Dear MU Crew Alumni and Friends,

As many of you know, for several years now the team has been discussing the need for an “alumni board,” which would exist as an administrative entity to help the team with tasks better suited to alumni who are professionals in the working world with enough experience and time to conduct long term strategic planning and fundraising for capital assets.

In that spirit, and after many hours of hard work on the part of our alums, it’s my great pleasure to announce the formation of Friends of Marquette Crew, a pending 501c3 status non-profit, made with the explicit goal of ensuring the long-term success of the team that made such an impact on all of our lives.

To celebrate the long-awaited formation of Friends of Marquette Crew as our new Alumni Board and parent company, the FOMC Finance Committee would like to announce the kick-off of our first fundraiser, meant to enable FOMC to help finance the team's continued work to fund a second coaching launch. Currently, the team only has one coaching launch which is detrimental to the program and its growth potential. If the current launch needs repair, the team is unable to practice. One launch limits the overall ability for coaches to give rowers the attention they need to improve. Having more than one launch would allow the men's and women's teams to practice separately, which increases coaching bandwidth and eliminates the existing scheduling barriers with student-athletes.

As part of the fundraiser event, we will rename "Baby Blue," previously known as the M2, to whichever name raises the most money. As soon as you donate, you choose a name for Baby Blue from the top candidates that have been selected, or if you would like to suggest a new name, we will include it in the running for $250. We will provide a ranking update based on the donation totals at the end of each week. At the moment, the top five candidates are:

Valley Flyer

Kilbourn Crawler

Hoaning Beacon

Menominee Missile

Golden Eagle

Our fundraiser targets are as follows:

$1,500 - Current engine overhaul

$5,000 - Purchase of a 15 horsepower engine to get the existing used jon boat working

$10,000 - Purchase of a new jon boat as second launch

$15,000 - Purchase of a new wakeless launch

If we cannot reach the funding required to achieve a specific goal, all remaining funds not used for the previously attained goal will go to purchasing new ergs for the team.

Thank you for all your continued support and interest in the team. We get better each year and are excited for you to join us on this journey. If you would like to know more about the Friends of Marquette Crew, including the board members and the state of the Marquette Crew team, please click here.

Sincerely,

The FOMC Board of Directors

FOMC Fall 2023 Fundraiser

By Friends of Marquette Crew

FOMC Fall 2023 Fundraiser

Team Members