By Liz Hardaway, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Team OWU has raised $167,000 more than last year.
The total amount of donations received for Team OWU for the 2014-15 school year was $348,682. This raised the 2015-16 goal to $320,000, compared to the $200,000 goal set five years ago, according to Colleen Garland, the vice president for university advancement.
This was exceeded by a surplus of donations and the fund received $516,000 total in donations, according to the 2015-16 Annual Giving Summary.
“The University is funding about 65 percent of our operating costs in athletics, and the rest is coming from fundraising,” said Roger Ingles, the director of athletics.
Team OWU is the largest source for fundraising for athletics, along with restricted gifts, which is a one-time gift, such as the new tarp given to women’s softball or the new baseball outfield fence. Many coaches run summer camps to raise money and team members participate as well.
“We feel like we’re staffed at the level we need to be staffed … When I first took over, I asked [the coaches] if we want to invest in staffing or the budget … we can fundraise the budget, you can’t hire a coach that easy,” Ingles said.
Team OWU also has two different types of gifts: designated and undesignated. The designated funds go to whichever team or project the donor desires. Undesignated funds are just as important, raising money that may not have access to the alumni connections that longer established teams have, said Ingles.
Athletes work to raise funds as well, such as holding a raffle each year. Each player was required to sell roughly 15 tickets for $10 each to help pay for the football gear, and in turn, that ticket would enter the buyer in a chance to win a prize for each home game of the season, said Evan Guein, a former wide receiver and Jermaine Frazer-Phillips, a current defensive end.
“There’s a high chance you could win,” Guein said.
There is also a 48-hour city challenge held in the spring, an online giving challenge that had alumni from different cities competing to see which city could raise the most money for the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, the overall donation funds for operating the university, said Garland.