By: Ally Hayduk, Bulldog Blitz
For the past four years Samford athletics has facilitated Athletics Giving Day to serve as an event where individuals may give back to the student athlete community. Maggie Folker, Samford’s Director of Development, says Athletics Giving Day impacts the Samford community in various ways.
What is Athletics Giving Day?
In simplistic terms, Athletics Giving Day is an opportunity for individuals (alumni, current student athletes, parents, or anyone who loves Samford sports) to give back to the athletic community.
Maggie Folker says it’s “a day where everyone who has a passion for Samford athletics can bless the sports.” This annual event is a way for the entire Samford community to be involved with Bulldog athletics and to all come together to rally around and support.
What does Athletics Giving Day do?
This fundraising event serves as a way to help supplement team budgets and allow the various sports to acquire the best equipment possible- something that would not be possible otherwise. Folker says the funds help teams “to meet the needs of the program as designated by the head coach,” including but not limited to, more nutritious meals on the road and newly released equipment. Athletics Giving Day allows athletes to have a first class experience.
In Years Past…
Since the program’s inception in 2019, Athletics Giving Day has grown, allowing the goal for the following year to rise as well. After the first event in 2019 the total funds raised tallied up to about $34,000. During 2020, amongst the COVID-19 pandemic, the program raised over $55,000. Continuing this growth trend, 2021 raised a total of $77,000. This year their goal is to raise $100,000 and look to work with 500 donors.
Team Affiliations
Athletic’s Giving day allows you to designate their gifts to a specific sports team on campus. Because of this, Samford Athletics says you can be assured that your gift will go exactly to where you want it. This program offers one the unique opportunity of impacting a very targeted audience and therefore increasing the team’s quality of life in collegiate sports. When making a gift you will directly select the team you would like to place an impact on- big or small. If you do not have a specific team you would like to gift, you may place an “unrestricted gift” and therefore impact all sports teams. Folker says the “Bulldog excellence fund serves the widest range.”
The Greater Impact?
Folker says Athletics Giving Day is “a special day where one’s giving not just blesses those that get the support but also those who are making those blessings.”
Through this program Samford Athletics hopes to get people in the habit of “blessing where they have been blessed,” as Folker describes it.
Folker says if you’re not ready to donate funds this time, you can still impact the Samford community. “Be present, coming to games is huge.”
To learn more about Samford Athletics, visit their website.
