IPTAY Board Announces New Donor Giving Levels

May 6, 2004

Columbia, SC – Clemson University’s IPTAY Board announced this evening after a meeting in Columbia, SC, that IPTAY will increase donor giving levels for the first time since 1989. The new levels will be effective for the 2005 IPTAY Annual Scholarship Fund Drive, which runs from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005. The donor benefits derived from the new contribution levels begin with the 2005 football season.

In stating its case concerning the need to increase levels, the Board cited the tremendous escalation of athletic scholarships at Clemson University. It also recognized the cost of doing business, the continued need to use IPTAY reserves to cover annual expenses, including the scholarship costs, and the effects of heightened competition levels in all sports in the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference.

In 2000-01, the IPTAY Scholarship Funds scholarship costs totaled $ 3,660,000. For the upcoming academic year (2004-05), IPTAY’s annual scholarship costs are estimated at $ 6,450,000, an increase of 76 percent and $2,790,000 in five years.

For the past 70 years, IPTAY has been the lifeblood of Clemson Athletics, transforming the athletic fund-raising organization from a regional presence to a national program. It has served as a model for success for other universities especially since the `70’s and `80’s, when it became the first athletic organization in the country to top various million dollar marks in annual donations.

The Four Priorities of the IPTAY Scholarship Fund remain:

1. The payment of the annual cost of athletic scholarships;
2. The payment or reimbursement of the operating expenses of IPTAY;
3. The establishment and maintenance of an adequate reserve fund deemed appropriate by the IPTAY Board of Directors;
4. Any expenditures other than those established under the previous three priorities, shall be limited to either direct or indirect aids to the athletic program of Clemson University and must be approved by the IPTAY Board of Directors.

A brief overview of the May 6th presentation to the IPTAY County Chairmen can be viewed below.

2005 IPTAY Donor Levels Presentation