Alumni Fund Project for New March Gladness Student Initiative

Apr 5, 2024

Two Xavier alumni helped fund a new March Gladness donation incentive proposed by students through a classroom pitch challenge.

As part of Xavier Professor David Houghton’s Social Media Marketing class, March Gladness campus leaders spoke with Marketing 398 students in January and presented them with a challenge: how can Xavier increase March Gladness participation among current students?

Seven student teams spent a month brainstorming before presenting their proposals to March Gladness leaders in February. March Gladness leaders reviewed each proposal and ultimately decided one proposal was strong enough to implement this year.
 
“They really surprised me with some of the mockup (proposals) they created,” Houghton said. “They took similar ideas in some case and went in different directions with them. They’re all getting better with these pitches and I’m really proud of them for that.”

Assistant Director for the Annual Fund Taylor Schultheis led the planning and implementation of this year’s March Gladness celebration. Schultheis reviewed the student pitches along with three other Xavier staff; the group collectively decided to implement the ‘Raffle X’ idea proposed by Kurt Pickering, Francis Pacetti, Sam Squeri and Ben Mattioni.
 
Through Raffle-X, students who made a $10 March Gladness donation entered a drawing to win a $50 bonus gift for their campus organization of choice and a $50 gift card for themselves. 

Kyle ('10) and Mallory ('12) Isaack learned of the pitch competition and generously provided funding to turn the student Raffle-X proposal into reality.

"It's important because it instills upon students the importance of paying it forward and giving back to Xavier," Kyle said. "It's a really important idea to pass along."

The Isaacks have given to Xavier in the past through March Gladness, student mentoring programs and various financial programming opportunities. 

"My wife and I are just happy to support Xavier and future students that walk there," Kyle said. "It's really cool to be able to give back to your alma mater. Neither of us would be where we are today if it wasn't for Xavier."
  
Houghton said his students working on a project with real life implications was one of the many examples of the experiential learning that takes place throughout Xavier marketing classes.
 
Houghton had his students listen to proposal directly from Xavier’s March Gladness leaders – the ‘clients’ of the study. From there, he encouraged students to apply the fundraising concepts they studied to the live case study. Students were given free rein to solve the problem proposed by clients however they best saw fit. Houghton encouraged each group to think through all aspects of their ideas from costs to logistics and ease of implementation.
 
“We’re trying to prepare them for what it will be like when they get in the work force,” Houghton said. “Your boss may give you a two-line email with (instructions to complete a task.) I wanted them to be ready for anything.”

Schultheis said that while the Raffle-X idea was the winning presentation, she and her team incorporated ideas from other student pitch proposals related to prizes and what would get students involved.

“We felt the Raffle-X idea was simple, yet creative enough to generate interest among students,” Schultheis said. “The Isaack family so generously stepped in to allow us to make Raffle-X a possibility this year. We were pleased with the results and we hope to partner with marketing students again in the future.”