The Tribe Club, long a fundamental source of support for William & Mary Athletics, will soon sport a new name, streamlined accounting procedures and expanded engagement opportunities for its donors who provide critical dollars for equipment, facilities and most importantly, scholarships for the university's student-athletes.
As of July 1, 2021, the Tribe Club will be called the William & Mary Athletic Foundation and will begin the process of becoming an LLC of the William & Mary Foundation. The conversion is expected to be completed by July 1, 2022.
"If you look at William & Mary broadly, we had a number of individual foundations, more than a dozen in total, all serving comparable purposes, all with unique structural requirements. There is really a lot of efficiency to be gained as we transition to the William & Mary Athletic Foundation," said Interim Athletics Director
Jeremy P. Martin Ph.D. '12, M.B.A. '17.
"The changes we are implementing are going to improve our operations and are one more step in building better donor confidence. We owe the faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends and fans who give to the Tribe Club the best possible management of their donations. Streamlining our accounting practices will make us more fiscally efficient," said Martin.
The transition will also expand opportunities for engagement with W&M Athletics:
- A newly formed William & Mary Athletic Foundation Board will manage the Athletic Foundation with appropriate fiduciary responsibilities.
- The Tribe Club Board will continue as the Tribe Athletics Advisory Council with responsibilities in areas including committee development, enhancing the culture of philanthropy, volunteer engagement, and the fan and game experience.
- Members will serve on newly created councils aligned with specific arms of the Foundation: sports-specific councils, the Parent's Council, the Recent Alumni Council and the Women in Action Council. These councils will take a targeted approach to generating continued support of their designated constituency.
Additionally, the new structure comes with a focus on annual scholarship support for the Foundation.
"We believe that the biggest impact donors can have on our student-athletes' experiences is by providing scholarship funding. As we grow philanthropic support to offset the $10 million currently spent on scholarships, we can then reinvest those funds into our programs as they compete for championships," said
Anthony D. Henderson Sr., senior associate athletics director, executive director of athletics advancement.
Gifts to athletics scholarships make a profound impact by allowing the most talented athletes from diverse backgrounds to participate in collegiate athletics, said Henderson. Scholarships enable student-athletes with exceptional talent to attend W&M and raise the caliber of the university's academic and athletics prowess.
In the fall of 2020, the university also established two expendable funds for each sports program: Scholarship/Student-Athlete Support Fund and the Excellence Fund for programmatic and operating support. The separate funds for each sport will assist with annual operating expenses. Donors to the William & Mary Athletic Foundation can direct gifts to either of these two funds across each of the William & Mary varsity sports programs.
Gifts to the Athletics Impact Fund are the most powerful ways to impact the W&M Athletics program directly. Contributions are used to support the department's most pressing needs and priorities and ensures the vital resources to provide all student-athletes an exceptional academic and athletics experience.
Henderson said the name change tightens the affiliation with the university, even as the Athletic Foundation continues to use the Tribe moniker. "In the setup of our boards, we're going to have a William & Mary Athletic Foundation board, but we're also going to have a Tribe Athletics Advisory Council," he said. "We're going to mirror the same boards as the university foundation. "
