Financing an NCAA Team

[Dulax31]

This is totally hypothetical .

I know there are many restrictions when it comes to schools having teams competing at the NCAA level (i.e. Title nine, Facilities, teams to play), but what if the school's only limitation was finances?

Would it be possible for a school to field an NCAA team, but be financed from an outside source (i.e. Alumni, Dues, or a Donars)? I know it sounds crazy but would it be possible?

[mholtz]

It would have to be a heck of a big source. Also, don't forget insurance and other such things. Schools may be reluctant to loose control of finances when they are funding the insurance/liability.

[Has No Left]

This is totally hypothetical .

I know there are many restrictions when it comes to schools having teams competing at the NCAA level (i.e. Title nine, Facilities, teams to play), but what if the school's only limitation was finances?

Would it be possible for a school to field an NCAA team, but be financed from an outside source (i.e. Alumni, Dues, or a Donars)? I know it sounds crazy but would it be possible?

Sure, set up a $10M endowment for the lacrosse team and run it yearly with the 5% interest off the principle. Ivy League schools and others do this at various funding levels.

[DanGenck]

Many teams use endowments and other outside sources of income to finance teams, especially in the world of non-revenue generating athletics. Colorado College Lacrosse as well as Montclair State in New Jersey are financed by outside sources.

Heck, even in Minnesota, I believe Swimming & Diving as well as Men's Golf at the U of M were kept alive by outside fundraising.

You can also look at most Ivy League Football teams and notice that the head coach is always the "Joe Smith Harvard Football Coach" because some guy named Joe Smith has endowed the position for ever and ever.

So, the answer is yes, many teams raise money to be varsity or keep their program alive on their own. It's difficult, but it can be done.

[LaxRef]

Heck, even in Minnesota, I believe Swimming & Diving as well as Men's Golf at the U of M were kept alive by outside fundraising

I think it was men's gymnastics and men's and women's golf. (They couldn't possibly justify ditching swimming and diving with one of the premier facilities in the midwest.)They raised money for an endowment.

[Dulax31]

Many teams use endowments and other outside sources of income to finance teams, especially in the world of non-revenue generating athletics. Colorado College Lacrosse as well as Montclair State in New Jersey are financed by outside sources."

Dan, how do you know this? Can you give me any more details?

[John Paul]

Endowments are the lifeblood of college funding these days. Put simply, an endowment is a gift, or group of gifts, that is invested by the university. The U then takes a percentage from the interest earned, usually 5%, to spend each year on whatever the endowment is targeted toward. Any interest earned above 5% goes back to the principal to allow growth to adjust for inflation.

Thus in order to support a $50,000 a year scholarship (typical full scholarship cost that includes tuition, room, board, books), you would need a $1,000,000 endowment. To cover a lacrosse team that may cost $500,000 a year to run, you'd need a $10 million endowment. Here at Michigan a team like lacrosse would cost about $1 million a year to run, so to fully fund it we would need a $20 million gift. You can see why it's so difficult to elevate to varsity at bigger schools.

Endowments are more common in the academic side of higher education, simply because that's where most of the fundraising happens. In athletics they are often used to support everything from scholarships to coaches' salaries to facilities upkeep to the general fund.

Almost every school has endowments in athletics. The most impressive is Stanford, where they have every single athletic scholarship in the department endowed. Nobody else is close to that level in athletics.

[Dulax31]

Endowments are the lifeblood of college funding these days. Put simply, an endowment is a gift, or group of gifts, that is invested by the university. The U then takes a percentage from the interest earned, usually 5%, to spend each year on whatever the endowment is targeted toward. Any interest earned above 5% goes back to the principal to allow growth to adjust for inflation.

Thus in order to support a $50,000 a year scholarship (typical full scholarship cost that includes tuition, room, board, books), you would need a $1,000,000 endowment. To cover a lacrosse team that may cost $500,000 a year to run, you'd need a $10 million endowment. Here at Michigan a team like lacrosse would cost about $1 million a year to run, so to fully fund it we would need a $20 million gift. You can see why it's so difficult to elevate to varsity at bigger schools.

Endowments are more common in the academic side of higher education, simply because that's where most of the fundraising happens. In athletics they are often used to support everything from scholarships to coaches' salaries to facilities upkeep to the general fund.

Almost every school has endowments in athletics. The most impressive is Stanford, where they have every single athletic scholarship in the department endowed. Nobody else is close to that level in athletics.

Great answer, but I have a question. Are there any USLIA teams out there with an endowment set up?

[thedude]

I believe CSU has a fund set up through their Alumni.

[Tim Whitehead]

Simon Fraser is working on setting one up..

See here for info:

http://www.sfulacrosse.ca/donate.php

http://www.sfulacrosse.ca/pdfs/endowment.pdf

[cjwilhelmi]

When I was a senior at Harding we discussed it and looked into it. Dont know if it ever happened or will ever happen.

[DanGenck]

Many teams use endowments and other outside sources of income to finance teams, especially in the world of non-revenue generating athletics. Colorado College Lacrosse as well as Montclair State in New Jersey are financed by outside sources."

Dan, how do you know this? Can you give me any more details?

I know about Colorado College because we investigated their system at St. John's with our athletic department. Montclair State cut their lacrosse program a year or two ago but the program still goes on because of fundraising... I can only imagine what kind of system they put in.

[Chad Donnelly]

We started our endowment last season. Our goal is to raise two million over the next five years. Once we reach the two million dollar mark, we will generate approximately 90k annually. Shortly after we announced our plans for the endowment, we received a $215,000 donation from one of our player's parents to get the ball rolling. If you have questions about starting an endowment please feel free to contact me as I have spent countless hours working on this project.

[Sonny]

We started our endowment last season. Our goal is to raise two million over the next five years. Once we reach the two million dollar mark, we will generate approximately 90k annually. Shortly after we announced our plans for the endowment, we received a $215,000 donation from one of our player's parents to get the ball rolling. If you have questions about starting an endowment please feel free to contact me as I have spent countless hours working on this project.

Sounds like a future podcast interview Chad.