Excellence Initiatives

The Carolina Athletics Excellence Endowment & the Carolina Athletics Excellence Fund.

Change is a constant in college athletics these days – with new challenges and opportunities emerging almost daily. There is one constant, however, in this shifting landscape: Carolina Athletics and The Rams Club’s commitment to excellence.

It is essential for Carolina to develop flexible strategies to provide critical resources for all 28 of our sports and to maintain our high standard of excellence for such a broad-based program. To achieve this, The Rams Club is launching two new funds designed to provide adaptable, sustainable support for Carolina Athletics and our Tar Heel student-athletes: the Carolina Athletics Excellence Endowment and the Carolina Athletics Excellence Fund.

Click here or the button below to learn more.

Scholarship Endowment

Scholarship is the foundation of opportunity.

Donors to the Scholarship Endowment Trust provide critical, long-term support for Carolina’s athletic scholarship program. Scholarship donors provide the opportunities for approximately 500 gifted student-athletes annually to gain a world-class education while competing for one of the nation’s top athletics programs.

More importantly, donors equip thousands of our student-athletes to be leaders and champions for a lifetime. For most, especially those who are first-generation college attendees, it is a life-changing experience.

To learn more about how you can provide the opportunity of a lifetime for future Tar Heels, including scholarship giving levels, view the brochure to the right, or contact Beth MacKethan at beth@ramsclub.com or 919.923.2246.

Being a Tar Heel and continuing to build the Carolina legacy is an honor. I am so appreciative of our coaching staff for believing in me and giving me the chance to represent our University. Thank you to the Rams Club members who provide the opportunity to earn a scholarship and train in new facilities. I love this place and am proud to be part of this Carolina Family.

-Drake Maye

Football

Facility Projects

World-Class Student-Athletes need World-Class facilities.

Rams Club members also play a pivotal role in providing the world-class student-athletes at Carolina with world-class facilities in which to prepare and compete for championships. Carolina Athletics and The Rams Club are underway with important facility projects that directly impact many of Carolina’s 28 sport programs:

Carolina Football Projects
football

Carolina Football Projects

Upgrades and additions enhance Coach Brown’s commitment to recruit student-athletes who will achieve excellence both academically and athletically.

Finley Golf Renovation
Golf

Finley Golf Renovation

The course redesign creates a dedicated practice area and short course for our golf programs.

Chewning Tennis Center
Tennis

Chewning Tennis Center

A new complex will bring our tennis facility up to the championship standards of our champion student-athletes.

Women's Basketball Renovations
Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball Renovations

Renovations to historic Carmichael Arena will create a new practice gym and team areas.

Soccer & Lacrosse Stadium
Soccer/Lacrosse

Soccer & Lacrosse Stadium

A new stadium is a valuable addition for four of Carolina’s most accomplished programs Women’s Soccer, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Lacrosse and Men’s Lacrosse.

Karen Shelton Stadium
Field Hockey

Karen Shelton Stadium

In addition to a new playing surface and stadium, the program moves into a team building that meets the needs of today's field hockey student-athletes.

Track & Field Complex
Track & Field

Track & Field Complex

A new complex provides our student-athletes with the running surfaces and throwing fields to develop their performance at optimal times for them.

Team Operational Support

Team operational support helps meet unique needs of our programs.

Team operational support encompasses gifts to any of Carolina’s team operating endowments, friends accounts and the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy.

Each sports program at Carolina has its own sports operating endowment. The yield from these endowments is made available to the coach to help meet specific needs not covered in the regular operating budget. While the overall campaign is focused on meeting the needs of all 28 teams, the Sports Operating Endowments allow donors to help individual sports programs to achieve the flexibility and autonomy they need to take advantage of unique opportunities in their sport.

Donors to Sports Operating Endowments provide coaches with the ability to make decisions that can affect their program in the near-term with their legacy gift. For more information on sport endowments, please contact The Rams Club at 919.843.2000.

Team support also includes donations to friends accounts, which provide an immediate increase to coaches’ operating budgets to use at their discretion. Lastly, team support includes gifts to the Richard A. Baddour Carolina Leadership Academy, which develops, challenges and supports student-athletes, coaches and staff in their quest to become world-class leaders in athletics, academics and life.

Note: Gifts to sport endowments do not activate Rams Club benefits as with Annual Fund or Scholarship Endowment Trust gifts. Priority points are accumulated, however, and become active with the activation of a regular Rams Club membership.

The Annual Fund

Every member provides opportunities through The Annual Fund.

Every Carolina fan can be a part of providing athletic and educational opportunities to student-athletes with memberships that start at just $100. As a part of The Rams Club, every member helps Carolina Athletics meet its most pressing needs.

Scholarship costs for Carolina student-athletes continue to present the most pressing challenge for Carolina Athletics. Scholarship costs continue to increase aggressively!

The total cost for athletics scholarships in 2001-02 was $6.3 million. In 2021-22, that cost reached $17.7 million – almost three times as much! The Annual Fund, made up of Rams Club members’ annual gifts, has absorbed much of this significant increase. Carolina has long prided itself on offering a broad-based program that focuses on maximizing opportunities for outstanding young women and men to be a part of the Carolina Family. The challenges in keeping that commitment are significant but can be met with the help of all Carolina fans.

A broad-based annual membership program is imperative to the future of Carolina Athletics. Whether you give $100 or $50,000 annually, we need you to be a part of our effort to ensure our broad-based program and the opportunities it provides to Tar Heel student-athletes.

FORevHER Tar Heels

Championing Carolina's women student-athletes

As we look to chart a course for the next generation of Tar Heel women, you can support them through FORevHER Tar Heels − an initiative to build and inspire a Carolina community that champions and empowers our women student-athletes.

Student-Athlete Support

Ways To Give:

  • Online at NCHOF.org.
  • By mail: P.O. Box 4100, Chapel Hill, NC 27515.

Rams Club donors have opportunities to positively impact the lives of student-athletes beyond the classroom and competition, through programs that provide: leadership training in the Baddour Leadership Academy, mental health and nutrition services, study abroad opportunities, and much more.

In addition, The Rams Club works closely with North Carolina Hall of Fame (NCHOF), a 501(c)(3) organization created to establish a Hall of Fame to honor UNC student-athletes. NCHOF’s mission is to design and construct a standalone physical hall of fame where local fans and visiting Tar Heels can celebrate their athletic heroes while providing additional services to current student-athletes. Through various activities, student-athletes provide valuable support that the charities may not otherwise be able to afford.

Donations to NCHOF are eligible to receive Rams Club Priority Points. Active Rams Club members who make a donation to NCHOF can receive Lifetime Points on their Rams Club account.

General Inquiries can be made by calling 919-843-2000, emailing ramsclub@ramsclub.com, or through your Rams Club personal contact.