Giving Day results for sports

Interesting numbers. I am often at a loss in figuring out why the numbers are where they are.

There is probably a thread from the February 2017 giving day, but I can't readily find it.
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Here is total CAF giving by sport in 2017 (dollars in thousands)

football $396
CAF $314
m/w lacrosse $269
m/w hockey $264
m/w crew $183
baseball $119
m/w soccer $119
m/w basketball $72
m/w swimming and diving $60
m/w track and field $60
m/w golf $29
m/w tennis $29
volleyball $27
softball $25
field hockey $10
cheerleading $2
total $2.100K

Several observations on the comparative results.

* All the sports with increased giving saw the amount increase by 10 percent or more.

* Explaining volleyball's eight-fold increase probably requires, at a minimum, the donor count.

* Of the three sports with decreases,

>>> M/W swimming probably overachieved in 2017, and the long-time coach had retired.
>>> Softball. No explanation.
>>> M/W basketball. If this board is a valid indicator/predictor, the one sport where giving was affected by the nickname/mascot controversy. However, the megaphone of Crossports didn't carry very far; in fact, it seems not to have been heard beyond this board.

I looked at the Spring 2017 issue of Crusader Nation.  Numbers are slightly different (I'm assuming numbers were updated at the time the magazine was published as opposed to initial reports).

The Fund for Athletics Excellence in 2017 was $42,155.88 from 493 gifts received.  (Cheerleading was $830 from 20 gifts.)

It may be presumptuous on my part, but I consider the Fund for Athletics Excellence in essence to be the Athletic Director's "slush fund" to distribute as needed to meet unexpected contingencies or special opportunities.  I suspect individual coaches can go to the AD and say "I can do this but I need a little extra money in the budget to get it done" and the AD can provide the funds if it seems prudent to do so.

Thanks Breezy.

A knowledgeable CAF staffer once.explained to me that ADNP uses some of the monies in the so-titled 'slush fund' to bump up the amounts received in the single gender sports; e.g., if donor X gave $500 to football, and only to football, then the AD, using the 'slush fund' will bump up the amounts distributed to the three exclusively women's sports to help offset the $500 for Title IX purposes.

I didn't get the impression that it was 1:1, but more like that before football received monies from the 'slush fund', these three women's sports were first in line --unless of course, there was little/no disparity between amounts for football/baseball and those for field hockey/softball/volleyball. .