Crossroad Of Champions Recurring Payment Problem

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Yep - wanted to get something to you as quick as possible. Had a meeting with Nathan and his team and RJL on Monday.

SANIL contract will be terminated effective 1/1. New vendor will be in place on a 3 year contract. RJL taking over social media, website and marketing. Local bank will be handling all gifts moving forward.

Some of you who have rightfully be frustrated with the lack of communication / appreciation from the collective should hopefully see some improvements over the course of the next several months.

You’ve got to keep in mind - while time is of the essence and these things should have happened quickly for various reasons/excuses sometimes they take more time than you’d like. I told you all about RJL and some other things well over 6 months ago and after a lot of back-and-forth we’re finally ready to move forward with all of this.

But thank you all for bringing the gift amount discrepancies to our attention - this meeting for Monday was already on the calendar but bringing this issue to the table really just solidified the decision to move away from SANIL.

When everything is said and done I think structurally this is what things will look like:

Crossroads of Champions

Opendorse - handling contracts and tax obligations.

First Financial - handling all the funds.

RJL - handling the website, social media and marketing.
 

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Yep I cancelled mine from the current people running it. They responded quick to emails and just gave me my two charges that were inaccurate back. Almost as if they were hoping I didn’t notice…
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
Yep - wanted to get something to you as quick as possible. Had a meeting with Nathan and his team and RJL on Monday.

SANIL contract will be terminated effective 1/1. New vendor will be in place on a 3 year contract. RJL taking over social media, website and marketing. Local bank will be handling all gifts moving forward.

Some of you who have rightfully be frustrated with the lack of communication / appreciation from the collective should hopefully see some improvements over the course of the next several months.

You’ve got to keep in mind - while time is of the essence and these things should have happened quickly for various reasons/excuses sometimes they take more time than you’d like. I told you all about RJL and some other things well over 6 months ago and after a lot of back-and-forth we’re finally ready to move forward with all of this.

But thank you all for bringing the gift amount discrepancies to our attention - this meeting for Monday was already on the calendar but bringing this issue to the table really just solidified the decision to move away from SANIL.

When everything is said and done I think structurally this is what things will look like:

Crossroads of Champions

Opendorse - handling contracts and tax obligations.

First Financial - handling all the funds.

RJL - handling the website, social media and marketing.
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Thanks for the update. Will the new organizations receive contact/donation information from the prior group so that those that have contributed in the past can be marketed to?
 
Proud Sycamore said:
Thanks for the update. Will the new organizations receive contact/donation information from the prior group so that those that have contributed in the past can be marketed to?
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Yes - we have all the data necessary to contact everyone on the donor list and a plan is in place for that.

Hopefully, the majority of those people still want to contribute on a monthly basis. I know we have been collecting giveaway items for quite awhile now for prize drawings for those who exclusively donate to the collective on a monthly basis. They are pretty nice items as well - I don’t want to give anything away just yet.

Last time I did that - I had people questioning if any of this would ever come to fruition… lol Eventually, yes.
 
IndyTreeFan said:
I do have to say, it's a pretty bad look when you say "If you give at this level, you'll get this," and then I sign up to give and never hear from CoC again, except to withdraw my money... :ROFLMAO:
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Yeah - that’s bad. All that was initially set up by SNAIL locally they didn’t have much say-so or guidance in 1) what was said on the website and 2) how it got done. No process was ever in place locally to fulfill the deliverables. SNAIL from my perspective didn’t do us any favors - so hopefully we start to see some changes.

Seems really simple but when someone gave to COC it’s not like anyone locally received an email which is a very simple plugin to notify people locally that ____ gave ____. So unless they sent monthly reports which they didn’t really do a great job of - they didn't really have anyway of reaching out and even thanking donors.

I’m not making any excuses for it - I’m here being transparent with where/why it was happening and how we are working to fix it.
 

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SycamoreStateofMind said:
Yes - we have all the data necessary to contact everyone on the donor list and a plan is in place for that.

Hopefully, the majority of those people still want to contribute on a monthly basis. I know we have been collecting giveaway items for quite awhile now for prize drawings for those who exclusively donate to the collective on a monthly basis. They are pretty nice items as well - I don’t want to give anything away just yet.

Last time I did that - I had people questioning if any of this would ever come to fruition… lol Eventually, yes.
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I appreciate your efforts and the update. A few questions/suggestions/comments....
  • You mentioned those contributing on a monthly basis. We chose to do an annual contribution (and will do so again next year), do you have those donor's info also and will you be contacting them?
  • I'd suggest contacting everyone that's contributed already and confirm their contribution. We donated last spring and never received any type of confirmation, thank-you or any other communication. As a committed fan, we'll continue to give but some people will be put off by this and may not give again.
  • Are the efforts geared towards only basketball or other sports?
  • When I Google "Indiana State University NIL", the first thing that pops up is the "Sycamore Champions NIL Fund" on Indiana State's website. Is that still an organization? Should it be removed from ISU's website and replaced with current information. The proper investments should be made to make sure the current NIL collective appears at the top of the search results.
  • I hope we put forth a strong marketing campaign. I have friends that follow basketball, baseball, T&F and other sports closely and have no idea how to contribute to the NIL. I'd REALLY like to see an "Our Team" type of campaign (social media, print, radio/tv, billboards, etc.) with details about what we're trying to accomplish with the NIL and how we can each help. I understand the need for large donors as part of the equation, but it seems to me that there should be a coordinated effort to show what a number of smaller donors could do. I think a lot of people don't think they can contribute enough to make a difference - we need to be getting the word out that a group of people making a small donation can make a difference. I'm just throwing out numbers but 2,000 people at $25/month is $600,000 a year.
Thanks again.
 
Proud Sycamore said:
I appreciate your efforts and the update. A few questions/suggestions/comments....
  • You mentioned those contributing on a monthly basis. We chose to do an annual contribution (and will do so again next year), do you have those donor's info also and will you be contacting them?
  • I'd suggest contacting everyone that's contributed already and confirm their contribution. We donated last spring and never received any type of confirmation, thank-you or any other communication. As a committed fan, we'll continue to give but some people will be put off by this and may not give again.
  • Are the efforts geared towards only basketball or other sports?
  • When I Google "Indiana State University NIL", the first thing that pops up is the "Sycamore Champions NIL Fund" on Indiana State's website. Is that still an organization? Should it be removed from ISU's website and replaced with current information. The proper investments should be made to make sure the current NIL collective appears at the top of the search results.
  • I hope we put forth a strong marketing campaign. I have friends that follow basketball, baseball, T&F and other sports closely and have no idea how to contribute to the NIL. I'd REALLY like to see an "Our Team" type of campaign (social media, print, radio/tv, billboards, etc.) with details about what we're trying to accomplish with the NIL and how we can each help. I understand the need for large donors as part of the equation, but it seems to me that there should be a coordinated effort to show what a number of smaller donors could do. I think a lot of people don't think they can contribute enough to make a difference - we need to be getting the word out that a group of people making a small donation can make a difference. I'm just throwing out numbers but 2,000 people at $25/month is $600,000 a year.
Thanks again.
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Rusty all good questions and a few things I hadn’t thought of - so thanks for the detailed thoughts.

1) The email that went out today only went out to Monthly donors so we are reaching out for an annual list as well. Wouldn’t have thought to ask for it until you said something so thanks again. Of course they didn’t just say - here is the annual list as well…

2) Monthly and Annual will be both entered into monthly drawings accordingly. All donors will be receiving personal emails at minimum in the future - I wouldn’t be surprised if you receive calls/letters as well still working out those details. But it hasn’t been done well in the past and we’ve got a plan to clean it up moving forward.

3) Also a good question and I hope to have more information on this after the Opendorse contract is in place and everything is set up. In theory, yes - people/businesses should be able to support any athlete individually in any sport should they so choose. But I don’t want to over commit on that because I’m not 100% sure what Opendorse platform we went with as ISU Athletics was involved in that decision as well.

4) Rest assured that RJL would have addressed this as part of the contract we are signing with them. But I will make sure to bring this to their attention once we are up and going.

5) Your math and game plan has actually been our main focus with RJL. We are looking to capture as many monthly/annual donors at whatever amount they can afford - major gifts are not really our focus. It’s going to be a major social media/marketing push to communicate better and raise awareness to get people to become monthly/annual donors to the collective. Your math is eerily similar to the goals that we have been discussing within - spot on!
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
Rusty all good questions and a few things I hadn’t thought of - so thanks for the detailed thoughts.

1) The email that went out today only went out to Monthly donors so we are reaching out for an annual list as well. Wouldn’t have thought to ask for it until you said something so thanks again. Of course they didn’t just say - here is the annual list as well…

2) Monthly and Annual will be both entered into monthly drawings accordingly. All donors will be receiving personal emails at minimum in the future - I wouldn’t be surprised if you receive calls/letters as well still working out those details. But it hasn’t been done well in the past and we’ve got a plan to clean it up moving forward.

3) Also a good question and I hope to have more information on this after the Opendorse contract is in place and everything is set up. In theory, yes - people/businesses should be able to support any athlete individually in any sport should they so choose. But I don’t want to over commit on that because I’m not 100% sure what Opendorse platform we went with as ISU Athletics was involved in that decision as well.

4) Rest assured that RJL would have addressed this as part of the contract we are signing with them. But I will make sure to bring this to their attention once we are up and going.

5) Your math and game plan has actually been our main focus with RJL. We are looking to capture as many monthly/annual donors at whatever amount they can afford - major gifts are not really our focus. It’s going to be a major social media/marketing push to communicate better and raise awareness to get people to become monthly/annual donors to the collective. Your math is eerily similar to the goals that we have been discussing within - spot on!
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Thanks for the info - sounds like we're on the right path! When you get the annual list of contributors, let me know - we can use my info to spot-check what they're giving you.

Again, thanks for your efforts and the updates.
 
Proud Sycamore said:
I appreciate your efforts and the update. A few questions/suggestions/comments....
  • You mentioned those contributing on a monthly basis. We chose to do an annual contribution (and will do so again next year), do you have those donor's info also and will you be contacting them?
  • I'd suggest contacting everyone that's contributed already and confirm their contribution. We donated last spring and never received any type of confirmation, thank-you or any other communication. As a committed fan, we'll continue to give but some people will be put off by this and may not give again.
  • Are the efforts geared towards only basketball or other sports?
  • When I Google "Indiana State University NIL", the first thing that pops up is the "Sycamore Champions NIL Fund" on Indiana State's website. Is that still an organization? Should it be removed from ISU's website and replaced with current information. The proper investments should be made to make sure the current NIL collective appears at the top of the search results.
  • I hope we put forth a strong marketing campaign. I have friends that follow basketball, baseball, T&F and other sports closely and have no idea how to contribute to the NIL. I'd REALLY like to see an "Our Team" type of campaign (social media, print, radio/tv, billboards, etc.) with details about what we're trying to accomplish with the NIL and how we can each help. I understand the need for large donors as part of the equation, but it seems to me that there should be a coordinated effort to show what a number of smaller donors could do. I think a lot of people don't think they can contribute enough to make a difference - we need to be getting the word out that a group of people making a small donation can make a difference. I'm just throwing out numbers but 2,000 people at $25/month is $600,000 a year.
Thanks again.
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Ya, I gave a One Time payment, and never heard back from anyone. Check was cashed though. They did get that down.
 

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Proud Sycamore said:
Thanks for the info - sounds like we're on the right path! When you get the annual list of contributors, let me know - we can use my info to spot-check what they're giving you.

Again, thanks for your efforts and the updates.
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I was planning on posting every single person who was giving and what they are giving? Think people would be cool with that… 😂🤔
 
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All - a contract was (finally) signed with RJL Solutions earlier this week. RJL is going to spend the next couple weeks updating the website and getting a bunch of things switched over before we can officially turn the lights back on if you will.

I would anticipate that many of you who have donated in the past both monthly/annually will be receiving a personal call thanking you for your past contributions, thanking you for being patient as we transition over to a new webhost/marketing host and asking you to hopefully reinstate your gift to the collective. All previous gifts will be shut off if they haven't already - meaning anyone that wants to donate will have to go online and re-allocate.

I also would expect for those donating to receive more frequent updates/communications from the collective. Those that have donated will be entered into drawings on a regular basis for some pretty nice prize packs - I think odds of winning one of these prize packs is pretty good right now. The mission is pretty simple for us - we need as many (volume game) monthly/annual subscribers as we can get. 500 fans giving $25 a month would put us at $150k annually. Some will be able to give more - some less, any amount will go a long way toward helping us reach our initial goal of $500k annually.

Thanks again to all of you who reached out on here - it really helped get things moving on the back-end to say this is unacceptable we need to make a change now!
 
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Will my annual gift from the CoC website to men's 🏀 & baseball process correctly? Wanted to verify beforehand. Thanks
 
RunSyc said:
Will my annual gift from the CoC website to men's 🏀 & baseball process correctly? Wanted to verify beforehand. Thanks
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My guess is they will suggest you just wait - or you could make a check out to COC and we will process it directly into our bank account. Less convenient.

Let me ask and I will get back to you. I hope the new site will be up and running by mid January
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
My guess is they will suggest you just wait - or you could make a check out to COC and we will process it directly into our bank account. Less convenient.

Let me ask and I will get back to you. I hope the new site will be up and running by mid January
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No problem, will wait until early Feb. No rush.
 
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