PSAC Sets DII Record in Make-A-Wish Donations
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The NCAA has released the information regarding the donations made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2016-17. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference led all Division II conferences, raising a record-total $70,210.53 between the 18 institutions.
Overall, Division II schools raised more than $634,000 for Make-A-Wish during the 2016-17 academic year. The amount raised sets a new Division II fundraising record for the sixth consecutive year and exceeds last year’s total by $26,000.
The PSAC marked the first time a conference surpassed $70,000.
Edinboro raised the fourth-most money in all of DII ($13,905.29) while California was seventh ($10,475.01).
Seven PSAC schools landed in the top 30 of most-money donated.
The PSAC was one of three conferences to have 100% participation (Great Midwest Athletic Conference & Heartland Conference). The 100% participation rate is a goal set by the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) representatives each year.
Since the Division II SAAC established the partnership with Make-A-Wish in 2003, the division has raised over $5.3 million for the nonprofit organization. Those funds have been used to grant wishes to more than 660 kids across the country with life-threatening medical conditions.
More than 81 percent of the DII schools participated in raising money for Make-A-Wish.
The alliance with Make-A-Wish also provides student-athletes with the opportunity to see their hard work pay off. SAAC continued a model adopted two years ago in which money collected from championship and enforcement fines are added to institutional fundraising in order for institutions to have the opportunity to host a wish reveal party on campus. In 2016-17, eight institutions raised more than $10,000 — the national average cost of a wish reveal — and automatically earned a wish reveal party. An additional 22 schools raised over $4,000 and will receive money from the fines to help them meet the minimum fundraising requirement for a wish reveal.
| RANKING |
CONFERENCE |
TOTAL |
| 1 |
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference |
$70,210.53 |
| 2 |
Gulf South Conference |
$45,551.61 |
| 3 |
Peach Belt Conference |
$45,428.47 |
| 4 |
Sunshine State Conference |
$31,933.06 |
| 5 |
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
$29,058.65 |
| 6 |
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association |
$28,443.14 |
| 7 |
California Collegiate Athletic Association |
$27,238.13 |
| 8 |
Northeast-10 Conference |
$24,409.59 |
| 9 |
Great American Conference |
$22,931.58 |
| 10 |
South Atlantic Conference |
$22,792.95 |
| 11 |
Lone Star Conference |
$19,776.00 |
| 12 |
Pacific West Conference |
$19,462.12 |
| 13 |
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference |
$18,793.30 |
| 14 |
Great Lakes Valley Conference |
$17,095.41 |
| 15 |
Heartland Conference |
$16,128.12 |
| 16 |
Great Northwest Athletic Conference |
$12,295.63 |
| 17 |
East Coast Conference |
$12,019.91 |
| 18 |
Conference Carolinas |
$11,535.06 |
| 19 |
Mountain East Conference |
$9,957.09 |
| 20 |
Great Midwest Athletic Conference |
$7,492.17 |
| 21 |
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference |
$7,226.64 |
| 22 |
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference |
$4,984.00 |
| 23 |
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
$3,403.73 |
| 24 |
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
$1,752.00 |
| 25 |
Independents |
$128.00 |