February 17, 2016
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Brackets for Good unveils the St. Louis bracket of local charities on Feb. 8 at Morgan Street Brewery.
Brackets for Good pits local nonprofits in a friendly fundraising competition
Business
By Sara Hardin Brackets for Good co-founder and executive director Matt McIntyre says that his main inspiration for the budding charitable organization comes from something quite unsuspecting: March Madness. After watching his alma mater, Butler University, rise to back-to-back Final Four championship bids, McIntyre decided with friend and fellow Brackets for Good co-founder Matt Duncan to harness the excitement buzzing throughout Indianapolis to make a positive change. “We watched everyone in the city of Indianapolis just become a Butler fan. This small school finally had a spotlight shined on it” said McIntyre. “At the time, we were watching Butler’s second championship. We basically said, ‘Okay, how do we leverage this same excitement for the betterment of the community?’ We decided to do something like a college pick’em bracket prediction. People will pay money to be involved in it. In doing so, they’ll give money back to a charity.” McIntyre and Duncan ran into their first hurdle as they tried to locate local charities eligible to participate in such a program. “We thought of four [charities],” McIntyre laughed. “We figured that was a problem. We’re young professionals ourselves, we are maturing, our values are maturing, our disposable incomes are maturing… and we can only think of four
organizations that deserve our attention. The first problem was finding a way to discover what philanthropic opportunities exist in your own backyard. Brackets for Good is this idea of marrying sport with philanthropy to provide nonprofits with this opportunity to increase awareness, generate dollars, and attract new donors. We’ve seen so much success with it that we’re excited to expand into St. Louis this year.” Brackets for Good was welcomed into its St. Louis market with a kickoff pep rally event on Feb. 8, presented by Commerce Bank at Morgan Street Brewery. Between Feb. 26 and April 1, 64 St. Louis area nonprofits will be racing to raise the most money and generate the most exposure. The participating organizations keep every dollar raised, regardless of how far they advance. On top of the fundraising opportunities, the attention garnered from being a Brackets for Good participating organization comes with plenty of long term benefits. “In reality, all nonprofits are competing for time, attention and dollars among the community,” explained McIntyre. “Giving them a platform to bring that to the forefront is unique, but has been really well-received. Brackets for Good functions as an awareness building tool. A lot of organizations come to us and say ‘We’ve been around for 20-plus years, and people finally know
who we are because of our participation in Brackets for Good.’ It allows their volunteers, board and staff to rally around a single initiative that they can all get their heads around. Fundraising for Brackets for Good allows money to come in for whatever the organization feels is best. It’s truly untoxic charity. By being untoxic, we’re allowing the community itself to decide what’s most important from a philanthropic perspective.” The tournament champion will be revealed after the battle between the Philanthropic Four (in lieu of the Final Four). The champion organization will receive an additional grand prize donation, presented by the St. Louis Brackets for Good title sponsor, Youthbridge Community Foundation. Tournament division sponsors include Simploy, Ferguson Roofing, BAM Marketing Agency and Buckingham Advisors. Michael Howard, Youthbridge CEO, says that the buzz surrounding Brackets for Good and its game-like nature is key to generating excitement for nonprofits in a younger audience. “There was a great buzz in the room at the kickoff pep rally,” said Howard. “Brackets for Good provides an opportunity for organizations to be exposed to a new group of potential donors. People are happy to have a platform to promote their mission to a new audience. It’s a fun way See CHARITY MADNESS page 2
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