March Madness

Daniel Kaufman is the co-founder of the One Percent Foundation, an organization building a broad-based movement of next generation philanthropists by making giving accessible, engaging, meaningful, and fun.It’s March again, so you know what that means. Buzzer beaters. Office pools. Bracketology. Non-stop college basketball.

 

I’m a basketball junkie, so March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year. The intense drama created by Cinderella stories and the tradition of the Tournament is riveting. I am captivated by the unpredictability of the event.

While the Tournament itself is endlessly entertaining, it’s all of the other stuff surrounding March Madness that has transformed it into a truly sticky cultural event. The office pools, sports bars, television/online production, and of course, the non-stop reporting, discussion, and trash talking through social media channels captures the public’s attention and doesn’t stop for three weeks. March Madness has become one of the ultimate social events of the year.

For the third year in a row, the One Percent Foundation is running Grant Madness, a March Madness pool for good. It works just like a normal office pool ($10 donation entry fee), except participants are competing for the right to give their favorite nonprofit a grant funded by the pooled donations. Once again, our generous sponsor, MerchSource, has generously agreed to match the entry fees, super-sizing the grant making pool available to the Grant Madness winners.

Whether you have an opinion on Wichita State’s defensive scheme or if you’ve never heard of Coach K (let alone know the how to spell “Krzyzewski”--I had to look it up), we want you to play. Worst case: you get to have fun while you compete with and talk trash to a great, socially minded community. Best case: you get to surprise your favorite organization with a grant they never expected.

The Tournament starts first thing Thursday morning, so join Grant Madness today and spread the word. The more the merrier.