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Post by hilltopper2000 on Dec 19, 2005 22:37:54 GMT -5
Yeah, it all ends up in the same account, but the University keeps track of what funds are designated for what. I have no idea how large the general use portion of the university endowment is. I imagine it is very small -- much smaller than $700 million. Although the University reserves the right to do whatever it wishes with endowed funds, it scrupulously adheres to the wishes of the donor, unless the intended us is completely anacronistic, e.g., dental scholarships. What you (and I) donate to each year is the anual fund, which is current use.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Dec 19, 2005 22:55:13 GMT -5
Cool. Thanks for the clarification.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Dec 19, 2005 23:50:05 GMT -5
In fact, even if your gift is not specifically designated, there is no "general" fund at GU- each school has their own general fund, so unspecified gifts go to the dean of your undergraduate school if they are not otherwise designated.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Dec 20, 2005 10:59:38 GMT -5
Also, Austin, unless your gifts are in the 6-8 figure range, you are probably not being asked to give to the endowment, but to the Annual Fund, which goes to support the operating budgets of the university (particularly to the budgets of wherever you designate your gifts).
Endowment funds are typically built up through larger donations, as only about 5% of an endowed fund is tapped in any given year. Therefore, when I give to the hoop club, soccer, campus ministry, or American studies, they are able to use all of my $50 or $100 donation, not just $2.50 or $5.00 per year.
(Edit: Oops, just saw that hilltopper2000 covered most of the same ground that I did, and was much more concise in doing so.)
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Post by joehoya07 on Dec 20, 2005 11:18:34 GMT -5
I'm basing my concerns about the center on the prince's previous comments. Since he will now be the principle source of funding (and the namesake), it's reasonable to assume that he could have some influence over the nature of the "dialogue." I personally don't think that the goal of "Muslim-Christian understanding" is advanced by determining the rationale for terrorist attacks on America. The university should have taken into account the concerns of those who were offended by the Prince's previous statements instead of immediately accepting the gift.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Dec 20, 2005 14:22:48 GMT -5
First, I don't think a gift like this is accepted immediately, and I would be surprised if this was a rush job, rather than a carefully reasoned decision taking into account several factors (including political considerations), and weighing whether or not, on balance, such a move is in the best interests of Georgetown's mission.
Second, I don't think BMW retains a significant degree of control over the BMW Center for German and European Studies, nor does the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center look to the Lombardi family for authoritative leadership. So I'm not sure why you seem to assume that this prince (a friend of the Bush family) is establishing this center as a way to spout anti-American dialogue. Additionally, the fact that he is creating similar centers in Beiruit and Cairo shows that the prince is not approaching this as a one-way dialogue.
I am curious, as to whether you feel that there is a good outlet for academic study of the relationships between politics, culture, and religion in the Middle East, as it relates to U.S. foreign and domestic policies. And what type of alternative center would you propose?
And please specify which of the Prince's statements you are offended by, because I'm not sure that an opinion on the impact of foreign policy is cause for such offense.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Dec 20, 2005 16:19:46 GMT -5
Also, Austin, unless your gifts are in the 6-8 figure range, you are probably not being asked to give to the endowment, but to the Annual Fund, which goes to support the operating budgets of the university (particularly to the budgets of wherever you designate your gifts). Endowment funds are typically built up through larger donations, as only about 5% of an endowed fund is tapped in any given year. Therefore, when I give to the hoop club, soccer, campus ministry, or American studies, they are able to use all of my $50 or $100 donation, not just $2.50 or $5.00 per year. (Edit: Oops, just saw that hilltopper2000 covered most of the same ground that I did, and was much more concise in doing so.) Yeah, problem with posting on the message board is that I don't often think through things completely. I feel like a real dumbass in this instance because I sent in my annual pittance to the Annual Fund, in the envelope addressed to "Georgetown Annual Fund," with my check undesignated so that my $ would go to the College, just last week.
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Dec 20, 2005 16:30:56 GMT -5
"Additionally, the fact that he is creating similar centers in Beiruit and Cairo shows that the prince is not approaching this as a one-way dialogue"
He is not setting up similar centers in Beruit and Cairo. They are concerned with American/Middle Eastern dialog not Christian/Islamic dialog.
I repeat, if he were setting up centers in Saudi Arabia addressed to the study of Christianity and Christian/Islamic relationships, I would look more favorably on his $30M. As it is, Christians are hardly able to practice their religion in Saudia Arabia and the Prince is doing nothing about that.
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Post by hilltopper2000 on Dec 20, 2005 17:15:19 GMT -5
Ed - If something is a good thing to do, that should be the end of discussion. Every gift to GU could be used for curing AIDS in Africa or clothing the homeless. Does that mean they should all be rejected? Incidentally, this is the same falacious argument that liberals used in opposition to the Iraq war. Other countries have wmb and ties to terrorists so why are we going into Iraq, as if the war in Iraq can only be justified if we also invade North Korea and Iran.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Dec 22, 2005 23:16:48 GMT -5
Just a note - is it a coincidence that GU is accepting a major donation from a Middle Eastern prince and Students for Justice in Palestine just got the green light to hold their national conference at Georgetown next semester? This was held at Duke last year and it requires a lot of security as SJIP do use some pretty confrontational demonstration tactics (read: the wall demonstration in Red Square) and it should only make a pretty bitter dialogue between GIA, Hillel, JSA, MSA, and SJIP get that much more rancorous.
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Post by dairishhoya on Dec 23, 2005 0:17:13 GMT -5
Just a note - is it a coincidence that GU is accepting a major donation from a Middle Eastern prince and Students for Justice in Palestine just got the green light to hold their national conference at Georgetown next semester? This was held at Duke last year and it requires a lot of security as SJIP do use some pretty confrontational demonstration tactics (read: the wall demonstration in Red Square) and it should only make a pretty bitter dialogue between GIA, Hillel, JSA, MSA, and SJIP get that much more rancorous. Why are you trying to connect these two things st. petersburg? It seems like you're trying to mix apple and oranges -- a donor's gift and a student group's programming -- and infer that something nefarious is happening. Is there something we should know or are you just speculating because their connection is the Middle East? I think its important to remember that we are a university that is dedicated to exploring the tensions that face our world by having honest and rigorous debate of the issues. If this conference is happening at Georgetown, I would assume that it has met all the necessary university policies and that the appropriate leaders of the university have weighed its impact on our community. And if there was a connection between the Prince's gift and the conference that that would be acknowledged. Sorry for pouncing on your post, but it's been annoying to read all of the crap and inaccuracies about our community on these friggin' blogs about this donation. It would just be nice to avoid giving them more fodder to make up lies about. Just a little frustrated with blogs at the moment. ----- Btw, most of the security at Duke was focused on protests and counter-protests separate from the conference by outside groups on both sides of the issue. You can visit the website Duke put together for the conference at this link: www.dukenews.duke.edu/mmedia/features/psm/
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by EasyEd on Dec 24, 2005 11:18:52 GMT -5
Merry Christmas to all who post on this board, particularly those who disagree with me at times. God Bless.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Dec 26, 2005 16:09:21 GMT -5
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you as well, ed.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Dec 26, 2005 17:02:10 GMT -5
Speaking of donations, the bar keeps getting raised. Duke received a $25 million gift...no, make that four $25 million matching gifts to kickoff a $300 million drive solely for financial aid. www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/financialaid.html
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Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by Jack on Dec 26, 2005 19:46:27 GMT -5
Speaking of donations, the bar keeps getting raised. Duke received a $25 million gift...no, make that four $25 million matching gifts to kickoff a $300 million drive solely for financial aid. www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/financialaid.htmlBeyond frustrating.
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watsonry
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Post by watsonry on Dec 26, 2005 22:54:39 GMT -5
The really frustrating thing is the fact that Georgetown has many accomplished and rich alums...some give money, many do not. The question is why? Is it a poor development/alumni relations department? Is GU seen as not worth investing in?
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Post by reformation on Dec 27, 2005 16:10:32 GMT -5
The standard story as to why we do poorly at raising money is that we we're late to the game-only started in 1980--that's definitely true
As far as Duke goes, I would recommend you go to their website and take a look at their strategic plan, then take a look at any one of Gtwn's plans for the college, univ etc. The mystery of why one univ does a lot better at fundraising than the other will be a lot clearer. Duke is very specific regarding both its goals and its current shortcomings:Gtwn is not.
A couple of things that probably don't get as much play as far as the fundraising conundrum go:
1)There is a pretty big talent gap between the top few officials at gtwn and its "peer" universities, though I think a couple of Gtwn's Deans are very good in all respects. (I don't believe that any of these top GU officials are real dynamic fundraisers either-they are by far the least approachable versus those at other univ that i have encountered) This is obviously a subjective view but I think that I know enough top univ officials at Gtwn and elsewhere to at least have an informed view. The fundraising talent of your top execs obviously is an important part obviously in landing really big gifts. 2)Gtwn doesn't try to raise money for a lot of projects that typically need or merit big donations, e.g., science + engineering. Also GU does not effectively make the case that the things that it tries to raise funds for with a few exceptions are really world class or at least trying to be world class efforts. --GU is starting to make a serious push for financial aid with some success, but obviously others are doing a better job. 3)The experience of giving reasonably large amounts of money to Gtwn is a mixed bag at best. My wife and I have given material amts of money to 5 major univ's three Ivies, Gtwn, and one other. Depending on the year Gtwn either gets the 1st or second most. The attention/servicing of gifts that we get from Gtwn is invariably the poorest out of all these univ's and sometimes downright awful--
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Dec 27, 2005 20:38:15 GMT -5
You would be amazed at the number of alumni who choose not to give to Georgetown because they believe the school has abandoned its Catholic heritage. You may not like that but it's a fact, particularly among the older (and more affluent) alumni.
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Post by Hoyasaxa20 on Jan 1, 2006 20:57:46 GMT -5
Depends how you count. Bob McDonough's $30 million is officially the largest. But Virginia Toulmin in 1997 pledged to the med school a trust that, at the time, was around $60 million. The university will not get that until her death. I have no idea what the trust is worth today. Hopefully she didn't invest in Enron. I'm curious about this gift. Hadn't heard of it before. Does the sale of the hosiptal change this at all or is the gift entirely for the school? Was this gift includes in the 3rd Century Campaign totals? Thanks.
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Post by hilltopper2000 on Jan 1, 2006 23:57:21 GMT -5
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