Prices notwithstanding; I am very glad to see this type of approach to raising dinero.
This approach, along with incorporating the Stanford Model for athletic fundraising by team which is then invested along with the university general endowment by the professional investment team for the university, will be a great thing to see across the spectrum.
I posted this elsewhere, but this is exactly the tactic that the new High Point University President employed (is employing) to raise the capital for all of the campus improvements they have recently undertaking (and they are substantial, $100 Million and aesthetically very nice.)
See thread:
http://flamefans.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... +president
(pics disabled, but go here for visual:
http://www.highpoint.edu/construction/
My co-worker said that for each building all the way down to the furniture he has a huge notebook that he carries with him and people can donate their money to the school for the specific items/levels of construction. She mentioned that he is very much an attention to details and planning kind of guy but very accessible to the students. Also, remember that High Point is Methodist backed and actually went bankrupt in the 30's and was reconstituted.
I think a similar approach would also work well for the campus improvement and expansion for LU if LU would layout what the grand vision of the campus would look like and create a LibertyU.com--type site. People form an affinity with something they can see and also like to feel a semblance of choice as to exactly what their funds are purchasing. Being able to "buy" a chair, or a sound system, foundation joist or something makes it more personal for the benefactor and gives them a sense of payoff as they can point directly to what their donation "bought" (even if that person can only give a $100 due to their present financial situation.)
If LU can decide what the optimal campus vision layout would look like and spare no expense in the aesthetics, then they could put up an interactive map of the Liberty 20/20 Campus of Tomorrow. Potential donors could zip around the "vision" for the campus and get excited about giving toward these defined goals. (I know I would be willing to part with some dinero if they did something like this in place of only retrofits. And I was even one of those who was irked back in the day when they used to do the $1 plate pass around at convo hoping students who were already overextended would part with even more dinero.)
Create a campus vision that clearly excites the base; something the alumni can see and get on board with as an exciting path toward development...and with all due respect to the new Alumni Religion Center or whatever the name is, that's not exactly what I mean, that is more of a retrofit.
LU has the opportunity to be one of the nicest looking campuses in the state if they would actually incorporate the aesthetics into the overall growth plan. There is no reason why the campus, with the backdrop of the Blue Ridge, can't be a place that people want to walk around and enjoy the aesthetics and a superb layout. (Yes, W&M is 400 years old, quite a jump start on LU, but, even the general public loves to traverse that campus...it is very scenic, serene and collegiate. I hope LU can aspire to something similar in the near future as it expands.)
- By Dalegarz1
- By Purple Haize