Falcon Club Benefits???

[It's the Journey...]

So it has come up and I think needs further discussion. What makes being a Falcon Club member worth it to you? It can be things currently provided, or things you believe should be provided. I would say let's put it all on the table. Maybe some of these things will make their way up the mountain and make it a stronger group. I tried to attach the 2017-2018 benefits chart for reference but could not so this will have to do.

2016-17 Falcon Club Benefits Chart
$120
• Opportunity to Enhance the Experience/Future of a BGSU Student-Athlete
• Ability to purchase tickets for Ohio State away game as a 2016 Football season ticket holder
• Complimentary “CC” Parking Pass for Home Football, Basketball, and Hockey Season Ticket Holders
• Membership Wristband
• Complimentary Subscription to Roll Along!
• Falcon Club Window Cling
• Falcon Club Exclusive Email Updates
• Exclusive Nike Clothing Offers
• Priority seating for away and postseason Falcon events.
• Discounts on buses, tickets and Falcon Club events
• Access to Falcon Club lounge at the BGSU Ice Arena
• Access to premium seating areas at Doyt Perry Stadium
$250
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Upgrade to Complimentary “BB” Parking Pass for Home Football (grass lot, South End Zone), Basketball,
and Hockey Season Ticket Holders
• Falcon Club Party Deck Access for Home Football Games
• Anderson Club and Hockey Chair back seating access
$500
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Football Stadium Club and Hockey Ice Box Premium Seating Access
• Men’s and Women’s Basketball Courtside season ticket access
• 15% off at BGSU team store
$1,000
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Upgrade to Complimentary “AA” Parking Pass for Home Football, Basketball, and Hockey Season Ticket
Holders
• University Recognition as a Leadership Circle Member
• Invitation to Annual Student-Athlete Awards Night (“The Ziggys”)
$2,500
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Recognition in football game program
$5,000
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Invitation to VIP Coaches Huddles with Head Coaches
• Personalized parking hang tag that provides access to all AA parking sports for all sports
$10,585
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Annual Recognition on the Stroh Center’s Champions Circle Wall of Honor
• Annual all-expenses paid road trip with Falcon Athletics team of your choice
$25,000+
• Includes all benefits listed above
• Personalized parking spot at all BGSU Athletics venues
• Exclusive invitations with access to Athletic Director via All-American Society
• Team Apparel and BGSU Athletics Gift Package

[BGSU SID]

Interesting timing. The new benefit chart was on my to-do list to get posted today:

http://admin.bgsufalcons.com/documents/ ... nefits.pdf" target="_blank

We will keep on eye on this thread. No promises, but any ideas are definitely welcome!

[It's the Journey...]

Now that I have a minute to start things off, here we go. First, I guess this is the 2016-2017 benefits form.

I am not certain of the value of Falcon Club right now. Right now we are at the lowest level. It's not much, but I view it as at least something. My football season tickets and parking are the only value I see. I love the parking in CC and believe it is the best parking location at Doyt Perry! I will not park in the grass. One hard rain and it is a swamp to get in to and out of. I also love the seats I have. We are in the top row of the West side close to the middle. The view is great, and the press box shields us from most weather.

That is what I see as a value of our Falcon Club membership. On the other hand, I do no like no longer being able to designate my dollars going to a specific sport. Everyone here knows I support gymnastics in many way from Falcon Club dollars to 18 years as meet director. Now I am being asked to give to Falcon Club AND to gymnastics if I want any dollars to flow their way. Department is minimal in my opinion for a variety of reasons. The other items on the list for my level I can take or leave. I find it ridiculous that if I wanted to give 10k (as if I had that, LOL) to gymnastics that money would not count towards a Falcon Club membership. It reinforces the appearance that the department does not care about the vast number of small donors.

So that is my view of a Falcon Club membership value. That is great, but how does that view change?
First, allow at least 50% of a donation to a specific sport to count towards a Falcon Club membership.
Second, respect the power of 100 $120 donations. It takes a little more work, but you have a greater chance to move those people up a level or two.
Third, treat the smaller donors with respect. Over my years being exposed to BG sports (20+ years now) I have seen more people than I can count stop giving simply because of how they are treated. Reverse that trend and you are moving in the right direction.
Fourth, start a major fund raising campaign. It should be the goal of Falcon Club to get every sport its full compliment of scholarships AND make sure those scholarships are fully endowed. That will free up quite a bit of money for other department priorities. It's a big number, but I believe it can be done.

What do you have?????

[footballguy51]

I know we dropped our Falcon Club membership because one of the benefits we wanted was revised/retracted mid-season. We had 4 season tickets. We got our complimentary parking pass. We got the membership so we could go to the Falcon Club area in the Sebo. Once the third game hit, all of a sudden we couldn't get into the Falcon Club...at least not all of us. We were told that with four season tickets in our package, we would be able to have all four of us enter. During the first two games, all four of us went in there without an issue. When the third game came around, we were told only one person was allowed in and we would have to pay for the other three people. The only way for each person to get in without paying would be if each person was a Falcon Club member.

The four people were my wife (girlfriend at the time), father, mother, and myself. The benefits of the Club room were trail mix, a warm room in the winter or dry room in rain, and a small handful of half-filled popcorn boxes. I can buy season tickets and buy a parking pass without donating money, so access to that room was the main perk. When that perk was devalued mid-season, we lost interest in being part of the club.

What can be done in the future? To start with, if I become a Falcon Club member and also own season tickets, it should be known how many season tickets I personally purchased. That number of people should be permitted to be involved with the member benefits. Another question I have would pertain to the Stadium Club. If I am a Falcon Club member at $500+, and I want access to the Stadium Club, do I need to have multiple memberships for each person's tickets up there, or can I donate $500 and buy 4 tickets for that area? Will the answer to that question remain the same throughout an entire season?

[BillyLP]

First, allow at least 50% of a donation to a specific sport to count towards a Falcon Club membership.
Second, respect the power of 100 $120 donations. It takes a little more work, but you have a greater chance to move those people up a level or two.
Third, treat the smaller donors with respect. Over my years being exposed to BG sports (20+ years now) I have seen more people than I can count stop giving simply because of how they are treated. Reverse that trend and you are moving in the right direction.
Fourth, start a major fund raising campaign. It should be the goal of Falcon Club to get every sport its full compliment of scholarships AND make sure those scholarships are fully endowed. That will free up quite a bit of money for other department priorities. It's a big number, but I believe it can be done.

What do you have?????

I don't want to pretend to be an expert in the field, but since I have SOME experience, I want to play devil's advocate to your four points.

1) This kind of thing gets extremely complicated and time consuming when you have to split up donations to an annual fund. The whole purpose of an annual fund is to support the areas of need, whether that's scholarships, venue costs, salaries, etc. Also, if a specific sport designation was allowed, it would end up skewing very top heavy towards football, hockey, basketball, which receive a higher number of major gifts anyway.
2) It's actually a lot harder moving $120 donors to $250 than you'd think. Overall, it's going to be more beneficial, financially speaking, to focus on getting $10k donors to $15k. That's not saying the $120 donations aren't powerful, but the chance to move them up a few levels is not much greater.
3) What kind of treatment would you be looking for with the smaller donors? I would guess that approximately 0% of athletic departments have the capacity to carry on individual relationships with every single donor, and that holds even more true for smaller ones like BG. When your development department has 2-4 people, you have to focus on the folks who are going to give larger gifts. If you're giving $100 a year, you can't expect $100, or even $25, worth of perks. Again, it defeats the purpose of supporting the annual fund if all of the money is spent on retaining donors for an additional year.
4) No argument here. I think it's a great idea.

Additional note, I don't work for BG and never have, so this doesn't necessarily reflect their views, but I'm just trying to give some perspective as a college fundraiser.