ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – Fundraising for athletics at UCF in fiscal year 2019 (ending June 30) produced record numbers in terms of gifts received and overall gift commitments, nearly doubling the figure for total commitments from just a year ago.
The last fiscal year included $31.7 million dollars committed from 7,519 donors and $13.6 million in gifts received. All three of those numbers are all-time highs for UCF athletics fundraising.
This year’s overall figure for gift commitments represents almost twice the number from a year ago ($16.6 million). That same overall 2019 total is nearly four times what UCF booked just three years ago ($8 million, an increase of 296%, in fiscal year 2016).
The Knights’ athletic fundraising is under the direction of Mark Wright, UCF deputy athletics director and University assistant vice president, and his Championship Resources staff.
“The unprecedented success of our student-athletes this year and fabulous work by our coaches and staff have combined to create more enthusiasm than we’ve ever seen from our alumni and fans -- providing greater resources that will help us achieve our ambitious goals,” says Knights’ athletics director and vice president Danny White.
“Our donors understand that they play a critical role in what we’re doing to create the future of college sports. We’re building something special here in Orlando, and these figures impressively demonstrate that. We are grateful for the generosity of so many that are investing in UCF.”
This year’s number for overall commitments represents almost five times the total figure from fiscal year 2012 ($6.5 million). The number of donors does not include student contributions.
The announcement of these fundraising figures comes just a week after UCF’s athletic success in 2018-19 was ranked 17th nationally by CBS Sports in its annual “Best in College Sports” ratings.
That ranking meant UCF finished higher than 11 members of both the Pacific-12 Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference, and also above 10 Big Ten Conference programs, nine from the Southeastern Conference and eight from the Big 12 Conference. No other American Athletic Conference program finished higher than 38th (Cincinnati).