Facilities and momentum for the long term future.

DeepGreen · December 18, 2012

For gosh sakes, really? You expect the AD to personally call you and ask for $50 donation so they can buy a new door mat? As they should, the Athletic department focuses their time on the big fish, you don't get a new stadium or a new bball practice facility with $500 donations. You get it with $500K to multi-million dollar donations. RV and team have raised more money than most have thought possible for tennis, softball stadium, soccer stadium, part of the football stadiun, bball practice facility, etc. Now you are going to criticize cause they don't send you an engraved invitation to donate? For small time donors (less than $500K), thats what the mean green club is for.

Donating to Athletics or any part of UNT is painfully simple. Here is where you go: http://endow.unt.edu

Its pretty much always up and has been for ages. click the DONATE button in the top right, the next page you can pick the area of athletics, a college or whatever else you want to donate to for UNT.

I'm getting nowhere fast. I'm really talking about the money needed to build a baseball stadium.

Let's try this, Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. UNT Alumni. We are approaching our entrance into CUSA and would like to resume our baseball program, we need a baseball stadium. Rather than erect bleachers like we did at Fouts Field, here is our proposed 3,000 seat stadium. (Insert pictures and details about the stadium, amenities, etc.)

We need your financial support. To this end, we are asking for donations......................................etc., etc. etc. Your beloved AD..........................

O.K., I'm not a fundraiser and not here to write an actual letter. Suppose you send out, pick a number, say 2500 of these letters, asking for a $1,000 donation. If you get that many donations, we're talking about $2.5 mil., plus the really big donor money. This assumes that all 2500 potential donors respond with a $1K check. Send out 5,000 letters that average $250. $1,250,000. It just seems to me that the AD focuses on only the big money donors, as well they should. For the rest, they "hope" you go to the website. I'm old fashioned. Send me a letter with some details. No special recognition or treatment if I do give $250 or $1,000. And yes, I know the return, like other random marketing responses and surveys, will probably be low. May have to do multiple campaigns.

And I'm not saying this will work. But damn, have we ever, ever tried fundraising like this, in addition to the website? Or, have each of us call to see if there is anything going on so we can send a donation. I don't think so.

KRAM1 · December 18, 2012

"Somehow you found out"???? What the hell is that supposed to mean to the rest of us?........You're making all my point! Am I supposed to call and check in with the AD periodically to see if they have "something going on", and offer my donations? You guys live in the DFW-Denton area. Did you know that there are out-of-town diehards who wish the AD was more in touch? Some could be steady donors.

I get a season ticket order form for football once a year. Everything else is by some stupid e-mail campaign!

I refuse to call our AD and ask if there is anything I can help them with financially. They need to start earning their keep.

Whatever floats your boat. Suggested a couple of ways for you to keep up. You seem to reject them all. I guess you expect a personal phone call from the AD. Somehow people find out because they make the effort to keep up. You are free to wait on the engraved personal invitation if you so choose. But stop the whining about not knowing if you are just wanting to wait on some personal call or personal invitation. In case you did not realize it, email is the way a lot of things get communicated these days. I asked...did not wait around to be told...when flyonthewall posted about he campaign, which I Had no clue about until then, I PM'd him and got the info I needed...the rest took care of itself. Had I waited around for that personal call from the AD I would still be waiting. So, do as you wish, but don't complain about those who take the initiative to find out what is going on. Like another poster said...the big guns, which do not include me, took care of this in less than 2 weeks. It was funded before any need to go public with this part of the campaign. However, you are free to donate additional if you wish...or pick one of the many other areas that need additional funding. But, the constant whining about not knowing is getting a tad old. Plenty of info right here on GMG.com to handle what you need....there is no lack of info about needs. You either want to and can help, can help but choose not to or are not in a position to help. Whatever the case, it is 100 percent your business and your business alone. And, for the record...I have never had a personal call nor an engraved invitation from the AD or anyone else in the athletic department regarding any facilities project fundraising need.

And, in case you did not know it, there are a good many of out of town donors. I wonder how they seem to get the info? Some even a good many miles and states away. Don't know what you need..have said I would do what I can to help you out, you rejected that and said you would not call anyone and indicated that you reject any mail info and requests.

So, tell us all...what do you need to feel connected enough?

KRAM1 · December 18, 2012

I'm getting nowhere fast. I'm really talking about the money needed to build a baseball stadium.

Let's try this, Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. UNT Alumni. We are approaching our entrance into CUSA and would like to resume our baseball program, we need a baseball stadium. Rather than erect bleachers like we did at Fouts Field, here is our proposed 3,000 seat stadium. (Insert pictures and details about the stadium, amenities, etc.)

We need your financial support. To this end, we are asking for donations......................................etc., etc. etc. Your beloved AD..........................

O.K., I'm not a fundraiser and not here to write an actual letter. Suppose you send out, pick a number, say 2500 of these letters, asking for a $1,000 donation. If you get that many donations, we're talking about $2.5 mil., plus the really big donor money. This assumes that all 2500 potential donors respond with a $1K check. Send out 5,000 letters that average $250. $1,250,000. It just seems to me that the AD focuses on only the big money donors, as well they should. For the rest, they "hope" you go to the website. I'm old fashioned. Send me a letter with some details. No special recognition or treatment if I do give $250 or $1,000. And yes, I know the return, like other random marketing responses and surveys, will probably be low. May have to do multiple campaigns.

And I'm not saying this will work. But damn, have we ever, ever tried fundraising like this, in addition to the website? Or, have each of us call to see if there is anything going on so we can send a donation. I don't think so.

Do you have a clue what the response rate is on such mail campaigns? About 2 percent will respond. How do I know this...well I now work for a non profit that Iives and dies by donation levels. Done many many mail campaigns...response is dismal. All non- profits do this sort of thing...including the UNT Alumni Association. Response is generally pretty poor...really dismal. To get the response you seem to think is a reality in not in the cards. In fact the Alumni Association just sent out an end of year request to its members. Results so far have been very disappointing and that is putting it mildly. To think UNT would get 2500 people to donate $1000 each is unrealistic or delusional and reflects a complete lack of feel for the number of willing donors UNT can count on. Do you even realize how few Mean Green Club donors there are at $1000 or more? No where near 2500. I can only wish. Heck some of the folks on this board that do the most complaining about everything that is UNT do not give a dime! Big talk doesn't pay the bills or move this program forward.

Everyone gets to make that call and no one can say what is possible from anyone else. Some cannot donate now but will in future years, some can donate now but will find they can no longer do so in later years....that is how it goes and it is personal. But, the excuse cannot be "I did not know UNT needed donations". We all know...we all know because we are alums, we support the athletic program and we pay attention. It is all about choices...doing nothing is also a choice. The choice is individual and it is a choice we all make.

KRAM1 · December 18, 2012

And, Deep...if you are talking about baseball...I will offer once again...PM me and I can tell you who to contact to get all the info you need regarding baseball, the stadium, etc. Last I heard was that a large donor has been identified, that stadium plans are being developed and that a campaign will begin sometime in the future. Like most capital campaigns, there is a silent phase where major donations are pledged. The campaign then goes public when a good bit...50 percent or more...of the funds have been secured.

Am sure your possible donation would be very much appreciated along with your help in raising additional funds if you choose to do so. So, offer still stands. Ball is in your court. Decision is yours.

DeepGreen · December 18, 2012

And, Deep...if you are talking about baseball...I will offer once again...PM me and I can tell you who to contact to get all the info you need regarding baseball, the stadium, etc. Last I heard was that a large donor has been identified, that stadium plans are being developed and that a campaign will begin sometime in the future. Like most capital campaigns, there is a silent phase where major donations are pledged. The campaign then goes public when a good bit...50 percent or more...of the funds have been secured.
Am sure your possible donation would be very much appreciated along with your help in raising additional funds if you choose to do so. So, offer still stands. Ball is in your court. Decision is yours.

More than willing to donate to a baseball stadium. Send me an information packet on what it will look, capacity, and a target date for starting up baseball. Oh, a form letter will do nicely.

(I give up.)

oldguystudent · December 18, 2012

This all kinda surprises me. Once my name was on the books for making a nominal donation to one department, the entirety of UNT was agressively pursuing my meager dollars. Hell, somehow, even my undergrad alma mater got wind and started agressively calling me up after two decades of telling me to go piss in my hat. (Those bastards don't get a dime from me)

Thing is, it's always been my experience that you've gotta get up to around the $5,000 mark to start directing where the money goes. Anything below that tends to drift into general scholarship funds. If you're giving less than that (which I certainly am), then you get solicited for general funds. More than that (mostly significantly more), and you start getting tapped on the shoulder for capital projects.

Now who do I talk to about my solid gold seatbacks with my name engraved on them in my own climate controlled, open bar baseball suite with a walkway of pavers stamped with my name leading up to the entrance?

One more thing. I have already expressed that I'd like to purchase season baseball tickets as soon as they're available. I'm not concerned at all that I'll be notified when that time comes.

Edit: I guess what I'm saying is that I know of no other school that gives its fans and alumni so much access for so little money. Try getting involved with any other AD and find out how quickly and bruskly you get shunned, and probably outwardly mocked should you find yourself in the uninvited presence of the AD and his merry band of boosters.

Edited December 18, 2012 by oldguystudent

flyonthewall · December 18, 2012

In response to plan, timeframe, etc. There is no official word on that yet. So what you do is you make a pledge. Say $1,000 a year for five years, and say that you will start paying once everything is off of the ground. This is the same way it worked for the football stadium. By doing this the athletic dept. can go to the president and say this is what we have pledged, and we can get going on this. I know it seems backwards but that is the way it works. One other thing, as I said earlier, and I 1,000 times agree, small contributors are just as important as larger ones. In mass we can do a lot of things. However, larger gifts pledged over say 5 years are "bondable", meaning that you sign a gift agreement for a major gift, and then the powers can be can either borrow from the university's line of credit, or as in the case of apogee, can sell bonds.

It is much more difficult to do this with smaller gifts, not saying they are not important . I want baseball and I have already made a pledge, and qualified it that I will start paying it when I have completed my commitment to basketball. By this time there should be a plan and I can see what it is I am contributing to. As many people that will make a pledge to baseball before there is any definitave plans, the faster we will get baseball. so please just take a leap of faith like I did with the football stadium and now baseball and make a pledge, it will only make things easier.

If anyone would like to talk about this in person, the chairman of the baseball fundraising committee sits just down the row from me in basketball. I will ask him Thursday if he would mind me posting his contact information. I am more than willing to talk about any of this in person, so you can P.M. me and I will give you my contact info.

I am excited to see the interest in this. YOU CAN EAT AN ELEPHANT, YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT ONE BITE AT A TIME!!!!

David

oldguystudent · December 18, 2012

Seriously David, avoid the grass berm. Avoid MLB coaches. Now, if you want to install a four-sided video scoreboard above the pitcher's mound...

flyonthewall · December 18, 2012

I don't know if the infastructure can handle a four sided video scoreboard above the pitching mound. Engineering is still looking in to that. But seriously it is going to be awesome coming from south to north on 35w and looking at the softball field, baseball field, then fans turning and that beautiful football stadium. I may add about five miles to my commute to work just to go that way about once a week.

Harry · December 18, 2012

I don't know if the infastructure can handle a four sided video scoreboard above the pitching mound. Engineering is still looking in to that. But seriously it is going to be awesome coming from south to north on 35w and looking at the softball field, baseball field, then fans turning and that beautiful football stadium. I may add about five miles to my commute to work just to go that way about once a week.

Great vision to think about for the future!

flyonthewall · December 18, 2012

Yessir, and at our university, perhaps the most awesome view of athletic facilities in the country, Bar none. Tell me one other school that will have softball field, baseball field, football stadium, student athlete academic center, basketball arena, basketball practice facility, and if you squint, off in the distance the tennis facility from one of the MOST TRAVELED HIGHWAYS IN THE COUNTRY!!!!!!! The visibility is going to awesome and one of a kind!!!!!!!! With those damned three fans thrown in there to boot.

oldguystudent · December 18, 2012

With those damned three fans thrown in there to boot.

Dammit! It's windy enough already!

KRAM1 · December 18, 2012

To DeepGreen and everyone else...see flyonthewall's and oldguystudent's comments above. This is not rocket science. All you have to do is "want to" and the rest is pretty easy. Was going to send DeepGreen a PM with the info that Flyonthewall just posted, so no need for the PM now...if only folks will read the post. Easy as pie.....and, to what oldguystudent said...I too, get such requests...maybe the reason some are not getting this info is that they are not currently donors. I have no clue, but I do know that it is easy to be a donor...but, if you just sit around waiting for that engraved invitation...well, you might just be waiting a long time indeed.

Thanks Flyonthewall and oldguystudent for point out the obvious and how easy it really is to be involved at any level that one chooses.

No more excuses ... either you can, cannot or choose not to participate. Your call.

flyonthewall · December 18, 2012

The greatest Kendra Talkin quote ever "Why are they putting those fans there???? Its windy enough already" Man I miss her smile and work ethic..

KRAM1 · December 18, 2012

The greatest Kendra Talkin quote ever "Why are they putting those fans there???? Its windy enough already" Man I miss her smile and work ethic..

Amen, brother, Amen!

Stan R · December 18, 2012

The greatest Kendra Talkin quote ever "Why are they putting those fans there???? Its windy enough already" Man I miss her smile and work ethic..

We gonna need them fans, because UNT facilities are ON FIYAAAAHHHH! (not literally, that would be bad, fire is dangerous).

Baseball.. Facilities... AWEEESOMMMEEE!!!!

Hey - if this is how we get our news, so be it. Just happy to hear all of this is going on behind the scenes. Thanks to everyone who is making it happen.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Stan R

flyonthewall · December 18, 2012

Correction, Two people responded to my plea for money on this board for donation to basketball facilities. Kram1 and Greendozer. Thank you very much Brian and Mark for you generous contribution to basketball. Please everyone notice that phase 1 of upgrades has already been installed, and you can see it Thursday. That is the new video board that sits in front of the scorers table and has advertising on each side, and the score in the middle.

CurveItAround · December 18, 2012

Correction, Two people responded to my plea for money on this board for donation to basketball facilities. Kram1 and Greendozer. Thank you very much Brian and Mark for you generous contribution to basketball. Please everyone notice that phase 1 of upgrades has already been installed, and you can see it Thursday. That is the new video board that sits in front of the scorers table and has advertising on each side, and the score in the middle.

scoreboard crop.jpg

Has anyone else noticed the amount of glare coming off of the video board when trying to re-watch games on MG Premium? It is darn near impossible to see score/time due to the glare off of the green background. Maybe a darker background would provide a better contrast and less glare.