COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri athletic department is planning significant changes to its donor system in an effort to keep the school financially competitive in the Southeastern Conference.
Effective July 1, the school will change its Priority Points system, which determines perks given to private donors based on their contributions, the Kansas City Star reported. Under the current system, boosters are given separate point totals for football and men's basketball and earned points based only on gifts for seat premiums and parking.
The new system will tally a donor's total annual contribution to Missouri athletics to decide a donor's annual level. The donor level determines rank for parking passes, as well as requests for season tickets and tickets for away, neutral site and postseason games.
The school's athletic department ranks near the bottom in SEC schools in private donations, which helps pay for scholarships, travel costs and facility improvements. An estimated $22 million was raised in contributions during the 2013-14 fiscal year, but the department hopes the new donor model will move it closer to the middle of the pack.
"We're going to hear that it's all about money and I don't want to come across too strong here, but it is," said Tim Stedman, Missouri associate athletic director for advancement. "Our competitors are not apologizing for that and our competitors are more aggressive in how they're going about securing funding. We need to do that, too."
The department hopes donors who want better parking and better access to tickets will consider bumping up to a higher donor level. It also hopes that donations to campaigns for projects like the new softball stadium will increase.