An idea from a new University of Northern Colorado athletics department staff member led to the creation of a new matching-gift fundraising campaign with a goal to raise $100,000, UNC athletic director Darren Dunn said.

The athletic department’s first Building Champions Giving will open at midnight Tuesday, Oct. 15 and run through noon Wednesday, Oct. 16.

For more information on the online campaign, go to bearfunded.unco.edu/pages/building-champions

The campaign is designed to raise money for athletes and teams in 12 UNC programs: baseball, women’s and men’s basketball, cross country/track and field, football, women’s and men’s golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, volleyball and wrestling.

Though the department raises funds year-round, this 36-hour campaign is more of a “coordinated and concentrated effort” to raise money for Bears athletes and programs, Dunn said.

“I like this concept,” Dunn said. “It condenses the efforts and prompts cross-promotion of the programs, and hopefully it creates more awareness in the community.”

Dunn said the giving campaign was thought up by Angelica Sena, UNC’s associate director of athletic development. She’s been at UNC for about 18 months. Sena has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the university and returned to UNC in 2023 after working in other Division I athletic programs such as Virginia Tech, Washington and Utah, according to the UNC website.

The giving campaign is a matching-gift effort, meaning all donations will be matched up to a certain amount based on team and program objectives.

For example, the women’s golf program is looking for $2,500 of matching donations for travel, equipment, recruiting, and facility development.

Dunn said approximately four or five anonymous donors are providing the matching donations. Dunn said he’d like to see this campaign bring in $100,000, which will then be matched by the donors.

“We have a lot of needs and a lot of donors who want to help, and we’re super appreciative,” Dunn said.

Men’s golf is also aiming to raise $2,500. The targeted matching-gift amounts for the other programs are as follows:

Men’s basketball coach Steve Smiley also likes the idea of the new campaign. Smiley’s program is trying to raise funds to travel abroad in 2025. The team is looking at options to go to Canada, South America, the Caribbean and Europe among other destinations depending on how much is raised. NCAA rules permit teams to take foreign tours once every four years.

The volleyball program is also considering a foreign trip, according to its campaign webpage.

“A big piece of determining where we go = how much we raise,” Smiley wrote in a text message. “It’s for next summer, so it makes a ton of sense. I’m excited to see how it goes.”

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