They call the Prepare to Roar campaign an "annual campaign," which means it happens once a year. But it pretty much takes all year to generate the kind of success this campaign has enjoyed.

This year's fundraising effort for the Idaho State athletic department set another record, raising $1.2 million from 635 donors, the department announced this week. That money will be used for a wide array of causes, from retaining good coaches to feeding athletes good meals. Perhaps most importantly, the success of the fundraising campaign will send a good vibe to everybody associated with the athletic department — including the athletes.

"The most important thing is that this campaign has an immediate impact on how student athletes FEEL," said ISU athletic director Pauline Thiros, who provided the capitalization of the word "feel." "This is not money sitting on a balance sheet. Right away, it becomes nutrition, financial aid, new equipment, better travel and retained coaches …

"Also, and very important, is that it tells our student athletes and coaches that this community believes in them," said Thiros. "We have ambitious goals and we are not asking them to win championships alone."

While the campaign itself lasts for a couple of weeks in August, the preparation for its success goes throughout the year. Crew Keller, ISU senior associate athletic director who is directly involved in the campaign, said maintaining communications and connections with the community and potential donors is a necessary and ongoing process to the success of the campaign.

"In all reality, it's a year-long effort," said Keller. "This campaign is why we do things like the monthly coaches newsletters, for example. Because I want you as a donor, as a fan, to hear from (ISU football) Coach Hawkins every month out of the year. I don't want you to just get an email from him when we're trying to raise money, but I want you to feel connected to the program. We try and look at things through a 12-month lens. What is your relationship with the department? How often do you hear from us?"

Another aspect of the fundraising effort is identifying so-called "challenge gifts" — relatively large donations that can be "unlocked" when the campaign meets certain thresholds like 100 donors, or $25,000 in donations.

"That's what drives the annual giving campaign," said Keller. "So, it's talking to people throughout the year, not just when the campaign is going on. Are you OK if we market and recognize that (gift), but also leverage it for future gifts? Those are the really fun conversations to have with people because we're able to use their gift to motivate others and that is such a powerful gift."

The big gifts help unlock the smaller gifts, and as Keller notes, it's the $100 or $200 donations from a lot of people that are the foundation of the campaign.

There are also donors who want to support a specific team and they'll offer to match, dollar for dollar, any donation to that team up to a specific amount.

Another key to the success of the Prepare to Roar campaign is the participation of the coaches and athletes. A naturally competitive bunch, ISU sets up competition between each of the teams to see which meet their fundraising goals first, and among the athletes for who can secure the most in donations.

This year, the ISU track and field and cross country team hit its collective fundraising goal first, earning the program a $10,000 prize. The volleyball and softball teams are also traditionally among the better fundraisers, said Keller.

"That $10,000 prize came from a donor who just loves the Prepare to Roar campaign," said Keller. "They said, 'Hey Crew, we want this to have the highest impact it can have,' so we use it to pit the teams against themselves."

Hillary Merkley, director of the ISU track and field program, is one of the more aggressive fundraisers among the coaches, Keller notes.

"Hillary wants that bonus," he said. "All of our coaches do. You can imagine for virtually any program, $10 grand can make a difference. She's out there reaching out to her network. She is really pressing the student athletes — 'Hey, did you reach out to your parents yet? How many donations have you got?' In a nice way, of course."

Keller notes that by the time many of ISU's athletes have made it to college athletics, their parents are used to spending a lot of money on sending them to tournaments, buying them equipment, paying for travel, and other athletic-related expenses. If they're on scholarship at ISU, a lot of those expenses go away, so they may be more able to contribute to the ISU campaign.

The athletes, needless to say, are also competitive. ISU has established what Keller calls "small prizes" for the athletes who raise the most money.

"The student athletes, some of them are pretty hungry — they want the prize, so they take it among themselves to reach out to their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles," Keller said.

The Prepare to Roar campaign started seven years ago, and the amount it has raised has grown every year. Keller said he can see a scenario where the number of donors levels out — the number of athletes is fairly stable, and that is a big driver for the number of donors. But he believes there is always room for growth for the total amount raised.

"We can always do a better job of securing greater challenge gifts in terms of size," he said. "Even small things on the back end in terms of strategy can make a difference. When we send out the mailer, or when we set up the giving page, doing some things like maybe increase the ask amounts by 5%. That could equate to another $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 or more. I think there are always scenarios where it could increase."