When Lynn Sprangers received a lunch invitation from then-Brewers president Wendy Selig-Preib more than seven years ago, she didn't know that a job offer would be coming her way that afternoon.
"I got a phone call from our former president, Wendy Selig-Prieb, and she said she wanted to have lunch with me," said Sprangers, a former award-winning journalist who was working for the Milwaukee County executive's office at the time.
During the meeting, Sprangers said that Selig-Prieb made her an offer with the intent of expanding the Brewers' community outreach efforts after the organization's long and difficult battle to secure funding to build the new Miller Park.
"She said that the club was looking to grow its presence in the community, and that she felt I had both the community contacts and the unique media background to help in that effort," Sprangers said.
Originally starting in the newly created position of Vice President of Community Relations and Government Affairs, Sprangers also oversaw a newly created department called Brewers Charities.
First, however, Sprangers served as coordinator for the 2002 All-Star Game at Miller Park, eventually moving into the role as full-time president of Brewers Charities, the non-profit branch of the organization when asked by then-Brewers president and CEO, Ulice Payne Jr.
"The feeling was that the club could grow our non-profit side even more," Sprangers said. "We were now in Miller Park, the All-Star game was behind us and (Brewers Charities) was a new challenge to take on."
Today, under Sprangers' leadership, Brewers Charities is responsible for generating and overseeing more than $500,000 annually for philanthropic efforts throughout the Milwaukee community and the state of Wisconsin. Now serving her sixth year as Charities president, Sprangers, outlined the initial goals of the organization and how they have contributed to the overall growth of the Brewers' non-profit efforts.
"First and foremost, we have a non-profit, tax-exempt organization," Sprangers said. "So the first thing we set out to do was to raise money. Our non-profit status meant we could approach people and organizations in a fresh and different fashion than we might have through a business relationship. It opened up opportunities to talk to companies and foundations about ways that we could extend our reach beyond what the club was doing through our business side or through the community relations department."
Sprangers decided to establish a dual focus based on the themes of improving both youth education and youth recreation in Milwaukee. Brewers Charities has developed several successful key programs as a means to achieving that end including, but not limited to, the Brewers Buddies, Student Achievers, the Selig Scholars Program, the Money Savvy Generation Program, Holiday Card Contest and an annual fundraiser with Hank Aaron, all of which are funneled into local youth programs.
"One of the most popular programs we operate is the Brewers Buddies program," Sprangers said. "That program is our complimentary ticket program. We put (game) tickets into non-profit organizations throughout the state. Those tickets come from our season seat holders, from players, corporations and sponsors who donate tickets and ask us to put them in the hands of good community organizations.
"I can tell you, this year, we've already put more than 85,000 tickets into the state of Wisconsin to bring kids and families with economic hardships into the ballpark. Our Brewers Buddies program is one of our most popular and most recognized efforts and we are proud to offer this program to organizations across the state."
The Student Achievers program has existed in the Brewers organization for two decades. With the support of the Bradley Foundation, the program awards students in 10 different Wisconsin counties for high-level academic achievement and positive behavior in the classroom.
"The Student Achievers program is a 20-year partnership with the Bradley Foundation," Sprangers said. "Over that span, the Bradley Foundation has provided more than $900,000 in support for a program that rewards students who demonstrate good grades and good citizenship. The schools actually pick the students to be student achievers and then we provide complimentary game tickets, a special certificate, recognition on our Web site and special mention of all students in a (newspaper) insert."
"Each year we select between five and 10 students," Sprangers said. "We use two key components to evaluate the applicants: financial need, and a willingness to attend a college or university in Wisconsin. Our goal is to keep our best and brightest young people here so that they can contribute to our communities and be our future leaders."
In addition, Selig Scholars are offered opportunities to intern with the Brewers organization and work part-time while advancing towards graduation. An application will be made available on the club's Web site early next year for students interested in applying for scholarships in 2008.
Brewers Charities also has made significant progress in donating funding to local area youth baseball programs, including, in cooperation with the United Community Center and the Milwaukee County Parks Department, some $30,000 in 2007 for improvements to the Felix Mantilla Little League Fields located in Baran Park in Milwaukee.
"We support a number of youth baseball organizations, and in some cases we support with our own dollars or we do it in conjunction with our players. This year we had more player support than we've ever had before for our youth baseball programs. As a result of that we are providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a number of local youth baseball leagues," said Sprangers.
"Because of support of our players and our fans, we were able to make some ball field improvements to Felix Mantilla Little League Fields. We provided $30,000 worth of improvements last year and our goal is to add a ball field redevelopment program to Brewers Charities starting this year."
Sprangers said that the organization has heard from contacts within the community and around the state that baseball is seeing a surge in popularity and interest. As a result, "ball field redevelopment and supporting youth baseball and softball will continue to be hallmarks of the (charities) programs," she said.
The Money Savvy Generation program is designed to make efforts to educate students on the importance of fiscal responsibility. Brewers Charities, in conjunction with the Money Savvy Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Education are instructing teachers how to educate students on the basic concepts of saving, spending, donating and investing finances.
"Through this program, we are trying to teach our young people how to be smart with money," said Sprangers. "(Brewers pitcher) Chris Capuano has a degree in economics from Duke University-Phi Beta Kappa. So, Chris was the perfect spokesman for our Money Savvy Generation program.
Sprangers has set lofty business goals for the future and does not see possibility of raising $1 million per year for charitable efforts in Milwaukee and throughout the state as unrealistic.
"I would love to tell you that in the very near future, we will be able to say that we are putting a million dollars a year back into our community each year. I don't think that is an impossible goal to reach. When we get generous players like (Brewers' pitcher) Jeff Suppan who is donating $100,000 annually to Brewers Charities along with civic-minded investors like (principal owner) Mark and Debbie Attanasio, I have no doubt we can get there.
Sprangers would also like to see the continued addition of educational and recreational pieces to the Brewers Charities puzzle.
"(We're) looking to continually add to our menu of programs, whether they're educational pieces, recreational pieces so that our programs continue to touch more young lives and more families. Baseball is a family sport and all you have to do is go to a youth baseball game and watch how many families are sitting in the stands. As our team performance improves, so should our impact off the field. The money that we spend on our youth recreation and youth education programs is really an investment in our community. The more funds we can raise, the greater impact we can have."
Certainly, the Brewers Charities president will not be looking for new employment any time soon as she absolutely loves her line present of work.
"I have the good fortune of getting up every day knowing that I have been blessed with a wonderful career opportunity. I love what I do and the Milwaukee Brewers and Brewers Charities have provided me with an opportunity to make a real difference in our community. When I get a thoughtfully written thank you from one of our scholarship recipients or a hand-made card from a child who attended one of our games, what could be better than that?"
