About The College of Idaho Athletic Association
The College of Idaho Athletic Association (CIAA) supports all C of I athletic teams and is the fund-raising vehicle to ensure all our Coyote student-athletes the opportunity for success.
The CIAA is led by a board of directors consisting of C of I alumni and former student-athletes. While attempting to tackle many financial issues within the athletic department, the CIAA has identified two top priorities - increase annual giving to help offset national post-season travel costs, and grow the athletics endowment to help secure the future of C of I sports programs
In many ways, the Coyote athletic department has been a victim of its own success. Post-season travel is not a budgeted item by the College but, instead, must be covered through fundraising by each individual sport. In this past academic year (2008-09), The College of Idaho sent eleven teams to national championship competition. These eleven included - men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's skiing, men's and women's track, volleyball, women's basketball, and softball
As budgets everywhere become more constricted, all of our athletic programs fundraise to cover everyday operating expenses such as uniforms, equipment, non-conference regular-season travel and regional post-season travel. At best, the task can seem daunting. However, when the cost national post-season travel is added, it can almost seem overwhelming. That is where the CIAA wants to help.
As mentioned earlier, increased costs for regular season expenses and recruiting are straining sports budgets and these expenses are expected to rise even more in the future. This leads to the second top priority of the CIAA - growing the athletics endowment. The current athletics endowment was recently created through a generous gift of $100,000. Only interest earnings may be used to offset costs, thereby keeping the principal intact to provide on-going support for future Coyote athletic teams. The goal is to grow the endowment yearly, providing additional long-term funding for our teams.
One way to significantly impact the future of Coyote athletics is to consider a planned gift to the athletics endowment. Often, a misconception is that planned giving is only for the wealth. The truth is, even people of modest means can make a transformational gift through planned giving. These commitments are as simple as adding a beneficiary in your will, or changing the beneficiary on a retirement plan or insurance policy. For details on the potential of a planned gift, contact your financial advisor or any C of I development officer.
Finally, the CIAA is also seeking supporters to take part in new athletics facility projects beginning with the on-going construction of the new baseball stadium. In-kind gifts or goods or services are just one of many ways individual and corporations can help in this area.
We hope you are proud of The College of Idaho student-athlete. We also hope you’ll become part of our team by joining The College of Idaho Athletic Association today.
