Success in holding the Scholarship Breakfast — the Jindal School’s annual major fundraiser — online in 2020 led the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the American Marketing Association to recognize it at the chapter’s annual gala in October with its Marketing Event of the Year Award.

The basic challenges for JSOM external relations and corporate development teams, which market and execute the breakfast, involved transitioning to a digital format because of COVID-19, said Dr. Diane McNulty, JSOM’s associate dean for external relations and corporate development. The teams aimed to move online without compromising the event’s brand — its dual missions related to thought leadership and fundraising, McNulty said.

To reinforce the two missions, the teams wrote a case statement announcing that Fred Perpall, CEO of The Beck Group, would speak at the virtual event on the critical role of scholarships for increased and shared prosperity in Dallas.

“We were not certain we could generate our usual level of sponsorship commitments for an online event,” McNulty said. Despite concerns, “our sponsorships far exceeded all fundraising goals.”

In all, the breakfast brought in over $110,000 in sponsorship revenue, resulting in net income of $109,000 — the largest single-year amount ever, and more than double the target amount of $50,000. The net income went entirely toward scholarships.

“It was enormously gratifying to see such support for our students during such a difficult time,” McNulty said. “And we are enormously proud that our colleagues in the American Marketing Association recognized our efforts.”