Athletic Department sees record-breaking year
The Mississippi State athletic department received a school-record $37.6 million in gifts and pledges through the Bulldog Club and Bulldog Foundation during the 2010-11 fiscal year, Mississippi State director of athletics Scott Stricklin announced last Wednesday.
This fundraising record includes all outright gifts as well as multi-year pledges to the Bulldog Club, Bulldog Foundation and the "Today.Tomorrow.Forever" athletic facilities initiative. The total includes approximately $20.3 million toward the planned Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex, spearheaded by a record $12 million gift from the Seal Family announced earlier this year.
The $37.6 million figure is a significant increase from last year's total of $17.4 million and marks a fifth-straight year of increased athletic donations. Athletic fundraising has risen from $9.2 million in 2007 to $11.6 million in 2008 to $14.9 million in 2009.
"These record fundraising totals are a result of the many people throughout our state and beyond who love this university," Stricklin said. "Our university is in the midst of record enrollment, record giving and record ticket sales, each of those highlights how unified we all are in pushing Mississippi State forward into the future."
Last Tuesday, the Mississippi State Foundation announced a record-breaking year of fundraising for the university as a whole, collecting $80 million in private gifts.
For additional information about Mississippi State athletics, please visit http://www.mstateathletics.com.
