More on Texas Southern and Alumni Giving

So if you’re a follower of TSPN Sports, you’ve probably become aware of a back and forth between myself and a few of the loyal posters on their forum. If you haven’t, I invite you to check out the comedy. One of the more vocal and profane responders on the thread was Mr. Christopher LeBlanc, president of the Texas Southern University National Alumni Association. Taking issue with yesterday’s post on why TSU alumni should be ashamed of such low giving for an athletic fundraiser, he invited me to call him and talk about it.

I took him up on his offer. This is what came out of it.

LeBlanc took issue with me calling out Texas Southern alumni at large for an apparent failure of alumni giving publicized through a widget on several websites; sites affiliated with both the alumni association and the university. In truth, according to LeBlanc, dozens of TSU alumni have donated liberally to this particular fundraiser; more than $20,000 dollars has come in towards the established $54,500 goal. The Tiger athletes are well on their way, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Unfortunately, and I expressed this to Mr. LeBlanc, it does no good for the university and alumni association to endorse a fundraising effort, publicize it via the Internet, display the returns in real time, and allow donors to contribute to the effort by any other means except those originally designed for the effort. The program is being headed up by FanRaiser.org, a site dedicated to helping colleges and universities raise funds through online social networking platforms. Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are three of the more prominent vehicles through which the effort is publicized.

In short, you can make a donation to the TSU fundraiser via PayPal, and see your donation, via embedded widget,  go straight into the total contributions made towards the goal. I know, because I’ve made a donation. TSU alumni have  seen the widget, and they’ve seen the low number of donors and money that has been collected. They want to contribute, and actively question the Association about other ways to pay towards the goal of purchasing new computers. And the Association, despite being a partner in this effort, has accepted their gifts in other ways.

In our more than hour-long conversation, LeBlanc made a legitimate point about alumni being concerned about identity theft and other impropriety that often occurs with online financial transactions. I completely respect that point, and would hope that alumni are made to feel comfortable and in control with whatever method by which they decide to support alma mater. LeBlanc also said that the university and alumni association have multiple fundraisers by which alumni are more conditioned and content with making contributions. I respect that, too.

But several questions loom around this whole scenario: why would the university sign a contract with a fundraising organization if its other methods were that consistently successful? Why would the alumni association endorse such an effort, an online fundraising initiative, if they know most of their donors will not participate in it?

And most of all, why would you allow signage on the corresponding websites to display participation that is not accurate with what has actually been donated? It seems that it not only turns off outsiders who may wish to give, but it would also dismay alumni who have given through other means to the project, only to see their gift not publicly counted towards the total goal.

I asked LeBlanc each of these questions, and for the most part, there was no direct response other than to say that the Association was hesitant to endorse the FanRaiser project in the first place because of the particular donation habits of alumni. He also mentioned that more than 17,000 alumni are regularly alerted about the progress of this fundraiser through email blast; which is great for alumni on the list serv, but not alumni or others who see the widget on the university and alumni association websites.

In all, this raises interesting questions about who gives, why they give and how they give. I’ve raised the topic before about black colleges needing to embrace technology, and this perfectly illustrates that point. LeBlanc mentioned in our conversation that the average alumni donor is in their mid 40′s – they are professional and financially stable, and positioned to contribute to a cause without creating financial hardship for themselves.

And if you think about it, a large portion of this demographic is unlikely to transact online. They don’t shop online, they don’t bank online. They are the children of parents who came up in the Great Depression, so to combine finances with the prospect of identity theft and online larceny is almost a stupid thing to do.

Except that if you are a savvy Internet and computer user, its not. With today’s technology, it makes little sense not to take advantage of online financial transacting. Not just for convenience, but for monitoring personal funds and making smart financial decisions.

So what am I getting at? This scenario with Texas Southern illustrates several key points about alumni giving and the oversight of alumni giving programs. First, alumni of all ages need to be educated about donating online. It’s easier on them, easier to track, and just as rewarding a gift as signing a check. In this case, Texas Southern and its alumni association could’ve been more proactive in the education process for their alumni. After all, they agreed to be partners in driving funds to the online design of the program. It was unfair to them to show the world that Texas Southern doesn’t care enough to donate, when in actuality, they care far more than most institutions.

It was unfair for alumni not see the fruits of their labor outside of an email blast that only they can see.

I still believe that alumni at Texas Southern and every other HBCU can do better for their institutions. Just because alumni have been donating behind the scenes of the program, doesn’t mean that there are thousands more out there who know about it and have turned the other way. I told LeBlanc that I don’t want to tear any institution down, only to build it up.

It’s my hope that throughout these two years of blogging and one year of broadcasting, more people realize this fact than those who don’t.

Short URL: http://www.hbcudigest.com/?p=4104