Major Gift Fundraising in College Athletics: G6 Leaders Q&A

College athletics is changing fast and so is the work of raising major gifts.

Seven of the leading fundraisers on the Group of 6 level share candid, practical insights on donor behavior, program strategy, leadership alignment and the relationships that turn interest into significant support.

Their answers reveal what’s working now and what will matter most in the years ahead.

The panel:

Bryan Beals, Boise State
Justin Berger, Tulane
Jeff Cummings, South Alabama
Michael Graffin, Florida Atlantic
Casey Macdonald, Delaware
Brad Okel, Miami (Ohio)
Scooter Renkin, James Madison

The interviews have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Leadership Alignment & Relationship Execution

1. If you were advising an athletic director who wanted to build a stronger major gift program over the next 24 months, what would you tell them to prioritize?

Justin Berger - Tulane: Focus on your current donors and invest in the retention of top fundraisers. Your current donors are your best prospects for future support, and strengthening your relationships with them will deepen their investment in your organization.

Fundraiser turnover seems to be constant in our business, but we hear time and time again. that it is exhausting for our donors. When a fundraiser leaves, even if they’ve done a great job documenting conversations and donor interests, critical knowledge and relationships walk out the door with them.

Casey Macdonald - Delaware: Look for the donors who may be flying under the radar. Place emphasis on donors who may be giving at the $5,000 to $10,000 level but have limited engagement with the athletic director. These donors have already shown affinity for the athletic department and with some intentional cultivation, there is opportunity for increased support.

Brad Okel - Miami (Ohio): Build a team focused on developing a major gift pipeline. A strong annual fund remains important for engaging donors, but the majority of your fundraising resources should be dedicated to identifying, cultivating, and soliciting individuals capable of making significant investments. With revenue sharing and the growing financial demands of college athletics, having a consistent pipeline of major gift prospects is more important than ever.

2. Where can an AD's involvement create the greatest value in the process to secure major gifts?

Bryan Beals - Boise State: Early in the giving process, but later in the relationship stage, is the best time for the AD to be involved. If they are involved in the relationship too early, the leverage of meeting with/getting to know the AD is lost but if they need to get involved in the why behind the ask sooner than later to help drive urgency and need.

Justin Berger - Tulane: It takes big ideas to close big gifts. I believe athletic directors can maximize their impact by setting and articulating a clear vision of big ideas, and being consistent with that vision. Our AD’s time is limited. He can’t meet individually with every donor in our base, but every donor in our base can be inspired by his vision and want to be a part of helping make it a reality.

Brad Okel - Miami (Ohio): The AD must establish a compelling vision that inspires significant investment. I've had donors tell me they are far more motivated to invest in a vision than simply fund a need. With NIL and revenue sharing creating new financial demands, it's more important than ever that an AD can articulate how those investments connect to the broader mission and long-term success of the athletic department.

“I've had donors tell me they are far more motivated to invest in a vision than simply fund a need.” - Brad Okel, Miami (Ohio)

3. How do you build a productive working relationship with head coaches who can influence donor relationships?

Jeff Cummings - South Alabama: Making sure head coaches understand how valuable they are in the fundraising process is huge. As administrators, we’re there to guide and support them and set both the coach and donor up for success. Coaches often say they are coaches, not fundraisers, but it is a lot like recruiting. Build a relationship, share your vision, and get people excited about your program. People give to people, and donors want to support coaches they trust and believe in.

Brad Okel - Miami (Ohio): You have to spend time around their programs. Coaches need to know that you understand and care about their vision and priorities. The challenge is balancing those relationships across the department and not allowing one program or coach to dominate your time. Every coach believes their program should be the priority, and rightfully so, but it is our responsibility to align those individual priorities with the broader fundraising goals of the department.

Scooter Renkin - James Madison: Actually build a relationship with them. Get to know them, their team, and assistant coaches. Show them you care. Those investments pay off tenfold when you need them to assist with closing a gift.

4. As you see it, what specific actions by fundraisers are most important in moving the donor from initial interest to commitment?

Bryan Beals - Boise State: Explanation of the gap and the need we are trying to solve but what solving that need/gap will produce for the program. Asking donors to give because "we need more" is not enough. Show them the specifics of how much and what the impact will be.

Michael Graffin - Florida Atlantic: Sharing the voice of the department and keeping donors engaged through each season. Finding donor interests with us and taking it a step further. Similar to moving them up the ladder, one step at a time.

Brad Okel - Miami (Ohio): Make a specific ask. It sounds overly simplistic, but we have all heard donors say, "Nobody ever asked me." Our responsibility is to bring donors closer to the program, help them understand the vision, and then directly ask them to invest in a meaningful way. We cannot assume that interest alone will turn into a commitment.

5. What part of the major gift process do you think development professionals most often underestimate?

Jeff Cummings - South Alabama: It sounds so simple, but sometimes it really comes down to just asking. I have had so many donors tell me, “We were just never asked.” You can spend so much time overthinking.

Casey Macdonald - Delaware: I think one area major gift officers often underestimate, especially early in their careers or at a new institution, is the time it takes to build relationships. The first year or two can be humbling, but major gifts are often a marathon and not a sprint. It is often in your second year that you begin to truly know the donors and understand their motivation and interests. I think it’s an important reminder to new gift officers to be patient and though it sounds cliche, trust the process.

Scooter Renkin - James Madison: Stewardship. You can’t have the “onto the next one mentality” and stay connected with the donor. Schedule texts and phone calls. Update them. These are not hard to do. It is a lost art.

“It sounds so simple, but sometimes it really comes down to just asking. I have had so many donors tell me, ‘We were just never asked.’” - Jeff Cummings, South Alabama

Program Strategy, Operations, & ROI

6. What changes have you made to portfolio strategy, qualification, or performance expectations that have improved fundraising effectiveness?

Justin Berger - Tulane: Specifically with newer major gift fundraisers, focusing on activity-based metrics (contacts, visits, asks) and not necessarily focusing solely on output-metrics (gifts closed, dollars raised) has been important for us. If you do the work, good things will come.

Michael Graffin - Florida Atlantic: It is constantly being analyzed on who needs to be stewarded and cultivated, as well as removed from portfolios. Our team is looking to qualify another 20% on top of their existing portfolio. We have done a lot more blocking and tackling, putting certain donors in annual fund, rev share and sport specific than ever before. Right now we are keeping anyone interested in rev share in that category.

Casey Macdonald - Delaware: We emphasize maintaining a smaller and more focused portfolio. I believe this allows for a more intentional approach with your assigned donors and allows gift officers to move relationships along and get to a gift decision faster. As a donor moves through the pipeline and is in the stewardship phase, newly qualified prospects can be added from the discovery pool to a gift officer’s portfolio to continue the cycle. Focusing on 50-60 donors at a time has allowed me to build more meaningful and authentic relationships which have resulted in more major gifts.

“If you do the work, good things will come.” - Justin Berger, Tulane

7. What is one fundraising practice, internal process, or organizational expectation that you believe consumes too much time relative to the value it creates?

Justin Berger - Tulane: Internal meetings. Athletic departments love to meet. Some of those meetings are critical, no question about it. But one of the ways I try to support our team is by clearing noise off of our calendars so that we can focus on donor outreach, donor travel, and donor visits. Do we need three team members in a gameday operations meeting? Or can one go and bring back updates for the rest of the group?

Michael Graffin - Florida Atlantic: Events. We spend so much time on engagement events for each sport or events we inherited before us, such as golf tournaments. They do not return the amount of time you spend putting them on. I truly believe less is more. This year we will do nine events, outside of sporting events, that do not have near the return we need to have.

Scooter Renkin - James Madison: Ticketing has become a burden for some of my fundraisers. Yes, a useful tool for cultivation and stewardship, but has also put them in the weeds with our ticket office team.

“(Engagement events) do not return the amount of time you spend putting them on. I truly believe less is more.” - Michael Graffin, Florida Atlantic

8. What is one investment your athletic department made in its major gift program that has had a meaningful impact on fundraising effectiveness, and what advice would you give to other G6 athletic departments considering a similar investment?

Bryan Beals - Boise State: Investment in a full time stewardship person or team tied to your major gift society is key. Closing the first gift is the hard part. Keeping that investment over time as the needs increase is harder. A strong stewardship program, that continues to change and evolve, is key.

Brad Okel - Miami (Ohio): We have invested in additional operational and stewardship staff to allow our major gift officers to spend more time cultivating and soliciting donors. However, our most impactful investment has been establishing an institutional match for gifts to select NIL and revenue-sharing funds. This has created a greater sense of urgency and provided donors with an opportunity to double the impact of their investment. My advice would be to look for ways to strategically leverage institutional resources to incentivize philanthropic support rather than simply asking donors to give more.

Scooter Renkin - James Madison: Seems simple, but the willingness of our AD to join meetings and act as a frontline fundraiser has been incredibly impactful. It has helped us close several major gifts because “I got a visit from the AD and he told me the vision for the future of JMU Athletics.” That mentality is real and helps us close gifts.

“Seems simple, but the willingness of our AD to join meetings and act as a frontline fundraiser has been incredibly impactful.” Scooter Renkin, James Madision

9. Where do you believe the greatest untapped major gift opportunities exist today?

Bryan Beals - Boise State: This one can be challenging with student athletes, but I believe parents are the greatest untapped major gift opportunity today. Parents have a short window of engagement; however, graduates continue to rely on their parents to shape their philanthropic priorities. And if a parent is supporting that student's alma mater, it drastically helps that early graduate conversion.

Jeff Cummings - South Alabama: I think we sometimes overlook our current major donors because we are always chasing the next big gift or new prospect. We assume they will continue giving just because they always have. But continuing to cultivate those relationships is just as important. When donors feel valued and know we do right by them, they are more likely to increase their next commitment and introduce us to friends and other high-level prospects.

Michael Graffin - Florida Atlantic: Facilities all day. People that believe in capital projects have been put on the back burner for the last five years.

Personal Reflections & Lessons Learned

10. What is a major gift fundraising lesson you learned through experience that you wish you had understood earlier in your career?

Bryan Beals - Boise State: You cannot control a donor's budget, timing, or intention. You can try to influence those things but you do not control them. Control what you can: communication, touch points, information sharing, and asking questions to help guide them to the impact they want to make.

Justin Berger - Tulane: There is no need to be nervous when it comes time to make the ask. I remember my heart beating out of my chest during my first major gift solicitation meeting. I still get excited, but I’ve learned so much more about the process of getting to that ask, that I really don’t get nervous anymore. At this point, I understand that if I have done the work the right way, I will have a good sense of a donor’s motivations, and the ask should be easy. There really shouldn’t be many surprises by the time you get to (the ask).

Casey Macdonald - Delaware: A lesson I have learned through experience is the importance of finding opportunities to spend time with donors outside of conversations about giving. If the only time a donor hears from you is when there is a new project or initiative, the relationship can begin to feel transactional. Spending time with donors at their tailgate, in their suite or at an open practice is a helpful way to get to know them in a relaxed, low-pressure environment.

"You cannot control a donor's budget, timing, or intention. You can try to influence those things but you do not control them." - Bryan Beals, Boise State

11. Please share a specific experience that shaped how you approach donors, solicitations, or development leadership today.

Jeff Cummings - South Alabama: Don’t judge a donor solely by their account or assume you know their passions based on what they buy tickets for. Early in my career, I went into a meeting

expecting to ask for a football gift because the donor had premium football seats. After a few visits, I learned his true passion was baseball. This was nowhere to be found on his ticket or giving history.

The ask eventually turned into a gift for a baseball turf project. If I had rushed the ask, I would have missed that opportunity entirely. Take the time to listen and learn what truly matters to the donor.

Casey Macdonald - Delaware: I had a donor experience that shaped my approach to fundraising by teaching me to never underestimate someone’s capacity to give. I was new to a staff at a previous institution and spent time talking with a season-ticket holder who consistently attended football events and gave at a modest annual-giving level. After talking to him about my role, he asked me to “pitch him” on joining our major gift society. I explained the impact of the group and the access it provided. The following week, he made a significant major gift in a single donation which surprised many across the department.

That was just the beginning of his major gift journey and reinforced an important lesson: never make assumptions about someone’s capacity or potential. Taking time to get to know someone can unlock some incredible generosity. You never know who is simply waiting for the right conversation or opportunity to make a greater impact.

Scooter Renkin - James Madison: The best story I have is about playing the long game. I have been working with an older donor for 10 years. Not always the easiest relationship, but it has been an honest one. She said she would do something “big” soon. It’s been 10 years - ha. But now we are about to close a $2 million gift with her. She has appreciated my patience. It pays off.

“Never make assumptions about someone’s capacity or potential.” - Casey Macdonald, Delaware

Group of 6 Leader Roundtable: Major Gifts Q&A

Focus on Fundraising