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Brackets for Good Kicks Off Fundraising Tournament in Ann Arbor

Zingerman’s Community of Businesses is very pleased to announce that we’re a proud Community Partner of Brackets For Good, and we encourage you to get in the game and help our local nonprofits raise much-needed funding.

Zingerman’s, joins other Divisional Partners, the James A. & Faith Knight Foundation, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, and United Way of Washtenaw County, and Title Partner, Valeo Financial Services in launching Brackets for Good’s inaugural year in Ann Arbor.Brackets-For-Good-2016-Ann-Arbor-Area copy

What is Brackets For Good?

  • Brackets For Good is a 501(c)3 organization that is on a mission to turn local philanthropy into a team sport. The seasonal excitement of tournament brackets and easy to use technology combine into a marketable force that skyrockets the awareness of local nonprofits, raising them new funds, and attracting new supporters along the way. In 2016 Brackets For Good tournaments will be held in Indianapolis, Louisville, St. Louis, Ann Arbor Area, and the Twin Cities.

This program helps build awareness, raise funds and expand marketing capacity for local nonprofits through competitive, online fundraising tournaments

How does Brackets For Good Work?

  • Picture the annual college basketball tournament. Now, replace the teams with local nonprofit organizations and change the competition to be fundraising where match-ups are one week long and $1 = 1 point donated online via annaborarea.bfg.org.
  • Nonprofits advance through the single elimination tournament by scoring more points than their opponent (raising more money) and the winning organization receives an additional $10,000 unrestricted donation from the tournament’s presenting sponsor.
  • Watch this 1 Minute Overview (VIDEO) to learn even more.

The six-round tournament takes place over five weeks beginning on the last Friday in February and ending on the first Friday of April, with each of the first four rounds lasting a full week and the semifinal and championship round each lasting three days.  (Feb 26 – April 1)

The tournament begins with 64 local charities, each paired in a competitive match-up against an opponent. Charities advance through the rounds by scoring more points than their opponent. Every $1 donated through bfg.org equals 1 point scored for the chosen charity. At the end of each round, the nonprofit with the most points in the individual match-up advances to the next round, the points are reset, and the fundraising continues until a champion is crowned.
The kicker here is that even if a nonprofit is eliminated at the end of a round, they keep all the money raised during the round! 

Each Friday, rounds end at 7:59:59 pm. At 8:00:00 pm the winners are announced and the next round of the tournament begins.

The grand prize is $10,000, provided by Valeo Financial Advisors.

To see what local partners are involved and to watch the tournament progress, visit the Ann Arbor Area page.

History of Brackets for Good

  • Since March of 2012 through April of 2015, Brackets For Good tournaments have only operated for 17 out of those 157 weeks.  During those 17 weeks of tournament operations which span across the last four years, we have raised over $1.3M for local charities in Indianapolis, Louisville, and Washington D.C.
  • This year, Brackets For Good is excited to expand operations into St. Louis, Ann Arbor Area, and the Twin Cities. Many more communities will no doubt follow in years to come.

Zingerman’s is very proud of our participation in Brackets For Good and we encourage you to get in the game and help support our local nonprofit organizations! 

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