The Ahearn Fund, K-State's National Fund for Student-Athlete Excellence, announced today a grass-roots membership campaign designed to help increase annual participation.
Since 2009, annual gifts to the Ahearn Fund have increased by 37 percent, and starting today, the Ahearn Fund is challenging each of its 7,545 current participants to recruit one new member.
"Our fans are among the very best in the nation, and they have really stepped up to provide our student-athletes with a world-class experience," said Associate Athletics Director Chad Weiberg. "Our goal with the R1SE UP initiative is to begin to grow the Ahearn Fund into one of the largest annual fund memberships in the country so that we can further reflect to the collegiate athletics' world just how loyal and passionate our fans are about the Wildcats. We believe our current members are the Ahearn Fund's biggest fans and best ambassadors and will gladly encourage other K-State fans to join and help continue the momentum that we have experienced over the last several years in athletic and academic success. Each current and new member truly makes a difference, and we appreciate the Wildcat Nation for supporting our student-athletes."
For as little as $50 per year, every member of the Wildcat Nation can join the Ahearn Fund and directly enhance the experience of all 430-plus Wildcat student-athletes.
Current Ahearn Fund members will receive an email at the program's launch and will be asked to forward the invitation to join to all of their K-State family, friends, and colleagues. The email will contain a link for the recipients to sign up as new members and give credit to the referring member in a "Referred By" section. Referring members will be eligible to receive great rewards. Members without email addresses will receive a postcard in the mail.
Rewards for recruiting new members include:
Full details on the R1SE Up program can be found online at AhearnFund.com/RiseUp
