Charity of Choice Reaps More than Expected

Alliance member selected as Texas Bowl beneficiary

Alliance Magazine News Service 12/01/08

University of Houston players spend time with youth from DePelchin during Texas Bowl season.

Despite the state of Texas’ long football history—think Dallas Cowboys, Texas Longhorns, and so on—by the early- to mid-2000s, the city of Houston’s annual college “bowl” game had fallen on hard times. So much so that when Alliance member DePelchin Children's Center in Houston was chosen to be the bowl’s charity of choice in advance of the December 2006 game, the agency understood that the likelihood of receiving donations, especially in the first years, was minimal.

Even if little donations resulted, DePelchin’s senior leaders knew that Texas Bowl organizers could offer the organization something else equally valuable—an immense amount of free publicity. In the first year, the Texas Bowl provided DePelchin with $1.7 million worth of advertising. Furthermore, to everyone’s surprise, the first year of the partnership attracted more than 52,000 people to the Texas Bowl and raised $50,000 in donations for DePelchin.

	DePelchin children are visited by Texas Christian University (TCU) cheerleaders and the school’s Horned Frog mascot.

Since 2006, the bowl’s success has increased steadily. In addition to bringing an estimated $25 million in economic benefits to the city, DePelchin has benefited through monetary donations, gifts of game tickets, and activities for the organization’s youth.

"We were honored that DePelchin was chosen as the charitable beneficiary of the Texas Bowl,” says Curtis C. Mooney, president and CEO at DePelchin. “Looking forward, we know this will become one of the great college football bowl games as it continues to grow.”

He continues, “In addition to the $130,000 DePelchin has received in the first two years, we have also received $3.4 million in promotional activities and hundreds of tickets so our client families can enjoy the game and its festivities."

During the second year of the partnership, in 2007, DePelchin received a donation of $70,000 from the Texas Bowl. AIG American General also committed to a three-year partnership with the Texas Bowl to help raise funds for DePelchin and donated 500 tickets for DePelchin youth and families to attend the game.

AIG serves as the presenting sponsor of Touchdowns For Texans—a pledge by AIG to donate $1,000 for each touchdown during the bowl game, up to $10,000.

TCU players teach youth from DePelchin how to make the sign of the Horned Frog.

“We are delighted to partner with the Texas Bowl to benefit DePelchin Children’s Center,” says Matthew Winter, president and CEO at AIG. “The important work done each day by the great people at DePelchin has a direct impact on the lives of so many in our community. All of us at AIG take great pride in supporting such a worthy and impressive organization.”

Because of this partnership, DePelchin’s youth have been able to attend games as well as practices, spend time with players, receive autographs and photos, and take away gifts such as T-shirts and footballs to remember their experience.

“DePelchin is immensely honored and grateful to have been a part of the Texas Bowl,” says Mooney. “Not only has our involvement resulted in generous monetary donations, it has greatly increased awareness of DePelchin and allowed our children and families to attend the game, meet the players, and experience the excitement of college football.”

The 2008 Texas Bowl will be held Tuesday, Dec. 30. DePelchin staff and Texas Bowl organizers hope to continue the strong tradition of football and philanthropy established during the first two years of their partnership not only with the 2008 game, but also beyond.