Cal Poly President Sets a Flag: $25 Million In Fundraising to Save the Program
Yesterday at 05:01 PM
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong told organizers of the movement to save the swimming & diving program from being cut that they would need to raise $25 million to put in an endowment to keep the program from being cut. This is an increase from the prior floated number of $10-$20 million.
Those organizers told SwimSwam that at a conservative 4% endowment return rate, that this would create a budget of $1 million a year to fully-fund a competitive Division I program. “They want to go all in to win or not at all,” the organizer said.
4% aligns with the university’s current endowment distribution policy, which distributes 4% of the three-year rolling average in the fund, with any additional returns going toward growth of the found to “allow the funds to defeat inflation over time.”
The University of California endowment, which includes Cal Poly, returned 12.8% for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
While the “administrative budget” from the school, which included travel, meals, and other similar operating costs, was only $120,000, the team last year was tasked with raising $80,000 to supplement that. One organizer told SwimSwam that if things like coaching salaries and scholarships were included, the program costs around $800,000 a year to run at its current level.
When the program was cut last week, Armstrong mentioned the House v. NCAA settlement cost of $450,000 as a primary driver of the decision.
A GoFundMe that was launched to raise $200,000 is at almost $44,000 so far as of Thursday afternoon. Organizers say that this is just a portion of their fundraising effort, and that they are also in conversations with private donors to make up a larger share of that fundraising effort.
While fundraising efforts to save programs has rarely come to fruition, Cal Poly organizers tell SwimSwam that they think it’s doable. “We are going for it.”
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Cal Poly President Sets a Flag: $25 Million In Fundraising to Save the Program
