Pitt State Gorilla Kick Off Fundraising Event

Highlights A Speed-run

When Pitt State Athletics set out to grow its annual Gorilla Kickoff into a bigger, more polished fundraiser, the department turned to MMTH Creative Studio to help make it happen. Drawing on our experience with fundraising events, we audited the prior year, built custom event branding, designed signage and social graphics, and produced a Fund-the-Need video to bring the scholarship story to life. The result was a record night: more than $259,000 raised for student-athletes, a 51 percent jump over the year before.

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Creative
Logo Development
Print Collateral
Video

A Signature Night for Gorilla Athletics

The Gorilla Kickoff Party and Auction is Pitt State Athletics’ signature end-of-summer fundraiser, held each August at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas. Part block party and part tailgate, the night brings together fans, alumni, coaches, donors, and community members for food trucks, yard games, and live and silent auctions, all in the name of Gorilla athletics. Proceeds fuel the Silverback Fund, the athletic department’s scholarship initiative that helps close the gap for more than 350 Pitt State student-athletes, none of whom receive a full-ride scholarship.

Raising the Bar

What began years earlier as a more formal gala has grown into one of the department’s biggest nights of the year. Attendance had climbed from roughly 500 guests to nearly 1,000, and the prior year’s event raised more than $170,000. For 2026, Pitt State set an ambitious goal of $300,000 and looked to elevate the Kickoff into a more polished, cohesively branded experience worthy of that ambition.

To help reach it, the athletic department brought in MMTH Creative Studio, whose experience in fundraising event planning and execution made it a natural creative and consulting partner. Building on an existing relationship with the university, MMTH focused on the elements that shape how the night looks, feels, and connects with donors.

MMTH began the engagement with an audit of the previous year’s Kickoff, digging into what worked and where the night was leaving opportunity on the table, then turning those findings into practical ways to sharpen the guest experience and drive more donations. From there, the studio developed event branding built specifically for the Gorilla Kickoff, giving the evening a distinct, cohesive identity that could carry across every touchpoint. MMTH designed a full set of event signage and a suite of social graphics to build anticipation in the weeks leading up to the night, and produced a Fund-the-Need video for the program that gave the scholarship appeal a clear and emotional story to rally the room. Throughout the planning cycle, MMTH stayed in the Pitt State team’s corner as a consulting partner, and followed the event with a recap to capture what worked and inform the years ahead.

A Record Setting Night

The night delivered a record. The 2026 Gorilla Kickoff raised $259,209, an increase of roughly 51 percent over the prior year and the most the event has ever brought in. The Fund-the-Need appeal was the single biggest driver, bringing in $113,800 across 77 gifts, nearly 44 percent of everything raised. Nearly 1,000 supporters turned out to back Pitt State Athletics and its student-athletes, with Fund-the-Need proceeds supporting scholarships through the Silverback Fund. In a single year, the Kickoff took a major step toward the program’s vision and set a new bar for future events.