Mizzou Athletics Restructures Fundraising Model to Align with New College Athletics Era
12/9/2024 3:25:00 PM | General, TSF
Mizzou Athletics Fund reinforces a “Will to Win”
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri Department of Athletics has announced it is adopting a new fundraising structure focused on elevating competitive success in the fast-evolving college athletics landscape. The change includes reimagining the Tiger Scholarship Fund as the Mizzou Athletics Fund beginning Jan. 1, 2025.
As college athletics continues to evolve, and with significant changes on the horizon in the coming months, Mizzou Athletics leadership has been proactively modeling many different scenarios to help prepare for the future. While its function will remain the same, reimagining the Tiger Scholarship Fund as the Mizzou Athletics Fund will more accurately reflect the mission of this arm of the athletics department.
"We are on a mission to deliver consistent, high-level winning programs like our fans have never experienced before," University of Missouri Director of Athletics Laird Veatch said. "As college athletics prepares to enter the revenue-sharing era, we have been laser focused on finding ways to elevate Mizzou's position and capitalize on the opportunities in front of us. As part of our fundraising restructuring efforts, renaming the Tiger Scholarship Fund the Mizzou Athletics Fund will more accurately reflect how donors already contribute to much more than scholarships. At the same time, we will simplify our giving programs to more clearly align our donor benefits with the contributions that will be so vital to our sustained competitive success."
The Mizzou Athletics Fund will be made up of three pillars:
- Game Day Priority: provides fans priority access to the seating and parking options they desire
- The Mizzou Leadership Circle: will recognize and steward our top donors who give above and beyond seat-related donations, and joining will unlock additional stewardship opportunities such as VIP events, team travel and special access
- The Mizzou Legacy Societies: will recognize lifetime philanthropic support of Mizzou Athletics
"The Mizzou Athletics Fund is designed to make it simple for current contributors to understand what they are helping support and for new supporters to get involved," University of Missouri Executive Athletics Director/Chief Revenue Officer Blair DeBord said. "Whether someone is interested in traditional game day elements like parking, ticket locations or postseason ticket priority or they are looking for unique, elevated VIP experiences or access, our new programs are designed to motivate current and future supporters to join our 'Will to Win.'
"Additionally, with the launch of Mizzou Legacy Societies, we will recognize Mizzou faithful who have given philanthropically for many years and served as the backbone of what we do for significant periods of time. Overall, the new Mizzou Athletics Fund offers something for everyone who is interested in helping Mizzou sport programs and student-athletes succeed."
Football season ticket and Mizzou Athletics Fund renewals for the upcoming 2025-26 athletics season will be delivered digitally to current donors and season ticket holders in the coming days. These digital invoices will reflect a significant ticket price and priority donation increase for football, and a separate priority donation for men's basketball. Men's basketball ticket prices for the 2025-26 season will be distributed at a later date.
"This next stage of college athletics will be even more about resource investment to secure top-tier talent," Veatch continued. "Change is never easy, but we remain highly energized by the collective will to win of the Mizzou faithful. We will continue to lock arms together to take Mizzou to new heights."
Mizzou Athletics Fund and ticket office representatives will be reaching out individually to donors and season ticket holders once renewals are live to discuss and answer questions. The athletics department also plans to hold numerous "town hall" type meetings throughout the winter and spring to further engage supporters and answer any related questions.
For additional information, please visit www.MUTigers.com or contact Mizzou Athletics at (573) 882-0704.
