The role of the athletics director in campus fundraising activities at NCAA Division III institutions

Fundraising activities to increase external funding for athletics programs have begun to be executed by athletics directors as a part of their job responsibilities. Development and procurement of extramural funding and revenue generation are crucial aspects of successful athletics programs at NCAA institutions, regardless of divisional affiliation. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which athletics directors at NCAA Division III institutions participate in fundraising activities, other job responsibilities other than director of athletics, and their specific training in fundraising.; This study was limited to Directors of Athletics at NCAA Division III institutions, as identified by the NCAA Division III member email list supplied by the NCAA Division III membership services staff. Athletics directors at provisional and active member institutions were sent a self-constructed questionnaire accompanied by a cover letter via email to request their participation in the study. Data were analyzed after follow-up requests to nonrespondents were conducted.; The results of this study indicated that directors of athletics at NCAA Division III institutions have begun to engage in institutional fundraising in a variety of capacities and that job descriptions have begun to change to reflect that trend. The Chi-square analyses that were performed identified some notable associations. The association between job title and years in current position was significant at p < .05. Equally as noteworthy was the percentage (42.2) of full time athletics directors who had been in their current position less than 12 years. Although the Chi-square analysis of job title and whether fundraising was part of the job description was not statistically significant, p = .200, the raw data contained data that were suggestive of the relationship between the athletics director's activities and fundraising responsibilities. Of the 35 responses that fundraising was part of the job description, 23 (65.7%) were from full time athletics directors.