The Michigan State University (MSU) athletic development office drummed up $28.5 million in donations in 2006-2007, four times the amount of money it collected in 2002-2003.
According to excerpts from the article:
From 1999 to 2007, MSU raised a total of $127.6 million for athletics, which far exceeded the initial campaign goal of $75.7 million.
To handle its budget concerns before they become a crisis, MSU is intent on keeping costs down and sustaining success in football. Those are the obvious routes to stability; fundraising may be an avenue to aggressive cash advances.
Senior associate athletic director Chuck Sleeper and his recently expanded staff of five have to find the right people, keep them giving every year, keep them happy within the confines of university policy, get more out of MSU's pro athletes and work toward growing endowments.
MSU and other major athletic departments are moving toward a heavier reliance on donors—the life blood of private schools for decades.
Read the entire article here.
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