Fund-Raising Efforts Paying Off

With only 2 1/2 men’s and 2 1/2 women’s scholarships to divide among more than two dozen athletes, Cal State Northridge swimming Coach Pete Accardy cannot compete for recruits against schools that fully fund their programs.

“The bottom line is they get bought away from us,” Accardy said, echoing the frustration of a majority of Northridge coaches.

“If we had the money (other schools) have, we’d be scoring at NCAAs. Nine and one-half out of 10 times, (recruits) take the money. They are going to schools that haven’t developed kids or had success.”

Since state funds are not available to increase the number of scholarships, the only solution is for CSUN to raise more money from the private and corporate sector.

To that end, $62,927 in pledges and contributions were raised during a five-week intensive fund-raising drive that ended Friday.

Under the direction of Paul Bubb, CSUN’s director of athletic development, a group of 30 volunteers appealed to donors in person, and groups of student-athletes contacted by phone prospective donors, including previous contributors and alumni letter-winners.

According to Bubb, the fund-raising efforts (provided all the pledges come through) are already ahead of the $60,000 that was raised between March, 1990, and January, 1991.

The drive will continue through January with various events, including the Matador Golf Classic at Wood Ranch on Aug. 12. Last year that event raised close to $6,000 and was part of the $60,000 total figure.

This time, with the addition of more sponsors, Bubb believes he can net at least $10,000.

His goal for the year is $150,000, some of which will be raised by individual sport booster clubs and steering committees that Bubb is organizing in the tradition of softball and baseball groups that were established before Bubb took over in August.

The steering committees, such as football’s QB Club, identifies possible donors and organizes fund-raisers such as a recent golf outing that is expected to net between $10,000 and $20,000.

Eventually, Bubb wants to fund athletic scholarships solely through student fees and contributions from donors, leaving Northridge with its other sources of scholarship funding (athletic revenues and funds from the Cal State Northridge Foundation) free to fund recruiting, and the expansion of coaching staffs and student services.

“The year the teams had on the field was very good,” Bubb said. “In general, people are responding positively to the direction we are going.”