Endowment still at #73....

[WilsonBlvdHoya]

despite great growth between 2006-2007 (26+%--only topped by places like Williams, Duke and ND). Endowment is over $1B now but needs to get to $2B+ as quickly as possible (ND and Duke are approaching $6B and Penn's at $6.6B). GW still ahead of GU in the endowment game as well.....

www.nacubo.org/Images/All%20Institutions%20Listed%20by%20FY%202007%20Market%20Value%20of%20Endowment%20Assets_2007%20NES.pdf

[SoCalHoya]

Grrr. At least I know we are making strides.

[hilltopper2000]

That's disappointing. Our big year isn't that big when everyone else does it too. There is oh so much riding on getting this capital campaign right. I know that the university is talking about the $130 mil raised last year and the $87 mil raised in the first half of this fiscal year, but that is not even on pace. We need to pick it up.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

Hey rich alums! Pony up!!

[DFW HOYA]

Jan 30, 2008 23:59:35 GMT -5 Coast2CoastHoya said:

Hey rich alums! Pony up!!

The sad fact is that Georgetown's number of "rich" alumni (net investible assets over $30 million) is exceedingly small; in part, because the medical and law fields GU focuses on does not drive that kind of income. Schools that have grown in this poll (and look no further than ND and Southern California) have done so through entrepreneurs who have the ability to make eight figure gifts, as well as foundation gifts to which Georgetown has not actively pursued in the past.

If Georgetown relies on the same cadre of alumni to fund the campaign, it will fail. It must look to the greater philanthropic community to make the "transformational" gifts to elevate the endowment.

[theexorcist]

Jan 30, 2008 23:59:35 GMT -5 Coast2CoastHoya said:

Hey rich alums! Pony up!!

GU does have alums on wall Street.

However, GU has to treat their alums better. As an example, not STORING THEIR PERSONAL DATA ON AN UNECRYPTED HARD DRIVE.

[Filo]

Well, that is a good illustration of one of the problems. I guess Georgetown has not been able to cultivate a stong feeling of loyalty among alumni. There are some alumni who are very quick to throw out the old "I won't be donating to Georgetown" line (as in, "if GU does not extend JT III's contract, I won't be donating any more..." or "The university had some moronic policies and procedures in place that allowed someone to steal a hard drive with personal data, so I am not donating any more..."). That's fine, and everyone has their own personal reasons for making financial decisions, but I sure hope those that are so quick to stop donating are not the same who complain about the measly endowment.

[theexorcist]

Jan 31, 2008 9:55:12 GMT -5 Filo said:

Well, that is a good illustration of one of the problems. I guess Georgetown has not been able to cultivate a stong feeling of loyalty among alumni. There are some alumni who are very quick to throw out the old "I won't be donating to Georgetown" line (as in, "if GU does not extend JT III's contract, I won't be donating any more..." or "The university had some moronic policies and procedures in place that allowed someone to steal a hard drive with personal data, so I am not donating any more..."). That's fine, and everyone has their own personal reasons for making financial decisions, but I sure hope those that are so quick to stop donating are not the same who complain about the measly endowment.

Hold on just a second here. Georgetown took MY DATA, which allows someone to steal MY IDENTITY, and didn't protect it the way they should have.

Ignoring the lack of a concern for students and alumni by allowing this, someone who decides not to donate is wholely justified based on concerns that giving Georgetown more and more up-to-date information makes them more vulnerable to identity theft.

Identity theft is a growing problem, to the point where (as rosslynhoya pointed out in another thread), companies are established for the sole purpose of reducing the risk and consequences of identity theft. Georgetown has an obligation, as a retailer of a service if nothing else, to safeguard critical information. And if they want to indicate that there's a Georgetown family, they darn well better protect my data like they care about it.

This is in no way similar to "give III another contract".

[Jack]

Actually, I what Rosslynhoya pointed out in another thread was that

Equifax, Transunion, and Experian are SCUM. Their profits have surged over the past decade as they've figured out the real money to be made in their business isn't by reporting people's "credit rating" accurately, but instead by scaring individuals into buying "credit-monitoring services." They screw up, you pay to fix their mistake. It's a protection racket pure and simple.

So while identity fraud may be a growing problem, I am not entirely convinced that it is so much widespread as it is simply widely publicized. Based on the overheated responses I have seen so far to this hard drive theft, I am at least convinced that the fear-mongering of the credit monitoring services is working quite well.

[strummer8526]

1. GU needs to do A LOT more to keep alums feeling like part of a community. Personally, I love the fact that Dr. Porterfield shoots out a quick Christmas card to alums he knew. It's such a tiny gesture, but it puts a face to the University. There's someone who, when I need a recommendation or need to be in touch with the school, I can look for. My impression is that most alums have no such link. While we're at Georgetown, there's bureaucratic red tape, gross hypocrisy, and poor decision-making that hinders student life. Then, we graduate, and the most contact we get is through donation requests.

2. I will also say that the extent to which we live out our mission DOES hurt our funding. At the Law Center, there is a HUGE emphasis on public interest/government work (aka: the Edited you do if you want to pay loans for the next 30 years). So I'm going to go into a field I love, a field that's important and hopefully makes a difference. But I will never be able to cut the kind of checks that I would if I came from a school with no social conscience at all.

[Filo]

Jan 31, 2008 10:19:33 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Jan 31, 2008 9:55:12 GMT -5 Filo said:

Well, that is a good illustration of one of the problems. I guess Georgetown has not been able to cultivate a stong feeling of loyalty among alumni. There are some alumni who are very quick to throw out the old "I won't be donating to Georgetown" line (as in, "if GU does not extend JT III's contract, I won't be donating any more..." or "The university had some moronic policies and procedures in place that allowed someone to steal a hard drive with personal data, so I am not donating any more..."). That's fine, and everyone has their own personal reasons for making financial decisions, but I sure hope those that are so quick to stop donating are not the same who complain about the measly endowment.

Hold on just a second here. Georgetown took MY DATA, which allows someone to steal MY IDENTITY, and didn't protect it the way they should have.

Ignoring the lack of a concern for students and alumni by allowing this, someone who decides not to donate is wholely justified based on concerns that giving Georgetown more and more up-to-date information makes them more vulnerable to identity theft.

Identity theft is a growing problem, to the point where (as rosslynhoya pointed out in another thread), companies are established for the sole purpose of reducing the risk and consequences of identity theft. Georgetown has an obligation, as a retailer of a service if nothing else, to safeguard critical information. And if they want to indicate that there's a Georgetown family, they darn well better protect my data like they care about it.

This is in no way similar to "give III another contract".

Like I said, everyone has their own personal reasons for making financial decisions. I really did not intend to make it personal (honestly, it was a general response and not directed at you in particular).

Having said that, you've expanded the reasoning in your response here -- going beyond what you were saying in your original email (treating alumni better) to specifically talk about not wanting to donate because GU, as a retailer, has not proven that it will protect your data. Without getting into the logic of that, you've pretty much differentiated it from the responses that I was talking about -- quick-trigger emotional responses that, to me at least, show that the University has not cultivated loyalty.