#MSBLFriday411 - Teamwork makes the Dreamwork

When current Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun was hired in 2018, it was clear from his resume and contract (see a $25,000 bonus for a mutually agreed fundraising target) he was brought for his skills as a fundraiser. Meanwhile, late last month, he showed just that with helping to secure the largest single gift in Washington State Athletics history in coordination with the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications.

If you work in college athletics competition is part of the job, from coaching to ticket sales or marketing, usually there is always a measure by which you measure yourself to judge success or failure. Within the campus environment, you (the athletic department) are typically not competing against other departments in the university as your product is vastly different (ex. when marketing for a football game, you not typically competing against an academic department lecture on campus for the community.)

The one department that usually conflicts with central campus is development (fundraising) as everyone you target to give their money generally are alumni of your institution. It is essential, and industry best-practice, to work in coordination with central campus development efforts (even some departments' athletic fundraising is located with central campus development). Washington State showed that through teamwork, you can make the dreamwork especially in the midst of a pandemic.

On May 19th, Washington State University announced that thanks to a future gift intention from Bruce Amundson and Julie Parker, an endowed deanship of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and an endowed directorship for Cougar athletics would be established once funded. WSU President Kirk Schulz said in the release:

“This commitment is a testament for how transformational opportunities can be realized for both academia and athletics through the power of philanthropic investment, which in turn raises the bar for excellence University-wide.”

While no numbers were released in the statement, the previous largest gift to Cougar Athletics was approximately $3 million so the total endowment will be north of that number, with Schulz dropping a hint that he hopes to make another gift announcement later this summer. It continues a run of success for Chun and Cougar Athletics, which saw 2019 Cougar Athletic Fund (annual gifts) donations increase approximately $900,000, as well as overall giving to the athletics department surpassing $15 million+ for just the third time in department history.

Washington State University is probably one of the most unique and remote campuses in the Pacific-12 Conference. It is located six hours from the nearest conference competitor (the University of Washington) and is not on any major interstate highway or major transportation hub and one of the smallest budgets in the Pac-12. It also has one of the smallest budgets in the Pac-12 conference, which makes it heavily reliant on media rights, sponsorship and fundraising dollars to supplement the department budget.

At the time of his hiring in 2018 Schultz commented:

“Pat did several gifts (at Florida Atlantic University) that were far larger than anything we’ve done here for athletics. I felt if somebody could operate and be that successful in an environment that didn’t have the same alumni base we do, what could he do with a wealthier, larger set of Cougs out there who need to buy into our program?"

It is clear that Chun, aided by successful teams and general enthusiasm around the department, is making fantastic progress at closing the fundraising gap at Washington State. As a fundraiser myself, it will be exciting to see what he and his team continue to do, in collaboration within the university, over the immediate future as they continue to elevate Cougar Athletics.