Re: Team Maker Membership
Originally Posted by
Hammersmith
I chuckle at those who say Team Makers is doing great and point to the size of the big check they give to NDSU as the proof. The lion's share of TM money comes from seat licenses, and that has absolutely zero to do how well or how poorly TM is run.
As for what TM should be and how it should change, I think we need to look to its past. Most know that it was started as a lettermen's group of sorts. Former athletes wanted to improve athletics, so they formed a club to raise money and other services. Note the use of the term "club". That feeling of exclusivity still continues somewhat to this day. Just look at how Charlie and Pat react to suggestions. In the world of a club, members of said club want others to come to them. Clubs don't go looking for new members, new members come looking for the club. There's a sense of almost arrogance in their position. "If you don't like it, we don't want you/you can leave," sort of thing.
Now that's fine if you want a little club filled with people that think the same way you do. But that's not what NDSU needs. NDSU needs the most money it can bring in. That means more of a salesman-type mentality. Go out and find new members however you can. Get them to donate however you can. If something doesn't work, try something else. Come up with incentive programs. Use every communication platform you can. Pride? Who needs f-ing pride? You ain't got time for arrogance.
Most(all?) of the P5 booster clubs completely made the transition from club to professional fundraising organization a long, long time ago. NDSU partially made the transition back during the DI move, but TM is still stuck with one foot in each era. We really need to finish that conversion.
The "success" of TM in the modern era(post-2004ish) can be traced to one decision. To make seat license fees tax-deductible, NDSU needed to run them through a 501 non-profit. NDSU could have done that through the Development Foundation, could have started a new 501 just for the purpose, or used TM. They chose TM because it was easy and it was already there. Makes you wonder what would have happened if they went another way. And it makes you wonder what will happen if the current tax bill passes and there's no more use for laundering seat fee money through a 501. Maybe there's a solution that can make everybody happy. Old-timer TM members can be happy going back to their exclusivity, and just their lunches, 50/50 raffles and charitable gaming. And NDSU can bring all the big money back in-house and finish modernizing the system with new hires. Win win.
You might want to research how TM got started. Most know??? Then most are wrong. At least get your history correct . Then your attack on the so called club might have some validity. Youre usually better than this.
Last edited by 56BISON73; 12-22-2017 at 06:22 AM.
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