K-State Launches New and Improved Ahearn Fund
Welcome to the new and improved Ahearn Fund, K-State’s National Fund for Athletic and Academic Excellence!
Over the past six months, we have worked hard to develop a renewed level of trust and communication with our donors and ticket-holders and an unparalleled pattern of accountability and transparency detailing the use of the hard-earned dollars you choose to share with K-State in the form of gifts and ticket purchases.
In this new Ahearn Fund membership guide, you will once again see our 2009-10 budget and notice that grass-roots support through the Ahearn Fund is K-State Athletics’ largest single source of revenue. Your gifts are absolutely critical to K-State’s ability to achieve the vision of a model intercollegiate athletics program.
I want to personally thank you in advance for your decision to directly support 435 K-State student-athletes competing in 16 intercollegiate sports. Ahearn Fund gifts for priority seating and parking, as well as general Ahearn Excellence annual gifts, are used for scholarships, sports medicine, academic support and other services that directly benefit K-State student-athletes, while also funding K-State’s margin of excellence through enhancement such as recruiting budgets and competitive coaches’ salaries.
Because of the critical nature donors will play in the future success of K-State’s athletics programs, the Ahearn Fund staff has worked with the guidance and feedback of a dedicated and diverse group of volunteer donors to implement a number of improvements to the Ahearn Fund. These improvements are designed to simplify the donor and season-ticket process, reward donor loyalty and increase consistency and fairness. Our new membership guide will outline these improvements for you, including enhancements to the Priority Points System and our Ahearn Fund membership levels and coinciding benefits.
At the same time, we need your help to provide the fiscal integrity you – and K-State student-athletes – deserve.
By making your 2010 pledge anytime before March 1 with a minimum initial gift payment of 25 percent and completing your 2010 gift by June 15, you enable the administration to complete the budget planning process and be in a position to respond to needs, opportunities and market conditions that directly affect K-State’s ability to achieve our core goals.
As you consider your 2010 Ahearn Fund gift, please know that your participation makes a difference, regardless of the amount. On behalf of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, thank you.
Go Wildcats!
John Currie
Director of Athletics
