The athletic department announced they’ve raised more money than ever before, pulling in $4.7 million from private donors in 2009-2010.

Athletic director Joel Nielsen told the Stater last September — five months after he was hired — the department had “spent an inordinate amount of time with a fundraising plan in our first months.

“I’d say the fundraising piece is as critical as any we’ve talked about.”

The plan appears to be paying off. The $4.7 million haul is 22 percent more than the previous year, according the department. Included in the figure is more than $3 million from “new pledges” (up 21 percent from 2009-2010), $903,135 from capital and endowment gifts (up 13 percent), and $714,836 from the athletic annual fund (up 43 percent).

The donations represent about a quarter of the athletic department revenues, while university subsidies continue to be the major source of their funding. In 2009-2010, the athletic department received $15.6 million in subsidies, with $10.5 million coming from student fees. In 2010-2011, $12.2 million in student fees went to the athletic department.

Contact Summer Kent State reporter Doug Brown [email protected].