By Audrey Davis, Contributing Editor
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, President Crawford emailed the campus community announcing the commitment of $10 million dollars toward the University’s endowment from the Tom and Meg Names Family Foundation. The donation is intended to aid the college’s endowment for athletic programming.
The gift will be divided, with $8 million establishing the Tom and Meg Names Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Athletics Programming and $2 million going towards the already established Tom and Meg Names Family Endowed Fund for Athletics. The $2 million commitment will enable Puget Sound’s coaches to pinpoint the needs of their teams and student-athletes.The $8 million contribution creating the Tom and Meg Names Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Athletics Programming Puget Sound will support the Performance Success (PS2) Program, similarly funding heightened opportunities for student-athletes. The programs seek to provide student-athletes holistic support in the areas of physical readiness, wellness, and personal and professional development.
“A gift of this magnitude not only has an immediate impact on our student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff, but enables us to build on current momentum, creating a championship athletics culture on our campus that will benefit generations of Loggers to come,” President Isiaah Crawford said. “While many of our teams have had great success over the years, we aspire to participate consistently in— and win—championships in all of our varsity sports at the conference and national levels. Additionally, this gift honors the legacy of Tom and Meg Names, two proud Logger alumni who remained stalwart supporters of Puget Sound throughout their lives,” he elaborated.
A donation of this size, larger than any individual gift in Puget Sound History, indicates a commitment to investing in Puget Sound student-athletes and athletic programs towards a path of recognition as a premier NCAA Division III program.
The Names Family Foundation was established by Scott and Evelyn Names in 1996. The Names Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Athletics was established in 2009 and was later renamed the Tom and Meg Names Family Foundation Endowed Fund for Athletics. The Athletics and Aquatics Center, Lower Baker Field renovations, Logger Club, and the Puget Sound Fund have also received support from the Names Family Foundation.
The announcement of this $10 million gift came after the release of the Comprehensive Academic, Administrative, & Auxiliary Program Review on Sept. 26, which foresees a $10 million deficit by 2025 if the University continues business as usual. Similar to the gift that funded the Welcome Center, donations of this type can only go toward their specified use. What this addition to the endowment means for the broader financial status of the University remains unclear.