Lobo Club gala boasts record fundraising

Breanna Schroth has put the Lobo Club on a bad streak for 2023.

The Assistant Director of Annual Giving for the main fundraising arm of the UNM Athletic Department led the organization of this year’s Cherry & Silver Scholarship Gala on August 20 at the Clyde Hotel in the center. -town of Albuquerque.

The event grossed a record $585,000 – a figure that Lobo Club executive director Jalen Dominguez admitted wasn’t even among the most optimistic projections.

“I told him how to go. You just put us in a really tough spot for years to come by knocking this one so far out of the park,” Dominguez joked.

For some context, the first 13 years of the event never cleared $150,000. Then it jumped a year three years ago to $300,000 (before COVID) and then to $400,000 in 2021 (after no galas in 2020).

After UNM Athletics brought just north $8.5 million in fundraising for fiscal year 2022 ending June 30 (the 2022 gala will be reflected in fiscal year 2023 numbers), Dominguez said that there was a growing “new energy” around community support.

“I think it’s a variety of things (contributing to the fundraising boost),” Dominguez said. “A little has been the time, energy and effort that we put into the event (including supporting vendors helping with the event). But I also think it’s a great example of the cultural transition in terms of support from our donor base. We have people trying to get in the room, you know? Whether it’s prominent members of the community or supporters who come back, for various reasons, the relationships between Lobo Athletics and the community are continually growing stronger.

The event sold out despite the price of the tables increasing quite significantly – from $1,000/$1,500 per table to $1,500/$2,500 – raising $100,000 from the departure.

Once the festivities began, more than $130,000 was raised in a five-minute “fund a need” auction that will help UNM Athletics’ LIFE program.

The silent auction itself featured big-ticket items this year that people could bid on like a trip with the team’s travel party to a Lobo men’s basketball game this season, a package which includes a trip to the Men’s Final Four and the College Football Championship. game and one that included dinner in your home prepared by a private chef with any Lobo sports coach of your choice.

“To be honest, (the gala) is kind of the most public side of an overall cultural shift in Lobo Athletics and Lobo Club and fundraising,” Dominguez said. “…It’s been pretty amazing.”