Donor Base and (wait for it) Practice Facility

[Hoya LNU]

Since I haven't seen any thread raising the issue of a new practice facility in a couple of weeks, since Kenner is winding down, and since we've still got 3+ months till the season, figure I'd recount a conversation (more of a monologue, it took place at the dentist's office) I had earlier today:

Turns out my dentist is a huge Nebraska Cornhusker fan (no snarky comments about why I'd choose an NU guy as a dentist). This is the first year for head coach Bo Pelini, who replaced Bill Callahan, let go, according to Huskers.com, after he lead Nebraska to its "first two losing seasons in more than 45 years." Rumor is that following the second losing season, a donor walked into a senior NU official's office with an $8 million check to buy out the remainder of Callahan and the former AD's contracts.

Turning to GU's alum base:
1) we'll never be close to the size of most state schools (never was this more apparent than during a trip to Atlanta for the Final Four, where almost every opposing fan made a point of mentioning it - though the Ohio State contingent was generally too drunkenly ignorant to recognize it - not that there's anything wrong with that)
2) while wholly unsupported by any empirical data, GU as a whole does a poor job in developing and maintaining a school identity and affinity with its grads (allowing that the the 1/4 of 1% who read this board are outside of that group)
3) not sure if I'm certain about this or if I'm indulging in conceit - our grads, while as successful as those from any college out there, tend towards fields of government and service rather than marked financial affluence. Those that donate may be more interested in academics rather than athletics.

So:
1) Does this matter?
2) Do we need a new practice facility or other large expense items to stay competitive? Is this a function of funds, community concurrence, both, or more?
3) What is the current status of a new practice facility?
4) Where are the big ticket donors?

I know this is a recurring on-and-off topic in past threads. I remember a big burst of discussion about it following last year's open practice, when JTIII was asked about and discussed the topic, and it's come up since; figure this year's open practice is coming (thank God, not soon enough) and might as well throw the topic out there.

[SFHoya99]

1) Yes.

2) You may not have it, but there's a lot of empirical data to support that. At least in giving rates.

3) Not true. The Wall Street Journal had us with a Top 20 median starting salary and a Top 15 median mid-career salary out of US Universities. So while we have a lot of folks who don't make a ton (the median salary number is surprisingly low), it's not out of whack with others.


1) What? A practice facility or our ability to fundraise or demographics?

2) I don't think so in the absolute sense. Is it a competitive disadvantage that we currently overcome through other means? Yes. Would it help our program? Yes.

3) Someone else may know.

4) Not giving to this, but I'm not sure if we're even asking.

Let me ask two questions I feel are much more relevant:

1. Is this the best use of $25-30MM for the sports involved? Basketball? Is it the best use for athletics in general? Is there greater utility in scholarships or other facilities? (There's also the athletics v academics argument I won't broach).

2. It's been, what 2-3 years since the end of the last capital campaign? Where's the new one? Most schools restart immediately.

[The Stig]

I don't have any hard evidence for this, but given JTIII's public statements, plus the fact that his new contract and the practice facility plans were announced in quick succession, I suspect that the promise of a new practice facility was a big factor in keeping JTIII at Georgetown. If that's true, then failing to build the new facility could mean losing JTIII.

[aleutianhoya]

I'll jump in on SF99's questions because I agree they're the more immediate questions (and really lead to the others that were posed).

1) Yes, it is the best use of the money if it's designed and implemented correctly (and maybe even if it isn't). If designed appropriately, it frees up sufficient space within McDonough to provide a tremendous benefit to nearly every program. By that I mean that the space currently used by men's basketball likely is available (and that's a significant amount of space) and the new facility may have room to move some other things into it (without defeating its primary purpose: a dedicated space for men's basketball). Even if it's not designed appropriately and those things don't happen, it does serve the purpose of helping to keep JTIII. And, I think it's virtually unassailable to suggest that doing so is the top priority for the program and for the Athletic Dep't as a whole.

2) Your overall point is certainly correct, although it's not quite true to say that most schools restart immediately. There's generally a one or two year window whereby the school goes through a strategic planning and reassessment excercise before creating goals and jumping into the next point. But, that's besides the point because we're past that window. As an initial step, the school (meaning the Athletic Department, in our case) should be outlining its strategic objectives. We can argue until we're blue in the face about what they ought to be, but the reality is that we need everything---facilities help, scholarship help (in all sports but basketball), coaching salaries, recruiting budgets, etc. But you have to pick them off and you have to communicate how you're going to do that. I think a basketball practice facility is vital because it helps cement what is our most important strength.

[jgalt]

this had to happen right? Someone had to do it.

[strummer8526]

I think the larger issue--meaning one that impacts the entire University and in a NEGATIVE way--is that our fundraising and alumni relations are horrid. I'm sorry, but before I open my wallet, I'd like to see this school make a tad more of a commitment to its alums than just calling me for money once a year and saying that we'll have 5 and 10 year reunions. We just make feeble, feeble efforts to keep alums engaged, so who's to blame some for drifting away? Also, the fact that the University does NOTHING to tell anyone (students, alums, etc.) where its money is being spent means that I'm far less likely to shell out $100 much less $1,000 (when I can). Sure, donating directly to athletics is different, but I think the same problem is found there. Until people know where their money is going, they're not going to get it. And until a concerted effort is made to keep an active alumni base, it won't get any better. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

[DFW HOYA]

Aug 7, 2008 6:42:54 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

I think the larger issue--meaning one that impacts the entire University and in a NEGATIVE way--is that our fundraising and alumni relations are horrid. I'm sorry, but before I open my wallet, I'd like to see this school make a tad more of a commitment to its alums than just calling me for money once a year and saying that we'll have 5 and 10 year reunions. We just make feeble, feeble efforts to keep alums engaged, so who's to blame some for drifting away? Also, the fact that the University does NOTHING to tell anyone (students, alums, etc.) where its money is being spent means that I'm far less likely to shell out $100 much less $1,000 (when I can). Sure, donating directly to athletics is different, but I think the same problem is found there. Until people know where their money is going, they're not going to get it. And until a concerted effort is made to keep an active alumni base, it won't get any better. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Point to consider: If you are giving to an unrestricted fund (e.g., Hoya Hoop Club), you're only going to get get very general information about the outcome (e.g., supporting basketball). A person who is giving to a restricted fund (e.g., a named football or track scholarship) will get regular updates on its status.

Yes, I think there's a lot of "reinventing the wheel" by GU on donor relations, and the various fundraising groups don't always work together. So how about some specifics: how much detail does a $100 gift require?

And what do you want from the University besides reunions and Homecoming? (Oct. 11 vs. Pennsylvania, BTW) Do you want career planning, library access, social networking, or discounts on hotels and insurance? Well, these already there, but not enough alumni actually take advantage.

alumni.georgetown.edu/default.aspx?Page=AlumniResources

[strummer8526]

Well, then I guess a good start would be telling us about discounts on hotels and insurance b/c I've never seen or heard anything related to that. I guess to be clearer on my point and on where I'm coming from: I'm involved with the class of '07 alumni committee. In the minds of those of us in the group, when we came into the thing, we were unaware that we have quite literally 0 resources. We have been told numerous times that we can never spend any money, period. Even if we thought of a way to raise money, we've been told that our objective as a group is to fundraise for the Georgetown Fund. So essentially, we're expected to start with nothing, raise nothing, yet somehow organize and excite our class in such a way that they donate to the Georgetown Fund. I just don't see that as feasible. And sure, I understand that we're only a year out of school, so we don't deserve a ton of money pumped back into energizing us as a donor base. But at what point does that change? At what point does the University say: This class of alums can probably help us, but in order to get them to help us, we need to re-engage with them in a way beyond asking for money. We need to plan something enjoyable, put some faculty and administrators there to schmooz. We actually need to rent a place, have an open bar, and get this class to open its wallets. At this point only a year out, we've been essentially told that it won't happen. Ever. I guess our five year reunion may fall into that category, but I just feel like there are opportunities missed by the University putting all its eggs in one fundraising basket that only rolls around every 5 years.

As far ashow much detail the University should give as far as keeping its base informed, I will analogize to my high school. I went to a private high school that charged a steep tuition (compared to free public school), but still, the HS relied a good deal on donations. Regardless of how much you ever donated (and in my case, it hasnt been a ton yet), every single alum receives a monthly magazine of sorts--full color, pictures everywhere, 20-30 pages or more--telling us what's been going on, improvements being made, status of projects on campus, changes in faculty, etc. I'm also assuming that people who donate more or to a specific project get more detailed summaries of how those are going. Now some of my mail still goes to NJ, so maybe I miss some things, but I have never heard of any such Georgetown attempt to keep anyone, much less every alum, apprised of what's going on. I'm not saying we need to open the books and see cash flow statements and breakdowns like that, but it couldn't hurt fundraising for people to have continuous reminders of what the University is doing, both financially and more generally.

[Dhall]

We just won two consecutive Big East championships and recruiting continues to improve. Since JT's retirement, people have been saying it couldn't be done with the deficiencies at Gtown. They were and continue to be wrong and it's impossible to argue otherwise given the recent results. Ticket prices skyrocketed this year, so they can use my extra $500 compared to last year for whatever they think is important.

[dailey247]

I'd like to fully endow a scholarship for HoyaTalk posters to take a 10 minute basic latin course, and learn to properly use the words 'alumnus,' 'alumna,' 'alumni,' and 'alumnae,' and to stop using the non-word 'alum.' We sound like Syracuse grads here.

[Boz]

Aug 7, 2008 9:45:59 GMT -5 dailey247 said:

I'd like to fully endow a scholarship for HoyaTalk posters to take a 10 minute basic latin course, and learn to properly use the words 'alumnus,' 'alumna,' 'alumni,' and 'alumnae,' and to stop using the non-word 'alum.' We sound like Syracuse grads here.

Daaaaaaaaammmmnnnn!

Accipe Hoc, Canae!!
;D

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2008 7:57:52 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

As far ashow much detail the University should give as far as keeping its base informed, I will analogize to my high school. I went to a private high school that charged a steep tuition (compared to free public school), but still, the HS relied a good deal on donations. Regardless of how much you ever donated (and in my case, it hasnt been a ton yet), every single alum receives a monthly magazine of sorts--full color, pictures everywhere, 20-30 pages or more--telling us what's been going on, improvements being made, status of projects on campus, changes in faculty, etc. I'm also assuming that people who donate more or to a specific project get more detailed summaries of how those are going. Now some of my mail still goes to NJ, so maybe I miss some things, but I have never heard of any such Georgetown attempt to keep anyone, much less every alum, apprised of what's going on. I'm not saying we need to open the books and see cash flow statements and breakdowns like that, but it couldn't hurt fundraising for people to have continuous reminders of what the University is doing, both financially and more generally.

So, you're saying you want 200-300 pages from GU annually, with color photos, updates, news, etc.?

communications.georgetown.edu/magazine.html

Seems like the only difference between this and what your HS does is that it's quarterly as opposed to monthly. Is that such a big deal?

[strummer8526]

Aug 7, 2008 9:45:59 GMT -5 dailey247 said:

I'd like to fully endow a scholarship for HoyaTalk posters to take a 10 minute basic latin course, and learn to properly use the words 'alumnus,' 'alumna,' 'alumni,' and 'alumnae,' and to stop using the non-word 'alum.' We sound like Syracuse grads here.

Well now I'm legitimately interested. Please explain to Latin.

And no, the quarterly versus monthly is not that big a deal at all. The significant difference to me is that I've never received one of these. But now that I've seen this page, that's on me.

Still from the description, on this page (and admittedly I have no read one, so this could be wrong), it doesn't seem that it would contain updates on campus projects. That's where this whole topic started: a discussion of the University communicating to alums about where potential donations go...even in general terms. If "to inform its readers about the achievements of alumni, faculty and staff, scholarly research, new programs, and nationally significant events" also included some mention of campus developments, building plans, etc., then I agree, this is exactly the kind of thing to which I was referring.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Under "Recent Feature Stories" it does seem to go into the science building or at least mention it. So maybe they do address some of the communication issue.

[Hoya TMF]

would an on-campus practice facility be economically valuable without an on-campus arena? with an area, we can stop paying rent to mci and pocket a higher cut of ticket sales even if the capacity will not be close to that of mci.

i actually think georgetown alums have a strong allegiance to each other. this fact is of course not necessarily reflected in donating to the university. the university really needs to ramp up its alumni relations department and involve current students with alums. that way, they will already feel a part of a larger network when they leave the university.

[dailey247]

Aug 7, 2008 10:27:04 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Well now I'm legitimately interested. Please explain to Latin.

All right, quick lesson:
"Alumnus" - Masculine Singular, refers to 1 male graduate
"Alumna" - Feminine Singular, refers to 1 female graduate
"Alumni" - Neuter Plural, refers to 2 or more graduates, at least 1 of whom is male
"Alumnae" - Feminine Plural, refers to 2 or more graduates, all of whom are female
"Alum" and "Alums" - not words in any language, dead or otherwise

Quod Erat Demonstrandum

And just so I don't get in trouble for going off topic, a question: Where exactly would a new mens basketball facility be located? Are they planning on digging up more of the parking lot or put it back in the woods behind McDonough and Yates?

[prhoya]

Hey, Prof. Latin, "alum" exists here (I mean Hoyatalk), just like "scholies". I don't like it, but to each, his own.

BTW, check out LicHoya's posts. You'll love his grammar and "non-words".

[jgalt]

I think the idea was a prctice facitu where the outdoor tennis courts are now. But that idea is just above rumor status so who knows; that is, though, the only open space really left on campus

[DudeSlade]

GU's biggest alumni relations problem, in my opinion, is not that we don't have a lot of good ideas and programs going on (Cam & DFW point out a couple), it's that we suck at marketing them. Alumni relations are only as good as the marketing behind them. Like strummer, I had never heard of or seen either of those sites and I know most of my GU friends haven't either. It's not enough to have it, it needs to be constantly shown to us. We get those alumni e-mails once in a while and I appreciate them alot because they keep me in touch with what's going on, even just by looking at the headlines, but they are bland, boring text.

When I graduated, we kept hearing about the new business building that was going to be built finally, but in a few years, I haven't seen anything about it--I have no clue where it's at. My sisters tell me that it's looking awesome and will be really cool. Well, then put a big fat picture of it in progress at the top of the alumni e-mail with a link below it to donate to the MSB or the MSB building project. If I could see how the school was progressing, I'd be far more likely to donate knowing my money was well spent.

I think there is a natural skepticism regarding GU and how well the money will be spent amongst alumni. I am not sure where this came from, but I am equally as guilty of it as anyone. I don't know if it stems from our undergraduate experiences (I wouldn't trust most of our administrators with my donations because they didn't handle reimbursements and other financial concerns well when I was an undergrad), or a mistrust of our senior officials, specifically DeGioia, to properly use our donations (though the recent building has been exceptional and my experiences with DeGioia have been nice, I still am not sure of him for some reason--reason says otherwise, but my gut just quivers every time I think of donating to something he leads), or from the well-known financial troubles the university has experienced. Personally, I have donated to 2 things because I can trust the money will be well spent: the basketball program and Dr. Porterfield's private funds. It's not a large donation by any means, but I know that my donation will never be wasted by either group and that the results are seen in the improvement of the undergraduate experience.

Perhaps if the Georgetown Fund would publicize that so many thousands (or dozens?) of students received scholarships or aid from the fund, we could feel like it made a difference. Perhaps if we could see that GU's endowment went from a paltry $750 million a few years ago to over $1 billion now or moved up from #78 amongst universities to #67 (or whatever it is) then you could engage the competitive spirit of many Hoyas' to move up the rankings and give our undergraduates a chance. I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with our fundraising or alumni relations projects or efforts, I just think we have to drastically improve our marketing efforts. E-mail makes this easy, especially since we have our georgetown.edu e-mails for life and most alumni have set them up to be forwarded to other e-mail systems. Great thing about E-mail is it's FREE! Also, we have some of the finest marketing professors in the country (Ronkainen, Goodstein, Czinkota, et al.) who care a great deal about undergraduates and the university, not just their own research. Why don't we approach them and seek their guidance and help and hire them to consult for the university? I can only imagine the positive changes they could enact.

Lastly, it's vitally important that our basketball program remain top notch to continue to attract the attention and national recognition that brings in donations. Notre Dame is a prime example of this. Knowing one of their board of directors, I know that they fired Ty Willingham and hired Charlie (Jabba the Hut) Weis because the struggles of their football team had caused a sharp decline in their donations. Weis' first year and the success of the team saw a huge increase in donations again and not just to football but to the whole school. Whether we like to admit it or not, the prestige of a school's sports programs is directly tied to the prestige of the school and, therefore, directly affects donations to the university in all areas. For this reason, I think we should definitely build a practice facility if it means the continued success of our program and the retention of JTIII. The $25-30 million outlay for the facility will come back to the university tenfold in donations gained from the increased exposure of our university. Alumni sometimes need that constant reminder of their university in the national spotlight to donate.

[hilltopper2000]

All prospective donors should be directed to this site, which makes the case that GU has turned the corner in endowment management.

financialaffairs.georgetown.edu/invest/investment_team.html

[DudeSlade]

Thanks hilltopper! This is what I'm talking about! It's great that they have this info, but get it out there to alumni. I already feel better about the financial management of our endowment and would be far more likely to donate right now than I was even 10 minutes ago. A simple e-mail with this would have been plenty instead of those stupid student testimonials they send. I know most of the students who send them and I think they're great kids, but I don't want to hear about. Send my an e-mail with this excerpt from their endowment history and I'd have already donated:

"Prior to 2004, Georgetown's endowment grew modestly under the management of an outside consultant and the Subcommittee on Investments of the Georgetown University Board of Directors. In summer 2004, the university hired its first chief investment officer to more closely oversee management of the endowment and to improve upon past performance. When Larry Kochard joined Georgetown, the endowment had a value of $680 million, with minor alternative assets exposure. After setting new investment guidelines with the Subcommittee on Investments, the Investment Office has worked to meet revised asset allocation targets that include alternative assets and a stronger weighting to non-U.S. equity. During Larry's brief tenure, the endowment has risen in NACUBO ranking from number 77 to 73 and grown to over $1 billion."