Nonprofits Make Their Own March Madness

March can be a lonely month at the office for those who aren’t into college basketball. But even if you’re not following March Madness—which officially kicks off with Selection Sunday  (opens in a new tab) this weekend—you might be intrigued by how nonprofits are experimenting with ways to apply some gamification to their missions by taking advantage of the excitement stoked by the annual tournament.

Last week, for instance, the U.S. Apple Association  (opens in a new tab) launched Apple Madness  (opens in a new tab), which pits 36 varieties against each other in a series of month-long matchups that will ultimately crown “America’s favorite apple.” To boost interest beyond Granny Smith versus Fuji or Honeycrisp versus Golden Delicious, USAA is also offering prizes during the event from some of its member associations across the country. In a release  (opens in a new tab), the Washington Apple Commission’s Lindsey Huber called it “a great way to involve our domestic and international consumers in a fun U.S. sports tradition.”

Elsewhere, the Partnership for Better Health, a Pennsylvania wellness nonprofit, has launched Match Madness, which encourages 16 nonprofit organizations to compete to receive a portion of a $50,000 stretch pool, proportionately distributed based on the funds each organization raises during the event. PBH executive director Becca Raley told the Sentinel t  (opens in a new tab)hat the March Madness-themed activity is a way to make fundraising both simpler and more fun.

“For us, this is really different. Typically when we make grants to local nonprofits we require a grant application, interim report, final report,” she says. “For the first time we’re really making funds available no strings attached, and we’re doing that because we know how hard it is for our community programs to raise funds for core operating support.”

Such brackets have a history of fueling awareness and donations. Last year, the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International partnered with the group TakePart to create an Endangered Species Bracket Challenge, which allowed site visitors to vote among 16 species. Online votes for the winner (the Mexican grey wolf) brought $5,000 in donations  (opens in a new tab) to Conservation International. In 2014, Associations Now reported on one Indiana nonprofit whose “Grant Madness” event helped distributed $5,000 in funds.

March Madness-style brackets have been used to winnow down everything from bank CEOs  (opens in a new tab) to favorite characters from The Wire  (opens in a new tab) to saddest rock songs  (opens in a new tab) to favorite mammals  (opens in a new tab), but there’s some serious business underneath all that bracketology. According to the American Gaming Association, last year’s NCAA basketball tournament prompted Americans to bet more than $2 billion on 70 million brackets  (opens in a new tab). That can do a number on office productivity, but in 2013 we shared some tips on getting things done during the games.

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