Growth in Sports Gifts May Mean Fewer Academic Donations

[MikeInClifton]

Interesting Reading (http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i06/06a00101.htm)

"As the country's biggest athletics departments have sought ways to pay for multimillion-dollar facility expansions, coaches' salaries, and other rising costs, their fund-raising operations have experienced enormous growth. But contributions to sports programs are eating up an ever-larger share of donations to colleges, Chronicle research suggests."

"While donations to the country's 119 largest athletics departments have risen significantly in recent years, overall giving to those colleges [on the academic side] has stayed relatively flat. . . "

Includes a chart with some Univ of Cincinnati numbers on it.

Here is an intersting idea to slow the apparent problem -
"Some booster clubs, including the Tiger Athletic Foundation at Louisiana State University, have overcome that problem by allowing academic contributions to count toward premium seating and other sports perquisites. In other words, a $10,000 gift to LSU's chemistry department, for example, will help buy better football tickets."I]

[Cats4Ever]

Interesting - but I doubt that a $10,000 donation to A&S will be treated the same as a $10,000 donation to the athletic department.

A second tier of giving / treatment?

Got to give the donor credit, but it is not the same for inter-departmental benefits. Unless it was mandated by the BOT to be treated the same. I'm not sure how this would work out. I guess the best way would be to give a donor to a non-athletic department would be given slight perks to sports if they wanted it, but not exactly the same as a direct donor. Guess it depends on the level of 'perks' if it makes it worthwhile.