Colorado State University Athletics
The Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign is a fundraising effort to help CSU Athletics bridge the gap of financial challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic. Since last spring, several of our programs have seen cancelled, postponed, and shortened seasons. In these unprecedented times, the CSU Athletic Department must find new and innovative ways to Educate, Engage, and Excel. The Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign is a call to action for donors, fans, alumni, and friends of CSU to make a transformational impact on the lives of our 380 student-athletes by providing resources needed to navigate the budgetary obstacles created by the pandemic.
You can make the greatest impact by making a gift to the CSU Athletics Stalwart Rams COVID-19 Relief fund, but you may also direct your gifts to support our any of our 14 programs, athletic scholarships, the Together Initiative, or the Canvas Stadium fund. All gifts to this campaign – regardless of amount or designation – will come with a 5x Ram Points multiplier and all donors will receive recognition on our Stalwart Rams Honor Roll.We have set an ambitious campaign goal to raise $1,000,000 by the end of January 2021. Click the link below to make your impact on the Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign.
Surviving economic strains of the pandemic at CSU Athletics
The impact is being felt right now, for everybody. Most people have come to understand the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will carry on beyond a time when a vaccine, or even a cure is found. As Steve Cottingham sat in on a webinar in October, one speaker noted there will be no returning to normal, and probably not even what people would view as the “new normal.”“This is not a one-year issue, not a two-year issue,” said Colorado State’s Deputy Director of Athletics. “I think we’re going to see real deep thinking about how college athletics at the Division I level moves forward.”
The Ram Club, through the Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign, is looking to provide a path from the present to future without a definitive end in sight. Cottingham said the athletic department is looking at an $18 million loss in self-generated revenue, two-thirds of which can be attributed to football alone.
David Crum, the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development, is leading his Ram Club staff into the campaign with hopes to fill in some, but not all, the gaps, with the guiding principle of student-athletes first and foremost remaining intact.
Crum said the target for the campaign is to raise $1 million to help lessen the effects every athletic program at the university is facing through budget cuts.
“Our goal is to help bridge the financial crisis we’re going through due to the pandemic and the loss of fans in our stands,” Crum said. “As a development office, our mission is to provide financial support through philanthropic giving to our student-athletes in their pursuit of a world-class education and equip them with the needed resources to ensure them the best possible athletics experience. That requires resources, and our goal to this is to help bridge the gap from the pandemic to back to normalcy.”
For the Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign, the targeted sources for donations are a general Stalwart Rams Relief Fund, the Athletic Scholarship fund, the Together Initiative Fund, the Canvas Stadium Fund and each individual program’s booster club.
“I think we had a great response from people who recognized the immediate challenges we were faced with,” Director of Athletics Joe Parker said. “This is about that next-round effort, because I get a sense this is going to go beyond the fiscal year 2021 for us. The more we can get people marshalled around our immediate needs and thinking about the near term and even a little bit beyond, the better off we’ll be.
“From the very start, we talked about trying to manage this better than anybody else in our competitive set, and in doing that, when we’re all at a point where we can kind of claim we’re emerging to the other side, that we haven’t created too much self-harm and be invested in athletics to the point we have a lot of ground to make up.”
Colorado State’s business plan has been forced to change, but not as much as others. As Cottingham noted, the foundation has always been not to stretch too far, but to focus on where money raised can be best served.
Across the industry there have been cuts made to staff, student-athlete services and even the loss of sport programs. None of those steps have been taken at Colorado State, and the athletic department was committed to retaining student-athletes on scholarship who did not feel comfortable competing during the pandemic before the NCAA made it mandatory.
Putting people first, Cottingham said, has proven to be even more important at this time.
“I think that’s been one of the benefits of this. We run pretty lean compared to a lot of our peers,” he said. “We’ve always said we try to squeeze on what we spend to try to save money so we can spend money where it makes the most impact. I think COVID has really reinforced that desire as to what things really matter the most to student-athlete experience, team success, and really try to drill on what those expenses are. Again, those things start with people. You can get a lot of things done with great people.”
Parker noted what has become so clear – 2020 has been a calendar of disruption for so many people nationally. As the university as a whole has navigated the ever-changing landscape, the athletic department has remained steadfast in creating a memorable collegiate experience for the student-athletes it serves.
With the generosity he has seen so far from supporters, he is encouraged the department will continue to provide those far down the road.
“I have a heavy gratitude. We’re so fortunate people respond the way they do, and they see the bigger picture of the impact they have on young people’s lives,” Parker said. “It is not just about sports and entertainment, it is about the development of young people through this experience.”
Crum is very aware the losses the athletic department are experiencing are being felt by those who are being reached out to for aid. With that in mind, the campaign is approaching supporters at their level of comfort.
“If all of our donors give at the financial levels they are able to give -- no matter the dollar amount -- during these challenging times, our campaign will be a great success,” Crum said.
The hope is the student-athletes who provide fans a great deal of entertainment as they gain a world-class education to propel them into the global market ready to make positive change, will exit this stage of their careers without feeling a deep impact. Colorado State’s supporters, Crum said, have always been vested in the process.
“Our fan base has always been very resilient. They are stalwart in everything they do,” he said. “In the end, like our department with student-athletes first, our fans have always shown a great support for our student-athlete’s welfare and their experience at Colorado State. I’ve heard from a lot of our donor base who are wanting to give back to the department, to the student-athletes and the individual programs. This campaign is going to allow them to do so again.”
What we all remember as normal – what we believe to be normal now – will look much different somewhere down the road. Through the Stalwart Rams Relief Campaign, donors can help the athletic department shape the future into a positive outcome.