Facilities....I was afraid of this...

[Lt.Col.FrankSlade]

It would seem to me the best course of action would be to lay out the entire facilities plan, show pictures, little mockups, everything that they are planning. Tell the price tag. Mag sure the price tag is extravagant. $250+ million. Then announce that they have already raised $50 million in private donations, but will need another $50 million before construction can begin.

That shows that it's a serious project, with serious backing already in place. And at the same time encourage the average joe to step up with some new donations.

Given CU's history I don't think there's any way CU raises $100 million in private donations, but if Solich steps up with $50 million I bet CU could get to $65 million or so. Didn't Benson or DiStephano or somebody talk about bond interest rates being incredibly low right now, so they could finance the capital improvements costs pretty feasibly??

 

[CUFan]

Your post is a prime example of the problem. They may very well have a solid plan in place. But without seeing that plan, the perception is that they aren't committed to athletics. My gut feeling is that they understand the importance of a strong athletic program and are working toward creating it. But from the outside looking in, the people they need support from are not seeing anything. The athletic facility feasibility study should be complete within the next 3 or 4 weeks. Hopefully, they are awaiting the results of that study from which they will then put a solid plan in place and, at that point, "go public" with it.

The facilities are only one issue. There are a laundry list of problems around vision, fundraising and fan and donor involvement. I am with BNG that I am going to put those down as massive failures of Mike Bohn. You don't need a lot of money to have a coordinated message, fundraising campaign and fan/donor involvement. You don't just seek the whales. You seek donors of all levels for so many reasons I shouldn't have to explain.

 

[Walter White]

Unless you’re loaded, why would anyone give money away to a school? And a public school at that. I’ll bet that a lot of the people who donate don’t even have a one-year reserve of liquid funds.

Give to the poor? That’s everyone’s responsibility, but to a school? Bizzare to me.

 

[absinthe]

Unless you’re loaded, why would anyone give money away to a school? And a public school at that. I’ll bet that a lot of the people who donate don’t even have a one-year reserve of liquid funds.

Give to the poor? That’s everyone’s responsibility, but to a school? Bizzare to me.

Why would you keep a 1 year supply of funds liquid? Carrying that much cash or cash equivalent is not exactly sound investment planning.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Why would you keep a 1 year supply of funds liquid? Carrying that much cash or cash equivalent is not exactly sound investment planning.

Unless you're planning on fleeing to Ecuador.

 

[Walter White]

Why would you keep a 1 year supply of funds liquid? Carrying that much cash or cash equivalent is not exactly sound investment planning.

You are 100% wrong.

 

[Walter White]

Carrying that much cash or cash equivalent is not exactly sound investment planning.

This is what people with good jobs, but still living paycheck to paycheck say. And these are the same people who go BK and give their house back to the bank if/when they lose a job or have any kind of finanical hiccup.

 

[Darth Snow]

You are 100% wrong.

a 1 year supply is not what I've been by advised by very successful planners to keep handy. One would describe that as "overkill."

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Unless you’re loaded, why would anyone give money away to a school? And a public school at that. I’ll bet that a lot of the people who donate don’t even have a one-year reserve of liquid funds.

Give to the poor? That’s everyone’s responsibility, but to a school? Bizzare to me.

I divide our post-tax revenue into three bucket:

Exepenses and Retirement is probably the biggest bucket.

Giving to the poor and the church is probably the next biggest. This bucket isn't optional in our budget.

Discretionary spending is by far the smallest bucket. This bucket is 'the leftovers'. IMO, giving to your school's athletic department would fit in this bucket. You would give because you really enjoy CU athletics and you enjoy being part of it. This is not the same as charity.

 

[absinthe]

This is what people with good jobs, but still living paycheck to paycheck say. And these are the same people who go BK and give their house back to the bank if/when they lose a job or have any kind of finanical hiccup.

Glad to know I am living paycheck to paycheck. This is the thing I love about the internet you've never met me, nor do you know much about me; so you can paint me with any brush you want with little to no fear of being substantively disproved.

fwiw as Snow said, a year of liquid funds is over kill, you are costing yourself money. A three to four month cushion is more than enough to weather a short term storm and to be able to keep your cash invested in higher yield vehicles that are not as liquid. Long term you'll wind up better off and most assets can be liquidated effectively in a 120 day window.

 

[absinthe]

I divide our post-tax revenue into three bucket:

Exepenses and Retirement is probably the biggest bucket.

Giving to the poor and the church is probably the next biggest. This bucket isn't optional in our budget.

Discretionary spending is by far the smallest bucket. This bucket is 'the leftovers'. IMO, giving to your school's athletic department would fit in this bucket. You would give because you really enjoy CU athletics and you enjoy being part of it. This is not the same as charity.

Skiddy told me CU football was a religion.

 

[CUFan]

Walter: Fortunately people get to make their own decisions about how they spend their money. I know Obama is trying his best to change that, but for the moment we are all allowed to make some of our own financial decisions.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Skiddy told me CU football was a religion.

If it is, the past 7 years have been more like a death cult. Lots of kool-aid involved.

 

[sackman]

The rule of thumb that I've heard has always been three months cash reserves. That's still a lot more than what most people have.

 

[absinthe]

The rule of thumb that I've heard has always been three months cash reserves. That's still a lot more than what most people have.

that is very true.

 

[Deleted member 807]

Unless you’re loaded, why would anyone give money away to a school? And a public school at that. I’ll bet that a lot of the people who donate don’t even have a one-year reserve of liquid funds.

Give to the poor? That’s everyone’s responsibility, but to a school? Bizzare to me.

You are more than entitled to this opinion, no matter how selfish and miopic it may be.

Is a donation to the CUAD really a gift to a public school? I say, "no." The Colorado tax payer has spoken on the subject of not subsidizing the athletic department. The CUAD is self-supporting. CU Athletics does not compete for the paltry single digit percentage revenue that the state provides for higher education at CU. For the football program to be viable, it depends upon ticket sales, donations, network revenue, and merchandising. There is no "public" in that equation.

Someone writing a check to the university is not "giving money away." Donors are making an investment in the student athlete to provide them with a field, a court, a track, or a course in which they can have an opportunity to showcase their skills on the grandest of NCAA stages, while earning a degree.

CU athletes go on to be fathers, mothers, business leaders, teachers, and productive members of society. Some go on to play in the pros, compete in the Olympics and a few go on to become Rhodes Scholars or a supreme court justice. Sure a some end up as criminals, but only a small percentage not out of alignment with the broader community.

Not only do our donations go to the athletes, but also to help subsidize low cost student tickets, the band, the spirit teams, the student coaching assistants and the best live mascot in sports.

The entertainment value of collage athletics is part of the fabric of our community. Friends and fans of the athletic department cheer on the victories and cringe at the pain of defeat. Your "give nothing" philosophy is not true. It is an investment in who we are and what we consider a priority. Sure we give to the poor and needy. It so happens that the families of most athletes cannot afford the $65K annual expense needed for gear, meals, the weight room, the training room, travel, books, scholarships, coaching, and academic support.

Donations make this enterprise possible, while giving 200+ athletes valuable lessons in teamwork, discipline, and people skills. It gives a venue for people like you and me to rally around and share our friendships. It a part of who we are and how we identify ourselves.

How much somebody has and how much liquid savings somebody has is inconsequential. Everyone's situation and priorities are different.
If everyone thought like you do, the Buffaloes might be in the same league as Colorado School of Mines or CSU-Pueblo. But if you want to sit at the big boys table with a chance to win a BCS conference title and compete for a National Championship, then having a strong donor culture is the price of admission.

 

[WizzersGhost]

The facilities are only one issue. There are a laundry list of problems around vision, fundraising and fan and donor involvement. I am with BNG that I am going to put those down as massive failures of Mike Bohn. You don't need a lot of money to have a coordinated message, fundraising campaign and fan/donor involvement. You don't just seek the whales. You seek donors of all levels for so many reasons I shouldn't have to explain.

Then how did the BB practice facility get built? Or the practice dome? I recall the same strategy was used: announce the facilty was planned and then ask for donatiosn without revealing the extent of big donations, which then kills off broadening the base. I don't remember anything about the donors to those facilities being announced until well after the fact, so as not to kill off the "somebody else'll do it" crowd's potential donations.

As I recall, Marolt used the opposite strategy with Dal Ward, got a ton of smaller pledges based upon detailed plans and a list of big-boy donors, but when the time to make good on those pledges arrived, CU got screwed and was scrambling for real money to pay the contractors, since lots of wallets suddenly developed a severe case of moths...

As for Solich, he's in the Joe Jamail (UTex) Boyd Pickens(Okie-Lite) league, but likely doesn't want to spring for it all at once, because it kills off the small contributors. We've already heard from the small-timers here ("I'm not going to give another dime to CU...") when they already have control over their own giving and the Foundation has a specific fund set up for capital athletic improvements; kinda makes the point that the big-talking cheapskates are waiting for the real big boys to step up, as with the Dal Ward.

 

[WizzersGhost]

. But if you want to sit at the big boys table with a chance to win a BCS conference title and compete for a National Championship, then having a strong donor culture is the price of admission.

"Strong donor culture" is not 4-5 guys in the $1 mil + range and a couple thousand in the $500 range as CU seems to have, but 20+ in the first catagory and 10K willing to give $500 or more regularly, without waiting/demanding to "see where the $$$ is going," before they give and whose extra giving is divorced from benefits like better seating. CU doesn't have that yet.

 

[Deleted member 807]

"Strong donor culture" is not 4-5 guys in the $1 mil + range and a couple thousand in the $500 range as CU seems to have, but 20+ in the first catagory and 10K willing to give $500 or more regularly, without waiting/demanding to "see where the $$$ is going," before they give and whose extra giving is divorced from benefits like better seating. CU doesn't have that yet.

I agree. The last decade is proof of that.

The CUAD must stop leading from behind the uncultivated donor community. Leadership comes from leaders; not from the output of surveys and feasibility studies.

If "public" institutions like Wisconsin or Michigan or Florida or Oklahoma can do it, so can CU.

 

[CUFan]

Then how did the BB practice facility get built? Or the practice dome? I recall the same strategy was used: announce the facilty was planned and then ask for donatiosn without revealing the extent of big donations, which then kills off broadening the base. I don't remember anything about the donors to those facilities being announced until well after the fact, so as not to kill off the "somebody else'll do it" crowd's potential donations.

As I recall, Marolt used the opposite strategy with Dal Ward, got a ton of smaller pledges based upon detailed plans and a list of big-boy donors, but when the time to make good on those pledges arrived, CU got screwed and was scrambling for real money to pay the contractors, since lots of wallets suddenly developed a severe case of moths...

As for Solich, he's in the Joe Jamail (UTex) Boyd Pickens(Okie-Lite) league, but likely doesn't want to spring for it all at once, because it kills off the small contributors. We've already heard from the small-timers here ("I'm not going to give another dime to CU...") when they already have control over their own giving and the Foundation has a specific fund set up for capital athletic improvements; kinda makes the point that the big-talking cheapskates are waiting for the real big boys to step up, as with the Dal Ward.

My point was meant to address ongoing fundraising efforts and less about specific projects. Apologize for not being clear. It seems they have a targeted approach for the new facilities, which is fine with me.

 

[Junction]

It would seem to me the best course of action would be to lay out the entire facilities plan, show pictures, little mockups, everything that they are planning. Tell the price tag. Mag sure the price tag is extravagant. $250+ million. Then announce that they have already raised $50 million in private donations, but will need another $50 million before construction can begin.

That shows that it's a serious project, with serious backing already in place. And at the same time encourage the average joe to step up with some new donations.

Given CU's history I don't think there's any way CU raises $100 million in private donations, but if Solich steps up with $50 million I bet CU could get to $65 million or so. Didn't Benson or DiStephano or somebody talk about bond interest rates being incredibly low right now, so they could finance the capital improvements costs pretty feasibly??

That would make sense. I suspect that the reason they're not doing this is because they are dealing with a tiered facilities plan depending on how much money they're able to raise. You don't want to roll out the whole thing, then have to back off. But why they aren't at least making a bigger imprint with the lowest tier of the plan, so that the donors who aren't getting individual sales pitches have SOMETHING to get excited about is something I don't understand...

 

[Walter White]

Walter: Fortunately people get to make their own decisions about how they spend their money. I know Obama is trying his best to change that, but for the moment we are all allowed to make some of our own financial decisions.

I agree with you about Obama, but I don't think you read my post. I wasnt' telling anyone what to do. I was giving my opinion (that's what you do on interweb boards, right?). It goes without saying that people can do whatever the hell they want, but again, Obama might be chaning that too.

 

[WizzersGhost]

I agree. The last decade is proof of that.

If "public" institutions like Wisconsin or Michigan or Florida or Oklahoma can do it, so can CU.

The problem is, those states legislatures are more than willing to pay for AD improvements and their alums contribute early and often.

CU's alums go back home to Cali, the East Coast and Illinois and are notorious for not contributing unless and until the FB team succeeds, not the other way around like Wisc. Mich., Okie or FLA!

 

[Walter White]

If it is, the past 7 years have been more like a death cult. Lots of kool-aid involved.

 

[Walter White]

You are more than entitled to this opinion, no matter how selfish and miopic it may be.

Is a donation to the CUAD really a gift to a public school? I say, "no." The Colorado tax payer has spoken on the subject of not subsidizing the athletic department. The CUAD is self-supporting. CU Athletics does not compete for the paltry single digit percentage revenue that the state provides for higher education at CU. For the football program to be viable, it depends upon ticket sales, donations, network revenue, and merchandising. There is no "public" in that equation.

Someone writing a check to the university is not "giving money away." Donors are making an investment in the student athlete to provide them with a field, a court, a track, or a course in which they can have an opportunity to showcase their skills on the grandest of NCAA stages, while earning a degree.

CU athletes go on to be fathers, mothers, business leaders, teachers, and productive members of society. Some go on to play in the pros, compete in the Olympics and a few go on to become Rhodes Scholars or a supreme court justice. Sure a some end up as criminals, but only a small percentage not out of alignment with the broader community.

Not only do our donations go to the athletes, but also to help subsidize low cost student tickets, the band, the spirit teams, the student coaching assistants and the best live mascot in sports.

The entertainment value of collage athletics is part of the fabric of our community. Friends and fans of the athletic department cheer on the victories and cringe at the pain of defeat. Your "give nothing" philosophy is not true. It is an investment in who we are and what we consider a priority. Sure we give to the poor and needy. It so happens that the families of most athletes cannot afford the $65K annual expense needed for gear, meals, the weight room, the training room, travel, books, scholarships, coaching, and academic support.

Donations make this enterprise possible, while giving 200+ athletes valuable lessons in teamwork, discipline, and people skills. It gives a venue for people like you and me to rally around and share our friendships. It a part of who we are and how we identify ourselves.

How much somebody has and how much liquid savings somebody has is inconsequential. Everyone's situation and priorities are different.
If everyone thought like you do, the Buffaloes might be in the same league as Colorado School of Mines or CSU-Pueblo. But if you want to sit at the big boys table with a chance to win a BCS conference title and compete for a National Championship, then having a strong donor culture is the price of admission.

Giving to the poor is selfish? What?

 

[Deleted member 807]

The problem is, those states legislatures are more than willing to pay for AD improvements and their alums contribute early and often.

CU's alums go back home to Cali, the East Coast and Illinois and are notorious for not contributing unless and until the FB team succeeds, not the other way around like Wisc. Mich., Okie or FLA!

I'm not sure I continue to agree with this often told myth. Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.

Wisconsin and Michigan have gone through big budgetary problems. Their alumnus flee the rust belts of Milwaukee and Detroit for better economic opportunities in the southwest. Higher ed funding has taken a major hit in both of these states. Both also compete with NFL and pro sports options.

Oklahoma has a lot of OOS alumni in Texas. Florida grads flee to Atlanta.

While it might be convenent to blame the Colorado legislature or alumni, such critism should also be leveled on DiStephano, Benson and Bohn. The CU Med Center blossomed from a disbanded military base into a $4 Billion state of the art facility over the past decade. When CU leadership wants something, they can make it happen. The same legislative rules apply in Aurora as they do in Boulder.

I am tired of this old narrative about the donors being the problem. The right leadership team with the right message and right strategy would never have allowed CU football to face plant over the past ten years. All donors did during this plummet was continue to fill Folsom.

 

[Quattro]

Giving to the poor is selfish? What?

Lol that's your only rebuttle?

 

[Deleted member 807]

Giving to the poor is selfish? What?

Is that really your response? C'mon Walter. Your effort to save face is embarrassing.

Tell me more, Mr. 1-year Salary in liquid savings about where anyone anywhere would assert such nonesense. It IS selfish to tell people not to give to a school.

 

[SINKRATZ]

Unless you’re loaded, why would anyone give money away to a school? And a public school at that. I’ll bet that a lot of the people who donate don’t even have a one-year reserve of liquid funds.

Give to the poor? That’s everyone’s responsibility, but to a school? Bizzare to me.

This is ridiculous, where do you draw the line on discretionary spending? Is it crazy for people to go on vacation, or buy their wife flowers on their anniversary, ice cream cone with your kid, tickets to a Buff game, an iPad app? It's all discretionary spending that bring people pleasure. Why are these things acceptable, but donation to a program that people want to succeed bizarre?

 

[BlackNGold]

There are tried and true formulas for Capital Fund Raising Campaigns. But all are tied to having a strategic plan, which CUAD has lacked since Tharp's 10 year plan. One of the key factors in fund raising is making the case for what you are trying to accomplish (vision) - CU has not done this.

There have been rumors of a facility announcement for over two years now. Many of those rumors can be traced back to CU - When the staff was recruiting for the 2012 class back in 2011 many of the recruits referenced facility plans they had been shown on recruiting trips with announcements supposedly coming out soon - that was all well over a year ago.

I just keep coming back to the Mike Bohn as not the guy to get it done.