[quote="Beast of the East" post=396165][quote="Room112" post=396162][quote="Beast of the East" post=396121][quote="Room112" post=396118][quote="jerseyshorejohnny" post=396102][quote="Room112" post=396078][quote="Beast of the East" post=396045][quote="Mike Zaun" post=396032]As a '14 grad I started getting calls immediately after. I'm currently saving for a house and of course paying off SJ so I don't have much to spare, but donated last few times around. They sent me a thank you card with an individualized "at a glance" type thing about the program I graduated from, the year, the degree, etc. which was pretty cool honestly. They tried to call again recently. Once you give em a crumb, they become your best friend! In all seriousness though, I wonder the same as a poster above...why are we in such dire straits compared to your average private school? I thought we would be in better position than many. It's always hard to tell if things are exaggerated for effect or if it really is that bad. I get the sense we are too big a name to close for good...and I hope that's the case. That would be an absolute disaster.[/quote]
Mike, In terms of endowment, we have the second/third best liquid position in the Big East (1. Georgetown, 2/3 Villanova & St. John's) at about $700 million. Bobby G. focused fiscal management deserves all the credit for that. However, in comparison to other more stable schools, or endowment on a per student basis ($69,000 from the article posted) we fall into the at risk category. Although we are ranked high in the Big East in endowment, that is a deceiving number since a school like Villanova without a campaign since 2014, raises $100 million of "we can basically do whatever we want" money.
The reason schools start asking for donations immediately upon graduation is that they wish to create a culture of giving among alumni. Many schools ask for a tiny amount, for example $20.20 for 2020 grads. They publish the % of giving among their class or withing a particular college within the university (e.g. business school, nursing school, etc.) and create a goal of 100% giving. What they hope to engender are increased donations as graduates begin to have career success, and they endeavor to keep their graduates close to them with alumni gatherings and networking. In many schools, the 1, 5, and even 10 year reunions on campus are very well attended. In terms of getting increased requests for donations, I think it's just a well known fact that those who give once are more likely to give again than someone who has never given. Virtually every charitable organization devotes more focus to repeat donors.
Schools like Harvard, have a center for allumni in Manhattan, that frankly once inside, looks like you entered a medieval castle. Villanova opened a center in Manhattan for alumni about 5 years ago. These places often have meeting space, lounges, a bar, maybe even a restaurant, and also cater events that alumni have preferential treatment. These investments are almost certain to increase alumni giving, and probably help the school in all ways.
Almost certainly the goal is to create a relationship with alumni that makes alums feel closely tied to the school, proud of its success, and eager to help the school become bigger and better.
I'm told by those in administration that when St. John's runs events for alumni that are free, they are very well attended. If they charge even a nominal amount, they are not well attended at all. As a school and alumni base, we have a lot of work to do.
After many years of virtual inactivity save for season tix, I've met a lot of great people here on redmen.com and also through R-W. I always give first preference to qualified St. John's grads when hiring, because our strength is in our unity.
In terms of inactivating email addresses, I wonder if schools consider the liability of perhaps having alums appear to be students or administrators long after they have left the school. Most schools appear to have trended towards inactivating email addresses within 1 year of graduation or sooner. It could be a liability to the school to keep them active. It may also be getting pressure from companies that offer steep student discounts, Microsoft is an example whereby MS Office is sharply discounted for students, but I'm not sure.[/quote]
UConn has a NYC alumni chapter, but nothing to the extent you mentioned of what Villanova or Harvard have done. I've actually attended a couple of the events and left unimpressed, certainly nothing to entice me to want to donate.[/quot
Out of curiosity, what were the events you attended ??[/quote]
One event was to welcome new alumni to the city. It was at some bar designated as the official UConn bar of the city I forget. Another event was one of the former UConn women's players who is now in the WNBA speaking about at Organization she is involved with. Both events had about 25 people, who Id say we're in 20s-30s, and both were at pretty standard bars. Nothing crazy.[/quote]
The smartest schools spend a lot of money hiring real talent in development (fund raising) positions. When my kids went to Villanova, the oldest one was only a few weeks into freshman year when they reached out to me as a parent, knew what I did, and had an idea that I could help. They also were very gracious in their approach. I ended up donating there for 7 years, and will again in the future. Boston College on the other hand, with a much larger endowment ($5 billion) made no effort whatsoever to reach me directly while my other kid was there.
It really takes some coordinated campaigns that are well funded to raise money at the college level. The events you attended at UCONN appear to have been unsuccessful, and perhaps either ill conceived or disorganized. Building a strong allegiance from alumni takes years, and there is no good reason why we can't attract more alumni as active supporters of SJU[/quote]
I'll be 100% honest in that my wife and I who are both alums never donated to UConn and really don't plan to. We got our education there but neither of us feel a strong connection to the school. Aside from that, their approach to seeking out donations has always felt like spam calls. I appreciate they do various alumni events like I mentioned in various cities where they have alumni, but as pointed out, never felt they were a success.[/quote]
I don't care if you never donate to UCONN. I do care if you start rooting for them. No room in section 114 for uconn fans[/quote]
Don't worry that's something I've never done and never will
