and its student athletes.
I don’t think about this often, but when I do it pisses me off and probably will until the day I die. They forgot my name, and later put me on a plaque on the side of the Will Call building.
That would have pissed me off as well!!
The timeline MH has alluded to would put completion of study in spring.
Link? I can’t recall Hill giving a timeline.