For the men and women charged with seeking contributions to the Triangle's Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association schools, this has been a busy week.

On Friday alone, there were at least five opportunities for CIAA college officials to mix and mingle with Charlotte's corporate executive set. At 3 p.m. there was the N.C. Central University School of Law reception at the Marriott Hotel. An hour later, the multicollege Coca-Cola reception began at Johnson C. Smith University.

At the same time across town, college officials filtered into a reception hosted by Wachovia at the Westin Hotel. And a second NCCU function began at the Marriott. At 10 p.m. there was the reception at Bank of America Tower.

Clearly, tournaments are about more than basketball.

"It's not unusual that we bring back checks," said N.C. Central University Provost Beverly Washington Jones. "These receptions and gatherings, they give us a chance to talk, to cultivate donors and court others. That is certainly a big part of what we are here to do."

When the CIAA tournament moved to Charlotte -- a city where more than 61 percent of the nation's Fortune 500 companies have facilities, and nine maintain their corporate headquarters -- the league opened new lines of communication.

And the Triangle's three CIAA schools are hoping to follow.

"Charlotte is a whole different kind of city," said Leon G. Kerry, CIAA commissioner. "Let me put it this way: We've raised $2 million for the scholarship fund, compared to about $345,000 last year in Raleigh."

The CIAA tournament took place in Raleigh from 2000 to 2005. The city won competitive bids to host the tournament with promises that local government would work to expand tournament attendance and guarantee the league an annual scholarship donation. While attendance grew dramatically in Raleigh, the league's fund-raising haul grew at a more modest clip, Kerry said.

This year, the tournament has picked up two major sponsors, McDonald's and Verizon, said Shera White, CIAA spokeswoman. This would have been difficult to do in Raleigh, Kerry said.

In Raleigh, Kerry said he was asked not to make contact with certain Raleigh companies. City and county officials were counting on companies such as Progress Energy and Capitol Broadcasting to help them meet their own scholarship fund commitments.

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker confirmed that the city placed some informal limits on where the CIAA could attempt to raise funds. "Well, that's customary," Meeker said. "We asked that the league would not approach city sponsors for support. And, of course, vice versa. We did not approach theirs."

"In Charlotte," Kerry said just off the court at Charlotte's Bobcats Arena, "we can operate without limit. Charlotte made a [$1 million scholarship fund guarantee] but they haven't told us who we can or cannot talk to."

Charlotte will host the CIAA tournament at least through 2008. While it is there, the Triangle's three CIAA schools -- Shaw University, St. Augustine's College and N.C. Central University -- hope to tap some of the city's corporate largess.

"It is a chance for Shaw University to tell its story," Shaw University President Clarence Newsome said. "And we think we have quite a story to tell." The responses he has received from some of the people he has met in Charlotte have left him with the sense that Shaw has a bright fund-raising future in Charlotte.

While each of the Triangle's CIAA schools said it was too early to share specific tournament-related fund-raising figures, there are some public clues about their financial status.

Shaw's foundation reported to the IRS in 2004 that it holds about $61.2 million in cash and assets. The report represents the most recent data available and places Shaw at the top of the fund-raising heap among Triangle CIAA schools. In 2004, the St. Augustine's College Foundation reported $44.6 million in cash and assets and a second school-affiliated foundation another $4,817. N.C. Central reported about $11.4 million.

The donor cultivation that often begins at the tournament can also lead to other things, said NCCU's Jones. University officials also work to persuade corporate representatives to consider their students for internships and jobs.

In Charlotte, there are so many companies with so many different employee needs that Jones is convinced that the tournament will boost the school's fund-raising and job-placement efforts.

"It's clear," Jones said, "when you ride around or just look up, Charlotte is a business complex."

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