
Big Brothers Big Sisters is looking to recruit 700 new mentors (“Bigs”) across Wisconsin in the next few months — including 100 new Bigs right here in Dane County — to meet local mentorship needs with an initiative they are calling “The Big Draft.”
“This opportunity came around for this campaign and it just seemed to make sense, because the draft, as you know, is happening in Green Bay (April 24-26), so it’s a no-brainer,” Tracy Anderson, the community partnerships manager of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County, tells Madison365. “The campaign will run from February through April 26. There are 14 Wisconsin organizations that are a part of this, and we are trying to recruit 700 new Bigs statewide. Locally, in Dane County, our goal is 100 Bigs.”
Through a mix of digital, print, TV, radio, online advertising, and in-person events, as well as collaborations with local businesses and organizations, “The Big Draft” is looking to raise awareness of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission and hopefully inspire individuals to volunteer as mentors for a waiting group of “Littles.”
Anderson says that Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County is excited to embark on The Big Draft campaign in partnership with NFL Inspire Change. Since 2019, the two organizations have partnered to increase the number of young people they are able to serve and to engage enough mentors to reach them effectively.
“For this campaign, we are looking forward to doing some podcasts, doing PSAs (public service announcements) again, and working with local businesses in town, like we did with our last campaign – It Takes Little to be Big,” Anderson says. “So there are a lot of businesses that already going to be working with us — like doing a drink special for the draft during this period of time …or having table tents. They will be giving us support so we can draft the Bigs that we want. “
BBBS of Dane County is in the process of putting together a kick-off party for The Big Draft initiative at the end of the NFL football season and a draft party in late April. Irelyn Baumberger, the development and office coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County, has been working on the campaign.
“I’m super excited because I think it gets to show a side of the NFL which is very big on partnering up with nonprofits and other charities,” Baumberger tells Madison365. “And the big thing for me is to have the support of people like Mark Murphy, the CEO of the Packers, and the fact that he was a Big when he was in college, so he was already very involved with this program. I love that the Packers have done multiple fundraisers for Big Brothers Big Sisters and other youth organizations. So I think it’s just a really great partnership overall, and we can really show how it doesn’t matter who you are, you can really help out with the youth in your community.”
The Big Draft kick-off will take place Thursday, Feb. 6, 4-6 p.m. at Me & Julio’s in Fitchburg. There will be happy hour drinks and appetizers provided and special speakers at the event. The goal is for the community to learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters and to potentially become volunteers and mentors.
“It should be really fun,” Anderson says. “In Wisconsin, we really love our sports so we’re going to be getting jerseys and we’re going to make this a lot of fun. We are getting Big ambassadors that are going to help us and they all will have jerseys on, so they could be volunteering at one of the events that we do or sharing their story about being drafted as a Big.
“This campaign will be very similar to It Takes Little to be Big [campaign], where we are trying to recruit a diverse pool of people, specifically men and specifically people of color,” she adds.
Running from February to April, The Big Draft will look to meet the growing demand for mentorship in Madison and beyond and to cut down that ever-growing waitlist of Littles needing a Big.

(Photo: Big Brothers Big Sisters)
“We’ve done great work with the waitlist … it has come down quite a bit. I think a lot of it had to do with the It Takes Little to be Big campaign kicking off last year, and then all the promotion that we’ve done over the year, so we’ve seen a dramatic drop in the waitlist,” Anderson says. “So it’ll it’ll be fun to see what happens with this direct campaign.
“January is National Mentoring Month and I’ve already heard from a lot of Bigs who feel it’s important to be the change you want to see in the world. If you want to see change in the world, be a mentor, or mentor someone,” Anderson adds.
The Big Draft will highlight the game-changing impact of mentorship, showing that anyone can make a lasting difference in the life of a child.
“Everyone has some sort of mentor in their life or someone that they look up to. So to be able to be that for someone else is wonderful. It’s mutually beneficial, and it creates a lifelong partnership,” Baumberger says. “You can really help in a hands-on way. It’s not like you’re just donating money somewhere, which is also great, but you get to directly help and make an impact on a young person’s life and be the change you want to see in the world.”
The minimum commitment to be a Big Brother or Big Sisters is one year, but most matches go much, much longer.
“It’s often about making a lifelong match. It’s so meaningful to the young people in the program but I’ve talked to so many mentors where it has made a huge positive change in their lives as well,” Anderson says.
“For some people, they might think that being a Big can be overwhelming,” Baumberger adds. “We do have our match support specialist. We have so many resources available, and you can lean on other Bigs. You can lean on us at Big Brothers Big Sisters. So I think that’s important for people to know that they are not alone. And there’s always fun events going on and we always have tickets to games and activities and sporting events. So it’s a really great opportunity. It’s very rewarding.”