Let’s hear it for the boys
Links to big-name sports make more men aware of St. Jude story
When 13-year-old St. Jude patient Markell Gregoire walked on stage at Radio City Music Hall in April to announce a pick in the NFL draft, it wasn’t merely an accidental helping of goodwill toward the Memphis children’s hospital from sports’ most popular league. It was more intentional than that.
It was another stage in the vision of Rick Shadyac, the fourth-year CEO of ALSAC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s fundraising arm. To him, aligning the St. Jude brand with sports helps open new demographics for the highly successful fundraising outfit, both in the United States and across the globe.
“It’s an effort to get in front of men and younger people,” Shadyac said Tuesday, after a putt-putt session with PGA Tour pros and St. Jude patients, yet another of the hospital’s events to bring sports and patients together.
“So most of the time in the philanthropic world, women, most of them make the charitable giving decision in the family. We wanted to cultivate some different audience — without taking for granted women at all; women are tremendous supporters of our mission. But we also wanted to get our mission in front of younger people, to let them learn about the importance of charitable giving and the impact St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s mission has — on young folks, by the way. And also to get in front of men.”
Sunday’s final round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic is the bedrock of the hospital’s sports affiliations, dating to the early days of the tournament. In 1970, St. Jude became its sole beneficiary, and the event has raised nearly $27 million for the hospital.
In 1985, the hospital’s name became attached to the tournament, leading to untold amounts of free advertising every time a TV network, newspaper or golf fan referenced the name of the Memphis tour stop. It’ll be the same Sunday, with CBS’ national telecast of the final round.
But lately, St. Jude is pushing beyond just that in the sports marketing sphere. In April, the hospital’s alliance with the NFL took another step with young Markell on stage with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. St. Jude is also aligned with the league’s Play 60 initiative, which is a youth health and fitness drive. Play 60 is the “official champion of play” at St. Jude, meaning it assists in programs to help patients cope with their illness “through therapeutic play and other activities,” according to the St. Jude website.
The hospital has also stepped up its relationship with the NBA and its goodwill arm, NBA Cares. In late February and early March, an entire week of the NBA was dedicated to “Hoops for St. Jude,” which helped spread the St. Jude brand everywhere from coaches’ lapel pins to in-arena signage and vignettes on the league’s national broadcasts.
“We’re able to help highlight the awareness and more importantly bring attention to the work that’s going on at St. Jude,” said Todd Jacobson, the NBA’s senior vice president for community relations and manager of NBA Cares.
The NBA also helped arrange for grants from The V Foundation to go to St. Jude. And the hospital also has an alliance with Major League Soccer.
Shadyac said the sports marketing push, now in year three of his vision, is ahead of both schedule and budget.
Shadyac’s assessment of donors aren’t merely assumptions, either. A 2009 article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy cited a study as saying more women than men are the decisionmakers on charitable donations in families. A 2012 study in the United Kingdom, cited by an article in the Guardian newspaper, said that people over 60 were twice as likely to donate to charity than those 30 or younger — though that might well be simply a product of their life stages and financial capacity.
St. Jude boasts a donor base of between 8 and 9 million people, primarily in Middle America, and Shadyac said he’s proud that the average donation to the hospital is only $30.
“This is America’s charity,” Shadyac said.
Seventy-five percent of the hospital’s funding comes from direct public support like charitable giving. The hospital claims it costs $1.8 million a day to operate. According to data reported to the Internal Revenue Service accessed at Guidestar.com, ALSAC brought in $776 million in donations in 2011-12, up 11 percent from the previous year’s total of $698 million — and up nearly 24 percent from 2007- 08, a period that spans a historic economic downturn.
With a reach that now extends to the most popular sports brands, Shadyac sees potential for even more.
“It gives you that platform — it’s that global platform — to be able to spread the news of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the amazing resource that it is,” Shadyac said.