I would think it's quite possible, as others have basically said, that the first desire is to absorb personnel loss by natural attrition. This is pretty standard in many, many businesses.

We also should not be cutting athletic trainers. Taking away staff that is devoted to keeping athletes safe and healthy is not the answer, no matter how much folks dislike the AD.

No one should lose a job. No one should lose a sport.

Sit down, involve everyone, and make it work.

This is not supposed to be a circular firing squad.

(09-09-2020 10:41 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  We also should not be cutting athletic trainers. Taking away staff that is devoted to keeping athletes safe and healthy is not the answer, no matter how much folks dislike the AD.

120 fewer athletes = fewer trainers needed at home and road games. Simple math.

(09-09-2020 09:43 AM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 06:02 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 09:20 PM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 08:52 PM)Tribal Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 08:46 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Do we know that there haven't been any layoffs? I'm not sure how much we'd hear about a random associate AD position getting removed

I assume we would no longer see theirs names listed here: https://tribeathletics.com/staff-directory

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I believe we will see a shrinking of the training staff and possibly someone in the SID department but these sports and athletes are still a part of the college so there will not be a marked decrease anytime soon and certainly no announcement. Those two positions are generally short lived anyway so guess is if one or two of each leave there just won’t be a replenishment hiring. As for other staff, their job gets no easier. Not to say there is possibly no fluff in the staffing numbers. Just that their individual jobs haven’t real lessened.

You don't need anyone related to ticket sales, event management, sports information, etc. when games aren't being played. A furlough seems to make a lot of sense. Position elimination makes a lot of sense starting in the spring for positions not needed due to sports team cuts.

We need sports information always. Games or not. They are important for other tasks beyond game coverage. For what it is worth I would rather see no layoffs or furloughs. I think it is inevitable that the administration will lose one or two people at the Associate AD level or higher. At this point there is probably too many folks at that level. Again, though, this will more than likely happen organically by the time these sports are cut at the end of the year.

We don't need 4 SIDs. That's my point. Right now, each is responsible for a few teams but we just cut 7, so dropping one SID, minimum, is in order.

Currently, SID 1 has FH, M&W Swim, M&W XC, and M&W T&F. SID 2 has VB, BSB. SID 3 has FB, M/W GYM, LAX. Then you have Sears who still has his sports, including shared responsibility for FB. SID 1 lost at least 1.5 (does XC go with MT&F?), SID 2 lost 1, and SID 3 lost 1.

It's possible Huge is waiting for the completion of '20-'21.


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(09-09-2020 12:49 PM)Tribal Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 09:43 AM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 06:02 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 09:20 PM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 08:52 PM)Tribal Wrote:  I assume we would no longer see theirs names listed here: https://tribeathletics.com/staff-directory

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

I believe we will see a shrinking of the training staff and possibly someone in the SID department but these sports and athletes are still a part of the college so there will not be a marked decrease anytime soon and certainly no announcement. Those two positions are generally short lived anyway so guess is if one or two of each leave there just won’t be a replenishment hiring. As for other staff, their job gets no easier. Not to say there is possibly no fluff in the staffing numbers. Just that their individual jobs haven’t real lessened.

You don't need anyone related to ticket sales, event management, sports information, etc. when games aren't being played. A furlough seems to make a lot of sense. Position elimination makes a lot of sense starting in the spring for positions not needed due to sports team cuts.

We need sports information always. Games or not. They are important for other tasks beyond game coverage. For what it is worth I would rather see no layoffs or furloughs. I think it is inevitable that the administration will lose one or two people at the Associate AD level or higher. At this point there is probably too many folks at that level. Again, though, this will more than likely happen organically by the time these sports are cut at the end of the year.

We don't need 4 SIDs. That's my point. Right now, each is responsible for a few teams but we just cut 7, so dropping one SID, minimum, is in order.

Currently, SID 1 has FH, M&W Swim, M&W XC, and M&W T&F. SID 2 has VB, BSB. SID 3 has FB, M/W GYM, LAX. Then you have Sears who still has his sports, including shared responsibility for FB. SID 1 lost at least 1.5 (does XC go with MT&F?), SID 2 lost 1, and SID 3 lost 1.

It's possible Huge is waiting for the completion of '20-'21.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Why stop with the athletic department? For years, throughout academia, administrators have proliferated at an unsustainable rate. This is one of the primary reasons why tuition has gone through the roof.

(09-09-2020 04:25 PM)TribeFan1983 Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 12:49 PM)Tribal Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 09:43 AM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  

(09-09-2020 06:02 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 09:20 PM)Tribe3455 Wrote:  I believe we will see a shrinking of the training staff and possibly someone in the SID department but these sports and athletes are still a part of the college so there will not be a marked decrease anytime soon and certainly no announcement. Those two positions are generally short lived anyway so guess is if one or two of each leave there just won’t be a replenishment hiring. As for other staff, their job gets no easier. Not to say there is possibly no fluff in the staffing numbers. Just that their individual jobs haven’t real lessened.

You don't need anyone related to ticket sales, event management, sports information, etc. when games aren't being played. A furlough seems to make a lot of sense. Position elimination makes a lot of sense starting in the spring for positions not needed due to sports team cuts.

We need sports information always. Games or not. They are important for other tasks beyond game coverage. For what it is worth I would rather see no layoffs or furloughs. I think it is inevitable that the administration will lose one or two people at the Associate AD level or higher. At this point there is probably too many folks at that level. Again, though, this will more than likely happen organically by the time these sports are cut at the end of the year.

We don't need 4 SIDs. That's my point. Right now, each is responsible for a few teams but we just cut 7, so dropping one SID, minimum, is in order.

Currently, SID 1 has FH, M&W Swim, M&W XC, and M&W T&F. SID 2 has VB, BSB. SID 3 has FB, M/W GYM, LAX. Then you have Sears who still has his sports, including shared responsibility for FB. SID 1 lost at least 1.5 (does XC go with MT&F?), SID 2 lost 1, and SID 3 lost 1.

It's possible Huge is waiting for the completion of '20-'21.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Why stop with the athletic department? For years, throughout academia, administrators have proliferated at an unsustainable rate. This is one of the primary reasons why tuition has gone through the roof.

Yep.

Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD made a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” in my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

(09-10-2020 12:24 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” is my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a Pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

It's definitely pretty different from a college or non-profit organization collecting pledges. When that happens, those pledges are vetted and confirmed directly with individuals, and everyone making a pledge has put their name to it with the org and thus is connecting their credibility to it. A lot different when you're just clicking something on a website.

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I pledged. I will follow through.

Respectfully, train your cynicism on the Administration. Last year, they told swimming that they were not in trouble. The Administration, not people like me, is the one that didn’t follow through.

(09-10-2020 12:52 PM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:24 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” is my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a Pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

It's definitely pretty different from a college or non-profit organization collecting pledges. When that happens, those pledges are vetted and confirmed directly with individuals, and everyone making a pledge has put their name to it with the org and thus is connecting their credibility to it. A lot different when you're just clicking something on a website.

I put my name to my pledge as does everyone who has pledged to fund the swim team. Again, give WM alum and supporters some credit, they’re smart enough to know a false pledge is of no use and would hurt the cause.

(09-10-2020 01:04 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:52 PM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:24 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” is my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a Pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

It's definitely pretty different from a college or non-profit organization collecting pledges. When that happens, those pledges are vetted and confirmed directly with individuals, and everyone making a pledge has put their name to it with the org and thus is connecting their credibility to it. A lot different when you're just clicking something on a website.

I put my name to my pledge as does everyone who has pledged to fund the swim team. Again, give WM alum and supporters some credit, they’re smart enough to know a false pledge is of no use and would hurt the cause.

I absolutely give them credit. It's a really smart move and well done. They tout a much higher dollar figure this way, and that's a very powerful cudgel to have both for the PR portion and for actual fundraising. They are clearly mounting a very well-run campaign to save the swim program.

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

I really appreciate this post.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

(09-10-2020 01:08 PM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 01:04 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:52 PM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:24 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” is my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a Pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

It's definitely pretty different from a college or non-profit organization collecting pledges. When that happens, those pledges are vetted and confirmed directly with individuals, and everyone making a pledge has put their name to it with the org and thus is connecting their credibility to it. A lot different when you're just clicking something on a website.

I put my name to my pledge as does everyone who has pledged to fund the swim team. Again, give WM alum and supporters some credit, they’re smart enough to know a false pledge is of no use and would hurt the cause.

I absolutely give them credit. It's a really smart move and well done. They tout a much higher dollar figure this way, and that's a very powerful cudgel to have both for the PR portion and for actual fundraising. They are clearly mounting a very well-run campaign to save the swim program.

You are accusing the organizers and the people who have pledged of intentionally inflating the fundraising total. That is not giving them “credit” it is an accusation of dishonesty. If you wanna believe W&M supporters won’t follow-through, so be it. I’ll go by the track record of this community when it comes to honoring pledges.

I'll go a step further, I guarantee that actuals are 25% more than what people pledged. If, say, someone pledged $100 and later learned that we're just under the target number, that person would likely kick in a bit more.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

(09-10-2020 12:52 PM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 12:24 PM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 11:33 AM)Tribe2011 Wrote:  

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  Apparently Director Huge missed 400 stones worth $800,000+. The swim team acting on its own behalf was able raise this amount in roughly 3 days time without the benefit of the AD’s rolodex. Does anyone truly believe our AD may a good faith effort to keep these sports?

Its obvious the pandemic was just the excuse needed to axe these sports. No public attempt at raising the needed funds was made because they likely knew or at least feared such a campaign would be successful. One Tribe One Family (except for the expendable members).

I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

Taking no position here on the AD's actions, but that $800K figure seems potentially kind of misleading, no? It's just pledges, not money actually raised, and the fundraising page prominently says that you only actually donate any money AFTER the team is fully reinstated. So there would hypothetically be no reason someone couldn't "pledge" $100K just to get the team reinstated, then decline to actually follow through and contribute the money. More a PR campaign than an actual fundraising drive.

I certainly hope for their sake they have an actually $800K raised, but it seems what their fundraising page shows is far different from ACTUALLY having that amount of money in hand to fund the sport.

I refer to my “pledge” is my post and no where do I suggest money has been “raised”. Sure, someone could make a Pledge with no intention of following through, but to what purpose? People making pledges are smart enough to know an empty pledge is self-defeating.

The way I suspect this will work (if it works), is the swim teams gets pledges in the amount needed to fully endow the program’s annual budget. The team then goes to the school with those pledges and asks for reinstatement. If I’m on the BOV or President Rowe, I say great and release a public statement to the effect that once/if those pledges are converted into actual dollars then WM will immediately reinstate the program. If I’m the fund raisers, I put in writing that the new endowment money must be returned to the donors if the sport is ever cancelled down the road, before handing it over to the College.

The College announces projects all the time based on pledges of financial support or do you think Huge as 56 million sitting in a bank account for Kaplan right now.

It's definitely pretty different from a college or non-profit organization collecting pledges. When that happens, those pledges are vetted and confirmed directly with individuals, and everyone making a pledge has put their name to it with the org and thus is connecting their credibility to it. A lot different when you're just clicking something on a website.

Okay, even granting that 50% of the pledges are bad faith, that's still $400k in 3 days that was unable to be found in all the fundraising work put in prior. It's unlikely that anywhere close to that amount is tied up in false pledges, and given that this effort has been as successful as it has, it seems likely that whatever was needed to make up the difference would be able to be raised. I will admit to being skeptical, especially given the statement issued, that there was this level of money to be raised. This is a very impressive effort by the swim team supporters.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

(09-10-2020 01:46 PM)Tribal Wrote:  I'll go a step further, I guarantee that actuals are 25% more than what people pledged. If, say, someone pledged $100 and later learned that we're just under the target number, that person would likely kick in a bit more.

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I agree with this wholeheartedly.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

(09-10-2020 10:35 AM)WMTribe90 Wrote:  I made a pledge here.

https://www.savetribeswimming.com/pledge

It’s the only money I will give to WM athletics this year when/if the swim team is brought back. I hope the other sports pursue similar efforts.

I did that too, with the same caveat. Moreover, I exchanged two emails with them prior to donating -- seeking confirmation that the money will only be given to W&M upon reinstatement of the program(s). I stated that I do not want any money to go to Huge unless the program(s) are actually reinstated. They confirmed that this is the case, that the money won't even be collected unless the effort is successful.