UW athletics announces annual varsity giving challenge

There is no denying that it takes a lot of money to keep varsity sports teams running and progressing at the pace needed to stay competitive at the U Sports level. With UW having 36 official varsity teams, it is fair to assume that raising the capital required to allow these teams to function at a high level can be challenging. 

Thus, UW, staying true to the competitive nature associated with varsity sports, has announced that the annual Warriors Varsity Giving Challenge will return for the 2024 season. This challenge is set up so that all 36 varsity teams will compete against each other head-to-head with the ultimate goal of raising the most money for their respective sports. This challenge will last one week, beginning on Sept. 23 and concluding on Sept. 30. 

But what is the challenge, exactly? How do teams compete against each other, and what does the winning team get as the grand prize? For starters, each team determines what their one-time donor goal is — this more or less sets the stage and provides an expectation for donations. Each team that reaches its one-time donor goal by the end of the competition (Sept. 30) will be entered into a random draw where they have the opportunity to be selected to receive an additional $500 toward their program. 

New to the 2024 challenge is that donors will also have the opportunity to show their support by having the option to register themselves as monthly donors to their varsity team of choice. This means that this year, teams will now also set a monthly donor goal. Again, all teams that reach their predetermined monthly donor tally at the end of the week will be entered into a draw with the opportunity to be granted an additional $1,000 toward their programming. Finally, the team at the end of the week that has received the most one-time donors will automatically be granted an additional $1,000 for their program. 

UW will look to continue the success experienced last year. In 2023, over $40,000 was raised with a total of 777 unique donors providing contributions, which was an increase of 136 donors from the 2022 challenge. Anyone interested in donating and supporting their favourite varsity team should follow this link.