NCAA D-III Planning and Finance Committee Recommends Budget Enhancements

The Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee met Thursday via videoconference and approved a Division III budget principles document to guide future fiscal decision-making processes. The document will soon be shared broadly with Division III governance and sport committees.

Fiscal years 2025 and 26 budgets

The committee approved a budget recommendation to the Management and Presidents Councils with increased enhancements to the student-athlete experience affecting the following:

• Championships (e.g., per diem increase, updated bracketing policy and bracket expansions that include football).
• Enrichment Fund (e.g., conference grant increase, officiating support, sports information and athletic trainer support).
• Supplemental spend initiatives (e.g., health and safety grant, streaming of preliminary rounds of NCAA championships and an online mental health module).

"The committee had thoughtful and deliberate discussions regarding the budget recommendations for the division's next budget cycle," noted committee chair Joanne Berger-Sweeney, president of Trinity (Connecticut). "The enhancements will directly impact the student-athlete experience."

Fiscal year 2025 strategic plan

The committee finalized the Division III 2025 fiscal year strategic plan and is forwarding it to the councils to approve during their summer meetings. The strategic plan features the division's philosophy statement that establishes the framework from which the division's programs, resource allocations and regulatory decisions are made. In addition, the plan summarizes the division's strategic priorities by outlining the offered programs and services and what must be accomplished in the current year of the budget biennium for the division to be successful.

Outside reviews

Final reports from the Deloitte and Lewis Rice reviews were shared with the committee. Deloitte conducted an analysis to identify ways to strengthen the division's financial performance, improve revenue growth, identify financial priorities and threats, and reduce risk for the division.

The Lewis Rice review of the division's Enrichment Fund evaluated whether the programs and grants are achieving their intended objectives and align with the division's strategic plan.

The governance structure will assume responsibility for implementing the reports' recommendations.