Mighty Dog,
What makes this project too large to attempt? The donation amounts within the JAG go from $50 to $2500. Tell me how a $100 dollar gift towards the field is too large a project to attempt? We held a summit yesterday based on athletic fundraising for all of the state schools and had planned to have another today just for our conference institutions. Every state school, including Grambling, was in attendance, however not one SWAC school felt the need to be here today. So my assumption is that every school in this conference knows everything there is about athletic fundraising and is apparently rolling in the dough.
Our athletic budget is generated by and set up to handle athletics alone. Everything from our coaches salaries and scholarships and every teams' traveling expenses and euipment, comes out of that budget. So there wasn't $500,000 to be found, that wasn't needed for other things, for that field renovation. So we decided upon a way to attempt generating that money. Upon completion it can generate $600,000 per year to be used for stadium renovations and fan amenity upgrades. Will that be done this year? Probably not, but one day we will reach that amount.
You also mentioned something about alumni being taxed too much by each department on campus. Of the 11,000 season tickets that SU has sold, nearly 40% are purchased by non-alumni. The JAG is geared towards students, alumni, friends, and advocates of Southern University at Baton Rouge, not the Alumni Federation alone. The hardest gift in the world to receive is the first one.
The Bluff Society, the student foundation within the JAG, to start in the fall, has a gift of $10 per year. The kids get several events and opportunities, only for Bluff Society members, based upon that gift. That is the first attempt, geared towards freshmen, for that first gift. Studies show, among Univeristies, that once a person is happy about that first gift, then the donation amount rises in giving throughout both the athletic and academic communities.
In regards to this post generating more interest than a football field, the field really isn't the main objective here. The entire concept of 'Planned Giving' is part of the scope of our overall mission. The Field Keepers has a plan, a mission, and a methodology (6000 sq/yds) to know its completion. As said earlier, we won't complete it this year. However, one day we will. Actually we already have begun to make a difference with the program.
As far as the article is concerned, we have gotten nothing but support from everyone pro-Southern in regards to this. Alumni and friends have called and wanted to know how to mail, fax, or drop off their donation at the JAG office. We are not going to hide anything from the JAG members or the fans of Southern. When Joe called for an update, he got it. We told him what we were able to do based on what the Field Keeper gift totals were. To the JAG these things (the banquet, field euipment, website) have been very productive in allowing the fans to decide among themselves how to give. I don't see how this column did anything non-productive by telling one of the most powerful fan bases in 1-AA that nothing can be done to improve the program without them. Neither university nor state funds takes care of Southern's athletic budget, its generated by athletics only. Our fans need to know that so a good decision on donating can be made.
Im gonna stop cuz this is too long...sorry
What makes this project too large to attempt? The donation amounts within the JAG go from $50 to $2500. Tell me how a $100 dollar gift towards the field is too large a project to attempt? We held a summit yesterday based on athletic fundraising for all of the state schools and had planned to have another today just for our conference institutions. Every state school, including Grambling, was in attendance, however not one SWAC school felt the need to be here today. So my assumption is that every school in this conference knows everything there is about athletic fundraising and is apparently rolling in the dough.
Our athletic budget is generated by and set up to handle athletics alone. Everything from our coaches salaries and scholarships and every teams' traveling expenses and euipment, comes out of that budget. So there wasn't $500,000 to be found, that wasn't needed for other things, for that field renovation. So we decided upon a way to attempt generating that money. Upon completion it can generate $600,000 per year to be used for stadium renovations and fan amenity upgrades. Will that be done this year? Probably not, but one day we will reach that amount.
You also mentioned something about alumni being taxed too much by each department on campus. Of the 11,000 season tickets that SU has sold, nearly 40% are purchased by non-alumni. The JAG is geared towards students, alumni, friends, and advocates of Southern University at Baton Rouge, not the Alumni Federation alone. The hardest gift in the world to receive is the first one.
The Bluff Society, the student foundation within the JAG, to start in the fall, has a gift of $10 per year. The kids get several events and opportunities, only for Bluff Society members, based upon that gift. That is the first attempt, geared towards freshmen, for that first gift. Studies show, among Univeristies, that once a person is happy about that first gift, then the donation amount rises in giving throughout both the athletic and academic communities.
In regards to this post generating more interest than a football field, the field really isn't the main objective here. The entire concept of 'Planned Giving' is part of the scope of our overall mission. The Field Keepers has a plan, a mission, and a methodology (6000 sq/yds) to know its completion. As said earlier, we won't complete it this year. However, one day we will. Actually we already have begun to make a difference with the program.
As far as the article is concerned, we have gotten nothing but support from everyone pro-Southern in regards to this. Alumni and friends have called and wanted to know how to mail, fax, or drop off their donation at the JAG office. We are not going to hide anything from the JAG members or the fans of Southern. When Joe called for an update, he got it. We told him what we were able to do based on what the Field Keeper gift totals were. To the JAG these things (the banquet, field euipment, website) have been very productive in allowing the fans to decide among themselves how to give. I don't see how this column did anything non-productive by telling one of the most powerful fan bases in 1-AA that nothing can be done to improve the program without them. Neither university nor state funds takes care of Southern's athletic budget, its generated by athletics only. Our fans need to know that so a good decision on donating can be made.
Im gonna stop cuz this is too long...sorry