Brackets For Good
How we developed a business strategy to turn philanthropy into a team sport.
About the organization Brackets For Good is on a mission to raise awareness of local nonprofits through its competitive fundraising platform, inspired by the March Madness basketball tournament. Over the past four years, Brackets for Good tournaments have raised over $1.3 million that supports hundreds of local nonprofits.
Our challenge Brackets For Good started as a completely volunteer-run organization, managed by a group of dedicated people building a fun passion project. Then their founder made a huge leap of faith: he quit his day job and started working full-time to build the venture from a passion project into a full-fledged nonprofit. The decisions made in those first few months were going to be critical to their success. It was in this pivotal moment that Change Better infused the organization with the extra energy and strategy expertise that established a strong foundation from which Brackets for Good could really take off.
Brackets for Good had demonstrated early signs of success with their nonprofit tournament in Indianapolis and now they needed a model that would enable them to expand into more cities, answer a growing demand, and ultimately, to help more organizations.
What we did During our 4-month engagement, Change Better worked closely with Brackets to hone their business strategy, specifically:
Identifying their competitive advantage and strengthening how they convey the aspects that make them stand apart from other charity competitions and giving-days.
Designing the marketing and brand strategy that would enable the organization to scale into more markets.
Developing their Nonprofit Business-Model Canvas that fits all the strategy puzzle pieces in place and identifies the resources needed that enable the organization to reach their goals.
The result With these fundamentals in place, Brackets for Good locked a new title sponsor, expanded their program into three new markets, and secured a marketing deal worth $100,000 of in-kind support.
With these fundamentals in place, Brackets for Good locked a new title sponsor for their subsequent tournament and expanded their program into 3 new markets. They have continued to grow ever since—expanding to 15 total markets in the following year.
Services provided
Testimony
“Change Better made us bigger, better, faster, stronger.”
Matt McIntyre, Executive Director of Brackets For Good