The pitch is pretty interesting. They ask me to provide a modest donation of $350, initially. $350? That's almost half of my rent. And each time I apologize and say no, they lower it in increments. The last pitch was for me to make five small monthly installments of $10 after I received my taxes. That shocked me a bit. It was quite...crafty.
But the most interesting change that I noticed in this conversation that was different from the last five over the years was the admission that they were trying to get as many alumni to donate as much as possible, no matter the amount. This invoked memories of our last class where Dr. Collins explained the ranking categories for the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges report. (See where UHM ranks here!) A significant ranking category is that of the percentage of alumni who donate to the college. I had not realized that was a major category and I found it very interesting to get this phone call and understood why I kept getting them. Previously, I never thought it to be a big deal. In fact, it puzzled me that a private university would extend so much effort to collect a couple of bucks from me. It's not to say that I did not want to donate. I experience a lot of anxiety and guilt over these phone calls. I hate to say no to these students who must have it tough to make these calls in the first place. I also hate to say no to an institution that supported me through my degree. I would gladly donate if I felt I was in a position to do so to help other students. Now I feel as if I should call back and donate at least a little. I understand the rankings are skewed and there are politics and power plays that are executed behind the scenes to manipulate the rankings but I also do take pride in the education I received from my alma mater and want to see it be able to provide more quality education to new students. I do feel that they are doing something right and that should be supported.
How many of you have received these calls? Do you donate? Why or why not? Does it matter to you the reasons why the school wants your monetary support? Are there maybe other ways that alumni, who cannot contribute financially, can support and give back to the school?
Edited to add link for methodology of rankings:
The percentage of alumni giving serves as a proxy for how satisfied students are with the school. A higher average alumni giving rate percentage scores better in the ranking model than a lower average alumni giving rate.
First, to answer your questions:
ReplyDelete1. How many of you have received these calls? Yes, I have received them.
2. Do you donate? No.
3. Why or why not? Like you, I thought I would donate once I do have money, meaning that I am done with my formal schooling and have a steady income.
4. Does it matter to you the reasons why the school wants your monetary support? Yes, it does matter to me. I want to know that my donation is going where I want it to go. For example, that it is going to fund a scholarship or enhance a classroom and not to fund someone's trip or dinner party or allowance for something or other.
5. Are there maybe other ways that alumni, who cannot contribute financially, can support and give back to the school? Yes, I believe so. I think in Hawaii, word of mouth is good publicity. So we can state where we went to earn our education. Usually, I tell my friends that are still undergraduates which professors I had, whether or not to take a class during the semester or during summer school, or whether to take it at UHM or at a CC.
To be honest, when I lived in the residence halls, I would see job advertisement fliers for student callers. At the time, the advertisement promised flexible hours and pay in the $10-$11/hour range. My friends who did office work were earning $8-$9/hour. As a teaching assistant, I was in the $12-$13/hour range. I noticed that the calls come at off-peak hours, usually 7 to 9 PM, and sometimes on Sundays.
I thought it was interesting that your caller asked for a specific donation of $350. I am sure there was some kind of study done where the results found that most people would consider $350 reasonable, but it is probably on the upper end of "modest". Where does that money go? It is a psychological game of guilt and bargaining, trying to get you to contribute SOMETHING, and at that, MORE SOMETHING than LESS SOMETHING, and SOMETHING is better than NOTHING. Pay close attention to the words they use. "Modest" and "small" were chosen for a reason. Monthly installments? Sounds like QVC easy pay. Hope you didn't need your tax refund for anything (it also sounds like they are assuming that you will get a refund).
I do not think you should be guilt-ed into doing anything. You should donate because you WANT TO and because YOU ARE FINANCIALLY ABLE TO. Throwing emotions into the mix makes it an unfair playing field. Also, you should not feel like you are being bombarded with requests (as in, "No means no."). Right now, I am imagining walking out of Wal-Mart with my purchases and a group (athletic team or special interests club) is descending upon me and asking me to buy the bags of brownies or candies they are waving in my face. The pitch here is less refined. They do not say, "Please help us fund our way to the national championships in Boston." It is merely, "Would you like to buy some brownies/candies?" I do not know where the money goes and usually I just want to get to the car, so I say no and walk away as fast as possible.
The following comment may not be relevant: I cut those Box Tops for Education to donate to my elementary school. When I chose to spend time cutting boxes of Kleenex and canned food labels, I looked up my elementary, intermediate, and high schools to see who participated in the program. Then I thought about who I wanted to have the donations. My elementary school won out for various reasons that were mostly based on my experiences at the different schools and I felt that my elementary school was the most deserving. I do not give them any real money, but every now and then when I have collected enough, I send them an envelope of Box Tops with no return address. It is not important that it came from me. What is important is that they use the funds responsibly to improve the education of kindergarteners to fifth graders. I hope that they are.
Megan, thanks for your reply! I got this call on President's Day of all days. These students aren't even getting it off! I couldn't imagine any alum being happy to be contacted on their day off for cash.
DeleteAnd yes, the phone call was very similar to that of a solicitor call. I could envision a checklist they go through each time I say no. It's just awkward.
What $350!!!!!! That's all I can say! Affording $100 already in itself a huge donation!! I don't really get the calls, my Mom does. She donates at least $25 to the School of Hawaiian Knowledge. Soliciting donations from alumni is so easy to do via email, telephone and mail! I think it's also probably efficient to do. I do wander now, what is the percentage generated from alumni/general donations. And how much percentage of those as opposed to tution is directly benefitting students? I guess if alumni can't contribute financially, there's always taking leadership roles in the alumni association. Although, taking part of that as well, also includes a membership fee. It's interesting...
ReplyDeleteThose are great questions Kamakana! I believe I once was told that the money goes into scholarship funds for students and we all know that would be especially helpful to students at a private university.
DeleteMy alma mater has gotten much more aggressive about fundraising in recent years too - both the individual department and the university as a whole. What amazed me is that sometime last year the university somehow got a hold of my email address and has been sending me emails soliciting donations. (The department still sends letters to my parent's address.) I graduated in 1994 and did not have a web email address. I have not listed my alma mater on anything that I know of (i.e. facebook, etc.), so I find it interesting that the university has become like other companies and is somehow mining data to get recent email addresses of students who graduated 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteOops, I forgot to say that I would probably be much more tempted to donate to my department than the university. I feel that the department needs the money and would also be more likely to use the money in a way that I would agree with. Also, the university's more aggressive tactics have turned me off to donating to them.
DeleteThanks for your comments, Bonnie. It's interesting that they go through whatever steps to get that information about you to contact you. Every time I get this phone call, they always ask me to update my address information.
DeleteIt makes me nervous how much of the business model that universities are beginning to adopt. I understand the reasons why but I find it to be a sad reflection of how our society views education in a not so positive light.
I am one of "those" who answer, assess it is a school calling, and then respond with the following, "Oh, I am so sorry, I am driving in traffic, and I am unable to talk right now." Ok, in all fairness it the school I attended for only a year, and I have no real commitments to them. I think I would have a hard time muffling a laugh if they asked me for $350! What?!? In all honesty, I have not donated to that school or UH. I have given (I should clarify that there was only two decimal places before the . in that donation!) to a foundation that raises money for scholarships for Native Hawaiian students, and I feel like my ahem $--.00 was helpful. Haha. I have not really thought about giving as alumni since I still consider myself a student. Now would be a great time for my phone to ring with solicitations for donations. I'll tell them I was inspired by your blog. J/K. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI have no clue where they pulled $350 from. I was shocked. I don't remember if they've asked for that much in the past.
DeleteI feel that if I were to donate, I would donate to scholarship funds. That way I could at least know that I'm helping one student specifically.
I still receive the letters asking for a donation although I graduated many many years ago. The letters do not say exactly how much they ask for. I have not donated since I am not sure where the money goes. I am interested in knowing that one of the ranking category is the amount alumni donate to the school. Can anybody explain why there is such a criteria?
ReplyDeleteI probably should have put this in my blog but I couldn't find the link at first. But here's the breakdown of the ranking formula which I will add to my blog
Deletehttp://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2
Alumni giving is 5% of the ranking and the article states: "The percentage of alumni giving serves as a proxy for how satisfied students are with the school. A higher average alumni giving rate percentage scores better in the ranking model than a lower average alumni giving rate."
So they're assuming that if students enjoyed their experience, they're more likely to give back. That's also assuming if their students were able to get high-paying jobs after college!