The University of Maine athletic department has set another fundraising record this year, more than doubling a record set the year before.
The $22.9 million in gifts and pledges for this year’s fiscal year follows a $10.6 million total last year.
A significant factor in that fundraising boost was the $16 million donation from the estates of former UMaine football player Pierre “Pete” Labat and his wife, Catherine Labat, announced last fall as the largest individual athletics gift in school history.
“We are so appreciative of the support of our student-athletes for the only Division I program in the state,” UMaine Director of Athletics Jude Killy said in a press release Monday. “Thank you to all those who have supported us and who continue to support us. We have entered a new era of college athletics, and there has never been more of a need for philanthropic support.”
That new era includes this year’s landmark settlement allowing Division I schools to now pay student athletes directly. Though some schools, including UMaine, chose not to immediately make those direct payments to athletes as the new system continues to take hold, Division I athletics have been undergoing a seismic shift across the country.
UMaine is in the midst of a massive athletics facilities upgrade. The Harold Alfond Foundation donated $170 million to the athletic department as part of a larger $320 million grant from the foundation to the University of Maine System. The facilities upgrades includes a $50 million renovation at the Alfond hockey arena, a new soccer and track and field facility, and a forthcoming new home for the women’s and men’s basketball teams.
UMaine Athletics received gifts or pledges from nearly 1,900 people in this most recent fiscal year, which spanned from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
