Lehigh Athletics Community Sets New Record with its March Mania Giving Challenge

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Year three of Lehigh Athletics' March Mania Giving Challenge produced all-time highs across the board. Conducted during the final week of March Madness (March 27 – April 3), March Mania generated 1,388 gifts from alumni, staff, parents, friends, and current student-athletes totaling over $230,000 in support for Lehigh Athletics and its various programs.

"It was heartwarming to see the Lehigh Athletics community rally so energetically around March Mania this year," said Bill Griffin, Senior Associate Director of Athletics and acting Athletics Partnership Director. "Like last year, we had three primary objectives for March Mania:

We needed a trigger to spark third quarter giving (Jan., Feb., Mar.).
We need to increase participation and expand our support base.
We wanted to educate our current student-athletes about the Lehigh Athletics Partnership, what it is, what it does, and how it contributes to their athletics experience while they are here at Lehigh.

We are thrilled, of course, and also very grateful that the Lehigh community enabled us to achieve each of those objectives."

With the lift provided by March Mania, Lehigh Athletics has now received over 4,000 gifts since the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1, 2016) and a total of $2 million in support of its annual operations.

"March Mania has positioned us to close the fiscal year strong (June 30, 2017 end date) and to potentially have our best fundraising year ever," said Griffin.

There are three "competitions" within the March Mania campaign and the winner of each competition triggers a budget increase of $2,000 from the Athletics Department to the sport that the winners are associated with.

Women's Basketball won two of the three contests again this year. They had the highest percentage of alumnae (38%) AND the highest percentage of young alumnae (59%) giving back to their program.
Lehigh Swimming & Diving won the third competition by having the largest number of donors (79) give back to their program over the week-long campaign.

"Our program was super-excited about the overwhelming support we received during the March Mania campaign," said Women's Basketball Head Coach Sue Troyan. "It started with our current team stepping up and providing 100% support to the initiative as we kicked off the campaign. The buy-in from our team helped to motivate our alumnae to step forward and do the same. We talk to our alumnae a lot about how 'it takes a village' to get the job done at Lehigh. In a highly resource-driven environment, the support of our former players, current fans & friends, and past and current parents is critical to our current and future success. That support comes in many different forms as our alumnae realize that they will always be a part of our Lehigh family. The leadership starts from the top with the commitment and time that our Partnership Representative, Roseann Corsi, puts into her work with our key alumnae and leadership teams. Kelly Collins Romanczuk and our Era Reps did an outstanding job of rallying our troops for their support. It truly does take a village!"

Lehigh Swimming & Diving Head Coach Rob Herb was equally delighted.

"How amazing was it to reach out to our team and alumni to rally around our signature Partnership event, March Mania!" said Herb. Not only did our current team rise to the occasion with 100% participation, but when reaching out to our alumni and telling them that we were competing for the top position in a number of the giving contests, they answered the call! I am so thankful to everyone. The Lehigh Swimming and Diving family truly understands the incredible amount of support that we have with our Partnership and everyone is engaged to make a difference."

Herb continued, "I just got back from the Siano '12/'13G/Curci '09 wedding where most of the guests were Lehigh swimmers and divers. The first question most of them asked me was if we had reached the top of the donor number list for March Mania! Totally engaged!"

As exciting as any of the other results was the fact that every single current varsity sports team achieved 100% participation from its current student-athletes. That's over 600 young people showing their support for their respective programs.

"Our teams achieving 100% is truly a testament to the quality of the student-athletes that we have here at Lehigh," said Buck Schwab '18, Captain of the Student-Athlete Council and a pitcher on Lehigh's baseball team. "It is special to see our teams understand how important giving back is to the program, and this is a trait that will carry with us for the remainder of our lives. Our pride in our respective teams, and in Lehigh Athletics as a whole, is something that makes our athletics program so unique and so great."

Donations to the Lehigh Athletics Partnership Fund and/or all of the sport-specific or program-specific funds that are in place at Lehigh, including intramurals, club sports, the Fitness Center and its programs, enable Lehigh to conduct a broad range of recreational, fitness, and highly competitive sports programs.

"We could not do what we do without the support of the Lehigh family," said Griffin. We are touched and inspired by the loyalty and generosity exhibited by so many. It enables us to provide today's student-athletes with an experience that will alter the trajectory of their lives and provide memories that they will cherish forever."

Lehigh University Athletics

Lehigh Athletics Community Sets New Record with its March Mania Giving Challenge

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