this school and the way things are done has historically been so Mickey Mouse and incompetent it's not even funny. If not for Jason Poles doing some attempted yeomans work there would be no contact for the average fan and regular guy donator at all. And that's on a message board and not personal contact.
When I say Mickey Mouse I'm comparing it to my alma mater (Hamilton College) where they are hyperefficient at getting in touch with all alums, especially those of us who give regularly. I'm no whale to say the least and only pony up $500-1000/year at my school but this year for the first time in 28 years I'm giving zero as my own personal protest in letting the football program drop from beating nationally ranked teams to ofer seasons and barely better than a Tx HS team (if that).
Anyway, since I've not donated this year I must have received 25 calls from them the last one finally leaving a message. They contact all my friends, etc. and leave no stone unturned no matter how small the donor. When a student there I worked in the Communication and Developement dept there helping with fundraising and they have an incredible program there that is very successful being in the top tier % wise of alums who give of any college in the country. When there is communications with the school it's clear I'm the desired customer/consumer with the classy professional way they communicate with us.
How my little div. III school of 1600 students can be in the ball park endowment wise a school the size of Syracuse University is beyond me but it is. I can't ever recall getting a call or any personal touch from anyone up there, ever! And though I'm not a big hitter deserved of the red carpet treatment or any special coddling, I am a long time Orange Club member, a Club 44 member for many years, football and hoops season tix holder, buy away game tix through the university and travel for many years, etc. In other words, just the type of person they should be hitting up.
If not for here and this board with the IPF donation program I would not have known about an easy way to donate. I'm sure they'll say that there's opportunity to donate when we pony up with everything else online or however, but again, there's zero connection of any positive nature or personal connection at all I can ever recall. And it's like that it seems anytime I've reached out for whatever reason in dealing with them up there, their entitlement attitude reaks across the board whether it be the ticket office, the orange club folks, the ushers or whomever I seem to deal with there.
Its like that old joke when dealing with them up there where the customer is ticked the cashier doesn't say anything pleasant like have a good day, and rather says to the miffed customer, "it's on your receipt" to have a good day. That's the attitude I sense up there.
Even with reaching out proactively to them that's the experience, of which I'm sure a few here might remember this story but it's worth repeating as it is emblematic of what goes on up there. When I tried to offer up for their use my Ernie Davis signed and team signed 1959 national championship ball for display half the year up there (or for anytime they think they could use such a thing to their advantage) it was a ridiculous joke.
I call, call again, call again, leaving messages and the message ultimately to me is that someone would get back to me. And when they do and a meeting is set up it is with an underling so far down the line of command who has zero knowledge of sports and when I get in their office theres no room to put it down on the desk to show it, explain what I'd like to do. So the person takes it out of the display case and says follow out of the office to the central room with a huge central table with no room on it either in the middle of the room with multiple people working there.
The ball (worth thousands mind you) is dropped there in the pile by them knocks over a closed (thankfully) bottle of water barely missing the cup of coffee/pile of food there whereupon which I then grab it back. Still trying to keep the cheesebag smile on my face wanting to take one for my team I plunder on and am then told where it would be kept whereupon the person had to excuse themselves for a minute to take care of another matter.
So with a minute or likely much more to spare waiting I went out to see where they were going to keep it and it became evident to me why the Heisman trophy was stolen (maybe it's different now as this was before the latest round of renovations). The display case was rickety and the lock on it ridiculous and seeing that I finally had enough and just bolted out and left.
I told this story here and someone from the board must have relayed it to someone up there (I'm keeping all names off this) as I was told to give them a call. I did and it sounded like maybe after all it was something they might be interested in. You know the only national championship the schools had with the ball signed by the schools only and first Heisman winner, the first African American at that. Well I called and the person that was to take care of it now was real busy and asked that if they forgot to call me that I should call them at some point to remind them that they forgot to call.
Well needless to say I never made the call and the ball still sits in the display case at my house/office. Mickey Mouse. That's all the definition of it. That's all a true story that's been eating at my craw for years so it's finally vented as, again, it's emblematic and a perfect example of how things re fundraising and with things like this seem to be handled. They're lucky I guess that we're blindly loyal to a fault and will keep on keeping on support wise but it is quite frustrating because it may contribute as part of the reason we're at a competitive disadvantage.
There's nowhere to go but up and I guess that's the good thing. Maybe just maybe they'll get it together and be more proactive and efficient and get better support. With what we all just did for the bowl it's evident it can be done better. Keep staking out the whales but cultivate the little guys too a bit and they could be in a better place.
Wow that was a lot.
