Alumni phone calls

The girl who called me was very nice. I had told her that we were moving and that my fiance was starting a new job, so when she asked, she told me that she didn't expect me to donate, especially with us moving and new jobs starting. She still asked for the $100, but it was obvious while she was saying it that she understood the situation and was reading from a form.

 

Really, my school stresses percentage of alumni contributing rather than huge dollar amounts, although of course they like large gifts. The form letter that goes out every year says even $10 would be nice because the higher percentage of the alumni that donates, the more the school can brag about how many alumni love the school, it's something they point out with pride in promotional literature mailed to prospective students, message being that if you go there, you will be part of a lifelong community if you choose and you will look back on these years with great fondness, blah-blah. And I have to say that is true. I am still part of that school community 30 years later and have been even while living thousands of miles away. The quarterly alumni mag arrived today and I read the "Class Notes" first thing.

 

My wife gets called every single day (including weekends) by both the place where she went to college and where she got a graduate degree. She gives money to both and they still pester her.

 

every single day? shit. that's a lot of calls.

i give twice a year when a kid from my undergrad calsl. it's a small private school with an endowment north of $1 billion. that's Billion with a B. but i still give a little. i can afford the $25 twice a year and it makes a little tax deduction if i itemize. college was important to me, so i give. but not too much.

as for whether i'll give to the law school? i doubt it.

 

Unbelievable. That would drive me crazy.

I said earlier in the thread that I get numerous letters throughout the year from my school. Also get letters several times per year from various clubs/associations at the school seeking donations.

 

They generally call once a year. Some co-ed with a distinct regional accent thanks me for giving in the past, and asks if I want to give the same or increase the pledge. I tell them the same, thanks for asking.

I did give more to the stadium campaign, because those were directed funds and I'd get more bang for my buck. Even got a nice card signed by the coach (loooooser fan boy here).

I also get lots of letters and e-mails. They do do an excellent job of staying in touch without always asking for money (Of course they're priming the pump,. but WTF, I like to know what's going on since I'm a long, long ways away).

My little school's in the billionare endowment fund club too, but alumni participation has dropped during the term of an unpopular president. They want to get those giving numbers back up to where they were before the outgoing idiot started making unpopular changes.

Hey Frank, you should have had Wash U send you a diploma. Great school. (not my alma mater).

 

I won't give to my undergrad, but I plan to give generously to my grad school when the time comes.

 

I haven't been bothered, phone or mail, by my undergrad alma mater since about 2003, when I tore them a new one.

Then, I received a letter from the alumni association asking for money -- but the letter was made out to a "Miss Lino Type" even though last time I checked, I'm a Mr. Lino Type. I wrote to the J-school dean, the alumni association president and the university prez and told them that I was a proud graduate of the J-school, where I learned that had I made the mistake of misidentifying a source's gender in print that I would be reprimanded or fired. And I asked if it was too much to hold the alumni association to the same high standard to which the J-school held me, and informed them that all further financial contributions would go to my graduate school and not my undergrad.

That last line was what really pissed them off. The J-school dean called and laid a guilt trip on me -- I told her I'd consider donating but only if I could be assured that those contributions would go to the J school and the alumni association wouldn't be able to sniff them.

 

I had a similar experience when my alma mater spelled my name wrong on the thank-you note they sent for my donation.

 

I won't give a red cent to any of my schools. They get their pound of flesh every month as it goes.

It's against the law for any of these people to call you at your place of employment.

 

Awesome