Tulane Green Wave’s New Fundraising Initiative has Unprecedented Goal
From Name, Image and Likeness to impending revenue-sharing with student-athletes, the financial structure of college athletics is changing like never before. Every athletic department is seeking to keep up.
Earlier this week, Tulane announced Ascend TUgether, a new fundraising campaign that is part of the Green Wave Club and has an audacious goal that Green Wave athletics has never met before.
Tulane hopes to raise $4 million in unrestricted giving and grow Green Wave Club membership to 3,500 donors by May of this year. Tulane athletics has never raised $4 million in a campaign before.
Green Wave Club members contributed a record $3.6 million to Tulane athletics' annual fund in fiscal year 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024).
Now, athletic director David Harris wants to blow past that mark in a matter of months.
"As those who follow college athletics know, this is a time of enormous change in our industry. Throughout that change and whatever evolution is to come, the foundation of our department is built on gifts to the Green Wave Club," said Harris in a release. "There are numerous ways to support Tulane Athletics, but this is clear: In order to achieve the lofty goals we have for Tulane athletics, we must grow Green Wave Club donor support.”
Since the NCAA suspended its rules around NIL after the landmark Alston ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, student-athletes have been able to leverage their name, image and likeness to make money.
Later this year, individual schools should be able to share athletic revenue with student athletes as part of the NCAA vs. House settlement.
Schools will be able to opt-in or opt-out of revenue sharing. Power conference schools are likely to share the maximum that can be shared with student-athletes, which is approximately $20 million for the 2025-26 athletic year.
It's not clear what non-power conference schools will do. Virginia Commonwealth recently announced that it intends to share up to $5 million with its student-athletes next athletic year. VCU does not play football.
The campaign comes at a time in which the Green Wave football team reached the American Athletic Conference championship game for the third straight year and both the men's and women's basketball teams are off to good starts in conference play.
Donors can visit Ascend TUgether or call Tulane Athletics about making a donation.
