The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

I've been curious about the management of the foundation, along with its papers of incorporation and its IRS status since before the cancellation announcement was made. This is something that should have been done a long time ago.

A legitimate organization isn't going to use a gmail account. Legit organizations will use edu, org, gov, mil, etc. Not saying the Foundation isn't legit, just kinda stating the obvious in regards to their email account.

(03-13-2015 03:32 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  A legitimate organization isn't going to use a gmail account. Legit organizations will use edu, org, gov, mil, etc. Not saying the Foundation isn't legit, just kinda stating the obvious in regards to their email account.

I email Fortune 500 companies daily who still use AOL addresses.

(03-13-2015 03:32 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  A legitimate organization isn't going to use a gmail account. Legit organizations will use edu, org, gov, mil, etc. Not saying the Foundation isn't legit, just kinda stating the obvious in regards to their email account.

I don't think where I work is going to allow me to use their email servers to run a foundation or nonprofit and collect donations.

(03-13-2015 03:32 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  A legitimate organization isn't going to use a gmail account. Legit organizations will use edu, org, gov, mil, etc. Not saying the Foundation isn't legit, just kinda stating the obvious in regards to their email account.

That's incorrect my professional engineering society utilizes gmail on the back-end. The email addresses can just be aliases while the actual domain is something else entirely.

A former secretary of state has used her own email server to do government business.

Guys, if you have a college degree and had to do research you know that your professors told you which sites to trust and not to trust. I'm not saying a legitimate company will not use a .com address but you were told websites that included org, edu, mil, are trusted and legitimate sites to reference information.

That's all I am saying.

I know Justin Craft. Don't care what the domain is.

(03-13-2015 03:37 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  A former secretary of state has used her own email server to do government business.

Damnit- you beat me to it.....

(03-13-2015 03:42 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Guys, if you have a college degree and had to do research you know that your professors told you which sites to trust and not to trust. I'm not saying a legitimate company will not use a .com address but you were told websites that included org, edu, mil, are trusted and legitimate sites to reference information.

That's all I am saying.

Dot edu (.edu) is reserved for educational institutions so throw that out. I think we have to realize that this is an organic movement in response to a terrible act. They haven't had time to plan out everything because they have real jobs like we do. They are fighting for us either we join them and fight or sit idly by and watch them (BOT & Watts) destroy this great University.

I just hate that they seemed to miss that window to get all this stuff in order in the aftermath. I specifically remember people waiting for text donations and the like to be available, but it just seems like it fell by the wayside. Anything is better than nothing, but it's always a little disheartening when I think back to what could have happen if there was more of an initiative.

the email address is the least worrisome part of the whole thing. I could care less if the email address is gmail, yahoo, aol, or nigerianprincewebhosting.com. What needs to happen is this:

1. there should be a board of directors, with their names listed.

2. there should be articles of incorporation, showing that the foundation is actually a foundation and not just someone's personal paypal account

3. there should be an IRS filing for 501©3 status, showing that the foundation has not-for-profit status and that donations are tax deductible for the donors.

4. there should be financial reports showing where the money goes and comes from

meet those four things and I'll buy a dozen football tickets and setup a regular monthly donation from my credit card. without those, UAB will always have something to hold as a way to delegitimize the foundation. even without an official agreement between UAB and the foundation formalizing the relationship between UAB, and even without UAB's cooperation, the foundation MUST legitimize itself as a non-profit with accountability and transparency FIRST. I've been saying this since December, and there have never been any answers. Now what I exactly what I expected to happen is coming to pass.

(03-13-2015 02:37 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(03-13-2015 02:32 PM)thebernreuter Wrote:  

(03-13-2015 02:23 PM)UABslant Wrote:  Whoever is over the website (again, that info isn't made available on the website) needs to show the same amount of transparency that we as Blazer fans have been demanding from UAB admin from the beginning. And it needs to be in writing and on the website.

The website is a little cryptic and should have a lot more information on it to appear more legit to laypeople, but who is behind the UAB Football Foundation and the website, as well as the intentions of the task force as it relates to soliciting season ticket sales and donations, are well-documented on al.com .

Since UAB apparently learned about the season ticket deposit sale through al.com and took it seriously enough to make a press release, they should treat the articles about Justin Craft, Jimmy Filler, and Don Hire's connections to the Football Foundation the same. Also, I'm sure all three of those guys have phones.

The Foundation definitely should have addressed all of those concerns before launching the campaign: while the UAB attack is ham-handed and obvious, greater transparency would boost sales to even greater heights. There's no need to give the blind squirrel hints finding nuts.

That said, the attack isn't about transparency, it's a badly-handled attempt to derail the season ticket drive. Update the website and use the Watts response to drive more sales.

This. Update the site with the principals, bios and pictures (Justin Craft and other business leaders). Then post this article with a counterpunch refuting the administration. Then sit back and watch more donations come in.

Take a good sniff of the air; you can smell the Watts administration's fear. They really do fear us. This letter gives us the evidence to make the point that the Watts/Bolton/Lucas cabal are actively working against members of the UAB community. This shows just how disconnected Watts and his pals are. We know that Watts will not intentionally reinstate football/bowling /rifle.

Putting this out make it harder for him to pretend that he is fair-minded and willing to commit to a fair review of UAB Athletics. Use it again him! Like I said awhile back; the most damaging thing he can do to us is to shut up. We should thank him for the free ammunition he continues to give us.

Call me naïve if you want to; I am willing to take Justin Craft at his word on the ticket deposit/donation thing.

(03-13-2015 04:46 PM)Doktyr X Wrote:  Take a good sniff of the air; you can smell the Watts administration's fear. They really do fear us. This letter gives us the evidence to make the point that the Watts/Bolton/Lucas cabal are actively working against members of the UAB community. This shows just how disconnected Watts and his pals are. We know that Watts will not intentionally reinstate football/bowling /rifle.

Putting this out make it harder for him to pretend that he is fair-minded and willing to commit to a fair review of UAB Athletics. Use it again him! Like I said awhile back; the most damaging thing he can do to us is to shut up. We should thank him for the free ammunition he continues to give us.

Call me naïve if you want to; I am willing to take Justin Craft at his word on the ticket deposit/donation thing.

Don't you just hate it when our own folks make Watts' arguments for him. We are all new to this and we sometimes lack the sophistication that some demand.
Let's not beat people up when they're trying to do their best FreeUAB movement. I'm assuming that everybody knows who Justin Craft is. We should be encouraging people to make their reservations for season tickets not picking nits.

(03-13-2015 04:46 PM)Doktyr X Wrote:  Take a good sniff of the air; you can smell the Watts administration's fear. They really do fear us. This letter gives us the evidence to make the point that the Watts/Bolton/Lucas cabal are actively working against members of the UAB community. This shows just how disconnected Watts and his pals are. We know that Watts will not intentionally reinstate football/bowling /rifle.

Putting this out make it harder for him to pretend that he is fair-minded and willing to commit to a fair review of UAB Athletics. Use it again him! Like I said awhile back; the most damaging thing he can do to us is to shut up. We should thank him for the free ammunition he continues to give us.

Call me naïve if you want to; I am willing to take Justin Craft at his word on the ticket deposit/donation thing.

Sure, I have no reason not to trust Justin Craft or the UAB Football Foundation, but they need to make sure everything is ironclad, so that Watts and his PR team don't have easy targets.

If this website were raising money for anything else, and I had no previous knowledge of the situation, I would never donate any money.

(03-13-2015 02:55 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  I've been curious about the management of the foundation, along with its papers of incorporation and its IRS status since before the cancellation announcement was made. This is something that should have been done a long time ago.

Me too, but I've been hesitant to call them out on it because I didn't want to say anything bad about the guys involved. They're donating their time and energy to it. It's hard for me to criticize, but I do wish everything had gotten rolling much sooner and been more official looking.

(03-13-2015 02:54 PM)blzrclub80 Wrote:  The statement form UAB is pretty standard. They have to do the same thing from time to time internally with people who get over enthusiastic to raise funds for generally good causes but under what appears to be UABs authorization. If UAB authorizes something, as a state institution, there is a lot of monitoring and checks and balances that go into the handling of the money. UAB does not want to be responsible for cleaning up the mess someone creates when they use UAB's name, raise funds and then the funds aren't used for the published purpose.

I know who is running the Football Foundation and didn't have any problem dropping my $150.00 deposit for 6 2016 season Blazer Football ticket reservations.

Will UAB honor the $25 deposit idea? I assume tickets must be paid for in full now. I'm thinking UAB may only accept the money from the Foundation as a donation. Is the Athletic Department under any obligation to accept the donation as individual deposits since it didn't set up or approve the program?

(03-13-2015 06:20 PM)Blazeramo Wrote:  

(03-13-2015 02:54 PM)blzrclub80 Wrote:  The statement form UAB is pretty standard. They have to do the same thing from time to time internally with people who get over enthusiastic to raise funds for generally good causes but under what appears to be UABs authorization. If UAB authorizes something, as a state institution, there is a lot of monitoring and checks and balances that go into the handling of the money. UAB does not want to be responsible for cleaning up the mess someone creates when they use UAB's name, raise funds and then the funds aren't used for the published purpose.

I know who is running the Football Foundation and didn't have any problem dropping my $150.00 deposit for 6 2016 season Blazer Football ticket reservations.

Will UAB honor the $25 deposit idea? I assume tickets must be paid for in full now. I'm thinking UAB may only accept the money from the Foundation as a donation. Is the Athletic Department under any obligation to accept the donation as individual deposits since it didn't set up or approve the program?

I guess they could turn it down and have everyone hate them just a little more.

(03-13-2015 03:34 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  

(03-13-2015 03:32 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  A legitimate organization isn't going to use a gmail account. Legit organizations will use edu, org, gov, mil, etc. Not saying the Foundation isn't legit, just kinda stating the obvious in regards to their email account.

I email Fortune 500 companies daily who still use AOL addresses.

Agreed. The fact that someone uses Gmail over AOL or a private server adds about 50 IQ points to ANYONE I interact with...