Harvard Radcliffe Foundation for Women's Athletics

HRFWA was established in 1981 by the Athletic Department to help provide financial and social support to women's athletic programs at Harvard. HRFWA supports women's programs by distributing funds annually to Friends groups through an "incentive plan" that encourages women to give to their Friends group. The interactive allocation plan draws approximately half of its funds from the HRFWA endowment; the second half is generated by annual gifts. The distribution protocol is comprised of two parts:

 Interactive Plan Overview

I)  Matching Gifts

•  At the start of the fiscal year, HRFWA matches a set number of $1,000 alumna gifts given to each Friends group.  Once this set number is accounted for, the matching gift portion of the incentive plan will end for that fiscal year.  In FY12 HRFWA distributed 55 $1000 matches.

•  Each Friends group can only receive up to $5, 000 in HRFWA matches - that is the number of $1,000 matches will be capped at 5 matching gifts per Friends group.

• Beginning in FY13, HRFWA will match six $2,500 alumna gifts given to each Friends group. $2,500 matching gifts will be capped at 1 match per Friends group. The $2,500 matching gift may be in addition to the five $1,000 gifts matched. Bonus: The first Friends group to receive a $2,500 donation from an alumnae who HAS NOT given $2,500 or more in the past will receive an additional $500.

II) Participation Rewards

•  In an effort to increase participation levels by alumnae, funds are distributed to Friends groups based on a percentage of alumnae giving.

•  Gifts must come from alumnae and must be at least $50 (new in FY09).

•  The minimum threshold required to qualify for FY12 is 22% alumnae participation.

Other HRFWA Programs

I)  Friend of the Year Award

•  HRFWA donates $500 in total to honor the respective Friends group(s) who has a member of its group receive the Friend of the Year Award.

•  Friend of the year is announced in May.

II)  Phonathon

•  The HRFWA Annual Phonathon is held in February each year.

•  All women's teams are encouraged to particpate.

•  Funds raised during the phonathon contribute to the overall HRFWA incentive plan and comprise the majority of the annual gifts given to HRFWA.

•   Financial rewards are given to Friends groups based on attendance of student-athletes as well as number of pledges per team.

  • For more information, contact:

     Heather Palmer - Director of Alumni Relations and Stewardship
     palmer2@fas.harvard.edu
    (617) 496-4317