The race to raise funds for Keene State College’s athletic teams finished on March 1, with a total of $48,661 raised, which shattered the original goal of $20,000 by 243 percent.
Keene State’s 2020 Athletics Giving Challenge was held during the month of February and was a campaign in which KSC partnered with Fenton Family Dealerships to encourage students, staff, alumni and families alike to donate funds to their favorite teams.
The interim manager of Annual Giving, Patrick Shaughnessy, said 2020 was his third year participating in the challenge, but this year was the most “hands-on” of them all. Shaughnessy said there were 457 unique donors who raised a total of $48,661.
“It’s the second [highest number of] donors the challenge has ever had, but it’s the most dollars we’ve ever generated for the challenge. I was super excited watching it the whole time; it has been a blast,” Shaughnessy said.
The athletic department’s marketing and promotions coordinator, Dr. Ron Butcher, said the purpose of the fundraiser was to challenge coaches and teams to raise as much money for their teams as possible.
“It’s fundraisers like these that make the difference between teams taking a van or a bus to an away game or whether or not they get new uniforms,” said Butcher. “With state budgets lacking in New Hampshire, it’s imperative that the athletic department has fundraisers.”
Out of all the teams that participated, the men’s soccer program generated the most money, earning $13,276 out of the $1,000 set for the team, according to head coach of men’s soccer Rick Scott.
Scott said he was very proud of the men’s soccer alumni and friends of the program who donated funds to the challenge, adding that they responded very well.
“It’s awesome. Everyone worked hard to achieve the goal and we did it in 11 days,” Scott said.
Scott added that to aid their campaign, the men’s soccer team, with the help of Keene State’s journalism, multimedia and public relations Department Chair Chad Nye, put together a 45-second video informing friends and family to donate.
Scott said that the men’s soccer program owed a great deal of their success to Shaughnessy, who was there for them every step of the way. “He was amazing and he was always available to call. He was very accomodating and supportive and we would not have had success without him,” Scott said.
Shaughnessy said he was proud of men’s soccer for “busting their tails,” but he also enjoyed working with all of the coaches.
“It was lots of fun. I hope it’s a bridge for future challenges like this. It was a true team effort,” Shaughnessy said.
In second place for the challenge was men’s lacrosse, followed by women’s field hockey, earning $7,645 and $5,677 respectively, according to Shaughnessy.
Scott said that with the funds earned by the soccer program during the Giving Challenge, they hope to purchase a new scoreboard at the Dr. Ron Butcher Field.
Hunter Oberst can be contacted
at hoberst@kscequinox.com
