The Wildcat Fund Produces Record-Breaking Year

A record-breaking 2015-16 fiscal year for The Wildcat Fund helped UNH Athletics Development amass another impressive year, surpassing the $2.6 million mark in philanthropic support for the period ending on June 30.

Athletics Development overall collected a total of $2,642,288, which includes the current use gifts of The Wildcat Fund, gifts to endowed athletic funds and gifts to capital project funds.

The Athletics Department has embraced an aggressive plan to enhance and improve facilities in recent years and has used a series of major gifts and other funds to embark on projects such as the new Wildcat Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium and home of the UNH football team that will open in early September.

The Wildcat Fund, also referred to as the athletics annual giving program, brought in $814,941 for 2015-16. The number represents 3,048 donors and the dollar figure is 26 percent higher than the Fund's previous best year.

"The Wildcat Fund is so important because it helps our operating expenses day by day," said director of athletics Marty Scarano. "Current-use support is vital and provides an immediate and direct impact on our students. But equally exciting is the growth of the endowment, particularly our scholarship funds. Our nearly $18 million endowment is significant for a mid-major school such as ours. There aren't a lot of athletic departments like us that have $18 million in endowed funds and I'm confident we're going to grow that to $20 million. That just gives us a huge head start on the competition."

The endowment market value for all athletic funds stands at $17,913,470 at the end of the 2015 calendar year. The larger the market value of the funds, the more can be paid out each year to support student-athlete scholarships.

A named, endowed fund can be established at UNH with a gift of $50,000 and endowed athletic funds provide vital scholarship support in perpetuity.

"We have been able to accomplish some transformative major initiatives the last 16 months at UNH in athletics and it's because of the great generosity of our benefactors and we couldn't be more appreciative," Scarano said. "The things that we have been able to do go beyond the bricks and the mortar. The bricks and the mortar are very dramatic in and of themselves, but the fact is we are broadening our base of support and engaging with more alumni in meaningful ways."

Scarano looks forward to what lies ahead.

"Our success in fundraising has altered the culture of giving to athletics and allowed us to further our reach in regard to new conversations with individuals about philanthropy," he said. "We are very excited about the future and realizing new initiatives that further benefit our student-athletes and programmatic competitiveness."

Other fundraising accomplishments include:

Capital projects - The Watkins Center for Student-Athlete Excellence, a center-hung video board for the Whittemore Center that is the home of the men's and women's hockey teams and Wildcat Stadium are the centerpieces of the improvements completed, or nearing completion, over the past 16 months.
The third annual 603 Challenge – a UNH initiative based around the state's area code and conducted the first three days of June – produced its best numbers yet with 825 gifts designated to an athletics account, raising $177,700 in support of the school's athletics programs.
UNH Athletics continues to grow its number of endowed scholarship funds and there are currently 122 endowed funds. That number has grown by 50 percent in the last several years.

As the UNH football team embarks on a new era in Wildcat Stadium, the athletics department has several new projects in the planning and discussion phase which would enhance the student-athlete experience for participants on all the school's teams.

The new proposed capital projects include a football locker room renovation, a men's and women's soccer and lacrosse stadium/pitch and a student-athlete strength and conditioning center.

The Wildcat Fund and other fundraising efforts pave the way for UNH's teams to realize continued success on the fields, courts and ice, along with other venues.

The Wildcats as a group had another impressive year in 2015-16, collecting a pair of America East team championships and making four NCAA tournament appearances as teams. Seven athletes made a total of 10 appearances in NCAA competition, capped by first-team All American efforts by Elinor Purrier and Laura Rose Donegan in the steeplechase at the Outdoor Track & Field championships in Eugene, Ore., in June.

In total, seven Wildcats earned All American honors in 2015-16.

UNH again shined against its league rivals. The Wildcats were the top America East program in the final Learfield Athletics Directors Cup standings for the third straight season. The Directors Cup measures NCAA success over a wide range of sports.

To top it all off, UNH won the America East Academic Cup for the second straight season as the athletes compiled an overall grade point average of 3.23.

Gifts to The Wildcat Fund benefit UNH's 20 varsity athletic programs and nearly 500 student-athletes. This support helps allow UNH student-athletes to develop as distinguished leaders in their sports, in the classroom, and as professionals who will continue to represent the Wildcats beyond their competitive careers at the university.

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The Wildcat Fund Produces Record-Breaking Year

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