Wright State University's Wright Day to Give is a huge fundraising day for the athletic department, giving teams the resources they need to compete. Coaches stress the importance of spreading the word early to get their teams involved and bring in as much support as possible. What started as a way to help teams operate has turned into something that enhances the entire student-athlete experience.
What donations go towards
WSU's Wright Day to Give is a huge day at WSU. All proceeds go directly to WSU in different ways, depending on what donors specifically donate to. For sports teams, it all goes straight to them for the important things they need.
These donations go directly to the team, funding their necessities from hotels, meals, travel and even other essentials like health technologies. Funds can even contribute to a team joining different tournaments. This money goes toward players' experience in attempt to give them the best opportunity WSU can offer.
Head Coach for WSU baseball, Alex Sogard spoke about what this money goes toward to help the team.
“What it does is helps us even just with our working budget, so it allows us to get more food on the road or additional pregame meals to be able to feed the guys. We have 40 guys, so it adds up quick. Any of these funds are so beneficial to help in a number of ways,” Sogard said.
Supporting a team's growth is just as important. Contributing donations strengthen their season by providing more resources, ultimately benefiting both the players and the program, which can lead to more victories.
“There’s a lot of new technologies that help your team to be successful, but on the flip side of that, they’re really expensive [and] there’s yearly costs to that. So, obviously we have a lot of success with Wright Day to Give, that’s a huge part in helping us to allow to get those technologies that help us to be successful,” Sogard added.
These donations are about giving student-athletes the tools they need to succeed, both on and off the field. Without these necessities, it becomes much harder for a team and its players to perform at their best and achieve their goals.
Encouraging donations
Spreading the word about a day like this is extremely important to its cause. This needs to be done days in advance so you can get as much attention on it as possible. The more it is talked about, the more the word will spread, resulting in more donations.
WSU Women's bowling Head Coach Jeff Fleck talks about the team's drive to excel and how these donations help make that possible.
“One of our goals is always to do the best at whatever we do, whether it’s the sport, whether its community service, whether its fundraising, whether its grades, we want to be one of the best because we think that’s a good reflection that our program is doing the right thing in all areas.” Fleck said.
Performing at the best level is this team’s goal regardless of the circumstances. They put that mindset into action by becoming one of the top five teams to raise money.
These teams were spreading the word using many different methods. Being able to encourage people is one thing, but making people aware in advance is super important.
Travers Green, WSU volleyball Head Coach, talks about how their team spread the word.
"Typical things, we have a department here that helps a lot with creating content that we share on social media. I did a little video they put on there and they have a lot of strategy from a social media standpoint. But then we want all our players to be involved in that as well since that reaches more people," Green said.
Green added, "The student athletes are a big part of it, and they understand the importance and how that enhances their experience. And we want them to be involved in that process of promoting it”
When coaches, players and the athletic department all work together to get the word out, it creates the momentum these teams need to get the support they deserve.
Why donations are important
Days like Wright Day to Give are beneficial to teams and organizations. These donations give teams the resources they need to perform at their best potential and put on the best performance possible for their supporters and fans.
Fleck explained why these donations are so important to the team.
“We have a budget which, with the price of hotels and travel and stuff, we’re continually trying to manage within budget. At the same time, we're trying to add tournaments that bring us more power points and help us in rankings. We just joined conference USA, so we need the ability to bowl in bigger tournaments, that’s really beneficial there,” Fleck said.
Wright Day to Give has been important to teams for years, as Green goes into how it has helped the teams in the past.
“At the beginning these funds helped us operate. We’re really trying to use the fundraised money to enhance our student athlete experience,” Green said.
These donations have gone from helping teams survive to helping them thrive. Year after year, Wright Day to Give makes a real difference in what these programs can do for their student-athletes and how they are able to compete
