Students, staff and fans gifted over $1.2 million to St. Thomas athletics during Tommie Give Day on Nov. 9.

“Tommie Give Day was a historic day, not only for athletics but for the university as a whole,” said Ben Fraser, senior associate athletic director for development. “It’s something that will only grow, those investments are going to help all students across campus.”

The donations were added to the Tommie Athletic Fund, which generated over $12 million in its first year in 2020.

“This money will be very helpful in providing the best possible experience for our student-athletes,” said Johnny Tauer, St. Thomas men’s basketball coach.

Most of those funds are directed to the 1904 club, a part of the athletics department’s fundraising arm that focuses on athletic scholarships.

“1904 Club is our annual fund that supports our budget needs,” Fraser said. “And that is mainly annual scholarship support now that we can provide athletic aid.”

Fraser emphasized that the development of student-athletes is the main focus of athletics funding.

“That’s what we’re here as development professionals to do,” Fraser said, “to help students.”

Outside of scholarships, the 1904 Club also supports student-athletes with “nutritional needs, strength and conditioning (and) sports medicine,” Fraser said, “all things that our student-athletes need to compete at a Division I level.”

As St. Thomas continues to establish itself in Division I, Fraser believes that the fanbase, and the donor network, will continue to grow.

“We’re going to bring in fans from the Twin Cities that were never St. Thomas fans before,” Fraser said. “As we grow fans, that gives us the opportunity to potentially grow donors.”

Along with donations, there are two other main sources of funding for the athletics department, Fraser said those additional funds come from multimedia rights and game day revenue.

Multimedia funds largely come from the university’s partnership with Learfield IMG College. St. Thomas is the first school to have a comprehensive partnership with Learfield that includes multimedia rights, sponsorship, licensing, ticketing and data and analytics representation.

“The contract was to create efficiencies and more revenue for St. Thomas,” Fraser said.

Aside from scholarships and student-athlete needs, another portion of the revenue goes toward travel costs. Without this funding, St. Thomas teams would not be able to compete with the DI competition spread across the country.

“We’re really grateful for the generosity of our donors,” Tauer said. “We have been able to travel quite a bit and play really high-level teams.”

Some of the funds go towards facilities, but so far the focus has mainly been on small projects, like installing turf in the weight room and making minor changes to the St. Thomas Ice Arena.

Fraser said that the donations from Tommie Give Day will continue to grow and benefit students for years to come.

“It’s becoming a day that people look forward to and get ready for,” Fraser said. “It’s starting to gain speed and momentum, and I think it’s something that we can only grow.”

Tauer, an alum of St. Thomas, expressed his gratitude and hopes that the tradition of Tommie Give Day will continue for many years.

“I certainly hope it continues to grow over the coming years. It’s really heartwarming to see so many fellow alums continue to support the university,” Tauer said.

Derek Badger can be reached at badg7629@stthomas.edu.