It's so great that the collective is doing this! I think this is an excellent way to try and reach out to more people who can get involved with the program and raise more revenue for the collective. I also think the idea of giving away something like the Tumblr for people who come is a nice addition and essentially becomes an advertisement whenever someone uses it out in public. I hope there will be more opportunities like this throughout the year!
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I shared this on the NIL website thread but thought I would share it here too in case others may see it. Here are some bullet point ideas I have to improve NIL/NIL website
"Membership Levels - I think this is the biggest thing to getting more participation. Right now, I'm sure there are several very rich donors donating 10K+ to NIL and that's how we get the majority of the money. I think to reach a wider audience to participate, there has to be more incentive for someone to donate $100, $500, or $1000. Look at Cincinnati's website for example. They have different levels of contribution and awards that come with it. For example $50 gets you a car decal, $150 gets you newsletters and other times. The higher in amount goes, you get more access to exclusive opportunities to meet with the team or memorabilia. I think this will go a long way in getting a lot more of the smaller donations (<10K).
Cincinnati:
https://cincyreigns.org/
2. NIL Store - The ability to purchase NIL merchandise to get something in return while also contributing to NIL I think is very nice. Look at Dayton's or Duquesne's website: They have a store where you can buy jerseys or other apparel.
Dayton:
https://shop.udayton.edu/category/dayton-flyers-athletics/player-nil
Duquesne:
https://nil.store/pages/duquesne
3. Program specific donations - As far as I'm aware, our NIL is only for men's basketball. What if someone wanted to donate to women's basketball, field hockey, or baseball? Having it all in one website can make it easier for the user. Not sure if Wake Forest has this option, but I like how they have all their sports under one place
4. Website interface - I know this might be nitpicky and that you acknowledge it on your initial post, but I think our website appears kind of bland and doesn't have the same flair as perhaps other websites, which can entice people more. Again, this is my own opinion and likely trivial, but these small details can make a different and perhaps a more enhanced website design could be helpful in attracting new donors. Unfortunately, I am not good with graphic design otherwise I would've helped!
5. Get local community involved - Doing some research, some universities' NIL partners with local business such that some proceeds of items purchased at that business goes to the NIL. So for instance, Cincinnati has partnered with a local brewery, Rheingeist, and have a beer call Cincy Light. A percentage of proceeds go to the NIL. Other NIL's are doing something similar. If we don't want to use alcohol, I understand that. However, we could reach out to Stella's Grocery or Carytown Burgers or some other local business and create the "The Spider Burger" or "The Spider Wrap". If we wanted to be even more ambitious, we could partner with these business at games. For instance, Carytown Burger could have a cart outside Robins Stadiums during football games or be somewhere in the area during basketball games selling the food items. The biggest key with this, the NIL store, or most importantly membership levels, is it gives an opportunity for people to feel that they will get something in return, even small, if donating to the NIL. I think this will allow us to reach a wider audience. Right now, if we donate to the NIL, we have no idea where that money goes. It does not feel as personal or connected. I think I speak for a lot of us, that we are more likely to donate money, if we get a chance to meet the coaches/team or get some cool spiders merchandise. People are more likely to even go out of their way to have lunch at a place where purchases of food items have a percentage of proceeds go to the NIL.
Link:
https://businessofcollegesports.com...l-collectives-with-collective-inspired-beers/
6. Get UR Athletic Department involved - This one is also huge if we utilize it. The new Virginia Law essentially allows universities to pay NIL directly. Does this mean UR will give a percentage of its endowment each year to go to NIL? I do not foresee UR doing that, at least not anytime soon. However, the big thing with this is UR can set up a foundation where donors donate through UR that goes directly to NIL. Look at UVA, they established Sabres Society that allows donors to give money to a variety of areas in athletics and one of them is the UVA's NIL Collective, Cav Futures.
Link:
https://virginiasports.com/news/202...nches-sabre-society-to-support-uva-athletics/
Imagine if UR did something similar with UR's Spider Athletic Fund? Similar to UVA, UR would offer an option to donate directly the Spider NIL through the Spider Athletic Fund, among other options (i.e. facility projects, performance and development, etc.)
Link:
https://richmondspiders.com/sports/spider-athletic-fund
We could even promote it at UR Giving Day as one of the areas of support
Link:
https://urhere.richmond.edu/o/university-of-richmond/i/2024/p/athletics"
