So I got the call from the CU Foundation tonight

[Lt.Col.FrankSlade]

I believe that's all true. But here's the point - I don't believe that any changes will be made in the athletic department until there is pain felt elsewhere. My hope is that they will realize that their poor decisions with respect to the athletic department have an impact on other areas as well. The whole "unintended consequences" thing. If overall funding for the school drops by $10MM because they were too stupid to spend $3MM to fire a coach, maybe they won't be so stupid next time. My measley donation won't amount to a drop in the bucket, but the foundation raised something like $100MM last year. That means a simple 10% drop in donations will have a huge real dollar impact. Maybe I'm dreaming, but I've done everything else I can think of. I've sent e-mails - nothing. I wore blue to the games and I was called a "bad fan". I shouted at Mike Bohn during a tailgate. The one thing I won't do is stop going to the games, so that leaves cutting off my annual contribution to the CU foundation.

I don't have any problem with your course of action. I think that's a good response - although I think not making your annual contribution to CU (for your season tickets) and dropping your season tickets entirely is a much bigger kick in the pants than the CU Foundation stuff.

The CU foundation is sitting on more than $500 mil. The CU athletic department has an operating budget of about $50 mil. Your dropping of the mandatory (assuming there still is one) donation and season tickets affects the AD a lot more than your withholding from the CU Foundation.

I do agree - based upon the perceived "political" basis for the decision to keep Hawkins - it helps to make CU feel it across the board - and not just in the athletic department.

 

[SuperiorBuff]

I don't have any problem with your course of action. I think that's a good response - although I think not making your annual contribution to CU (for your season tickets) and dropping your season tickets entirely is a much bigger kick in the pants than the CU Foundation stuff.

The CU foundation is sitting on more than $500 mil. The CU athletic department has an operating budget of about $50 mil. Your dropping of the mandatory (assuming there still is one) donation and season tickets affects the AD a lot more than your withholding from the CU Foundation.

I do agree - based upon the perceived "political" basis for the decision to keep Hawkins - it helps to make CU feel it across the board - and not just in the athletic department.

This I agree with. Make the administration feel the decision.

 

[Junction]

Can you direct to a specific athletic program or just to athletics in the general fund? I know a guy that wanted to donate big $ to another to a specific program and he was told that it would go into the general fund and could not be specifically applied to a certain sport. So he didn't donate.

I am pretty sure that you CAN EARMARK funds that are sent to the CU Foundation. But, according to the CU Foundation website - the University of Colorado comes up with a list of "priorities" and then the CU Foundation Board of Directors sits down and determines how much money to give to each of CU's priorities.

You can do either of these things. Just so long as you aren't making the donation with the hope of taking a tax deduction. Donor restrictions on the donation cause big problems there.

Of course, if you are a big enough donor you can probably get some pretty good verbal assurances from the folks in charge. But for most donors, they can't restrict the donation, and their money is going to go into a vast pool once it gets to CU, the Foundation or whoever...

 

[sackman]

And here's where it's vitally important to make sure to let them know that the reason we're not contributing to the foundation is because of the fact that Hawkins is still here. To simply stop contributing allows them to assume there are other reasons for the drop in donations.