Power 5 Donation Levels: Where Does Virginia Tech Rank?

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1. What irritates me with the new system,you have to give to the scholarship fund to get credit increases for parking location and ticket locations. If someone knows this is wrong, please let me know since the Hokie club officials I have talked with have confused me.

2. There are major points that many Hokies may have overlooked. Once the AD administration reneged on the lifetime club memberships, many people stopped giving. These are people that not only gave major contributions but these contributions back then went to the VT Foundation for capital projects. However, these contributions were counted toward their Hokie club obligations and not directly towards the Hokie club.

   Now, you “can” contribute to the Foundation but if you want to get more bang for your buck, you better give to the Hokie club via the per seat contributions and ticket purchases. So for the major contributors that decided to continue giving, they are now giving directly to the Hokie club and not the Foundation.

   In an effort to instill upon the masses that this administration made a good move with their decision to eliminate the lifetime club memberships, they are reporting major increases in giving to the Hokie club. Are they comparing apples to oranges? They say they saw an increase in memberships, I wonder if they are still counting me as a member?

3. I remember on air TV discussion years ago about baseball attendance at Kansas City home games. The Royals were winning, but couldn’t sellout their 45,000 seat stadium.. Yogi Berra created another one of his famous “Yogi-isms” when he said, “If the fans don’t want to come out to the ball park, how’re you going to stop ’em?”

   If Virginia Tech fans don’t give enough, how are you going to change giving habits? I belief it is cultural. I’ve heard the same pathetic refrain for 50 years, with the obligatory and standard reference to IPTAY at Clemson. It falls on deaf ears. And you don’t change culture overnight.

   To me it’s disgusting that all the rich elite in Hooville will reach in their pocket to throw money in the offering plate without asking what it’s for. I am reminded of Lowell’s “The Vision of Sir Launfal” where the young knight in his young exuberance to seek the grail gallops forth on his steed across the drawbridge, only to be accosted by an unsightly beggar, to whom the young knight scornfully tosses a couple of coppers, as if to say, “get out of my sight you loathsome thing, can’t you see I’m on a glorious quest?” After years of searching the aged knight returns home to find the beggar still in his accustomed place outside the castle walls.

   Which culture is worse? Virginia’s scorn of money, or Tech’s being cheap? Either way, change does come quickly. As I said, I’ve been waiting for the bus for 50 years.

4. UVA grads give more money because it’s part of the culture of the university and alumni base. They’ve always been aggressive in their fund raising. I graduated in 76. I worked with a Hoo right out of school and was impressed with the amount of simple fund raising material he regularly received from UVA compared to what I got from Tech. They were more savvy about their emotional appeal that made alums feel their alma mater was a special place creating a culture where they wanted to help.
   Unfortunately Tech has never had that culture. Too much was based on ” What do I get for my donation”.
   I sense it might be changing, but generally Hokies are, to be frank, cheap. I know plenty of very successful Hokies who won’t give the school a lousy 100 bucks a year. I’ve shamed a number to give that and after a year they stop. It’s just sad.
   I think the seat fees are a shot in the arm, but if the program goes stale again as it did in 2012-2013, I suspect Tech fans will bail very quickly. Let’s hope that we don’t have to find out if that’s true

   1. Are they actually cheap? Or were they “raised” in an environment that wasn’t conducive to creating an alumni base that knew to give and was persuaded to give?

      1. That washed 15 years ago. But with the explosion of social media and the information that’s now available, that’s no longer an excuse. I’m in noVa and know many many Hokies up here who have done well in life…..are huge Tech fans yet wouldn’t give the school a dime. It’s shameful.

5. First off, I think Hokie Club is doing a great job with the Drive for 25 effort. Three things they still need to combat:

   1) people think you have to be a big money donor to donate. You don’t. You can join for as little as $8.33/month.

   2) only season ticket holders donate. Not true. Plenty of people donate who don’t have tickets or any other direct benefit.

   3) Hokie Club members are older alums. I think this is a huge issue. HC needs to get students and recent alums on board with low donation amounts ($8.33/mo)

   Drive for 25 has been fantastic but there’s still a ways to go.

   1. 4) VT employees who feel they are already shafted by the university with their, on average, less than market value salaries. I have spoken with several colleagues who generally feel they can’t give $100/year because they are underpaid as it is.

      5) Recent/new alums who are struggling to make tuition payments and can’t afford to donate.

      Unfortunately I don’t see any good way to incentivize from the university’s side without hurting themselves, especially since most student loans are private or federal.

      1. I think students with hefty loans get a pass. There are plenty of NOVA kids who had mommy and daddy pay for school who don’t give a dime and they are making six figures. Where are their Hokie Club donations?

6. If our > 250,000 living alumnae contributed $100/yr. to our athletics that is an increase of $25,000,000.00/yr.

   We need to do a better job communicating to these folks of just how critically important it is to our University that we donate. The ripple effect extends outwards and touches every corner of our campus!

   1. p.s., not to mention reaching out to those in the New River and Roanoke Valleys. Alum. and non-alum. alike. We are all in this together and we need to push and pull as hard as we can.

      There are diminishing returns but a positive correlation exists between the support behind the scenes and success. I have eight first cousins that graduated from W.V.U. and they are freaks regarding support for their school. Their passion is deep rooted. We are going to rumble in a few weeks and I remember when I was young how hard V.P.I. played them. A black-sheep thing. Now that roll has flipped. We better be ready!

   2. If our > 250,000 living alumnae contributed $100/yr. to our athletics that is an increase of $25,000,000.00/yr.

      That statement right there should be all that is communicated to the 250K alumni.

      Very simple equation yet most people and organization take too many words to say it.

7. Sad…we (collectively) TALK a good game…that’s about it

   1. Light’en up Francis! Hokies are not Lemmings led over a cliff or Sheep led to slaughter and we dont have a T-bone or Phil K in our backyard…we earn every penny and expect things are done right…that will NOT get you to the top in this day and age when others will cheat and misrepresent facts every chance they get…

      GO HOKIES…Be STRONG…Be HOKIE!

      1. What does THAT have to do with anything? I know we don’t have a Phil Knight or T Boone. Take them AND thee cheating schools rout of the equation and we are STILL anemic in giving. It is mostly the NUMBER of people who give, not the amount.

         Also, every school whose fans support them thru donations are not cheating. That is a handy excuse. Of course it happens, probably way to frequently, but that doesn’t let us off the hook. We SHOULD continue to do it the right way, despite the fact that it will keep us at a disadvantage. We have a lot of people who DO contribute (just proportionately far too few). That is my point…West Virginia??? Really?? Middle of the pack in donations?? Really?? I stand by what i said

8. Is there any information on what percentage of AD employees are contributing members to the Hokie Club? Just curious. I was involved in a fund raising project for a non-profit organization and the first thing we did is have everyone involved contribute something so we could say we had 100% participation.

   1. Great suggestion and idea !

9. If I read your table right UVa #10 overall and #1 in ACC. Hasn’t helped football much.

   1. So can someone (Will?) explain exactly why/how UVA is pulling in that kind of money??

      1. Doctors and Lawyers

         1. Yep. Not just new money grads, either. Lots of old money.

            1. seems like some old and new hoo-alumni need to ask for big refunds. and stop throwing money into the bottom of the football pit.

               comparatively speaking we are a huge bargain, even though our Olympic sports are just coming into their own. we’re making our measly Abe$ sing, squeal, and shout Hallelujah! compared to how many P5’s are wasting their Franklin$.

               we still have a long way to go. we all need to step up our giving, attendance, and alumni recruiting because we obviously have so much untapped potential.

               if you’re reading this and are not a Hokie Club member: please reread the article and step up.
               if you’re just beginning, and want to try to keep up with klempsun’s IPTAY, then start off with $10.
               if you think we deserve better then $110 for 110% (Campaign) Hokies is a fine start.
               if you can donate more, pick your comfort level and stretch up a little more. those sec, b10, and even those homely ‘eers have been at it for some time; and we have some ground to make up.
               got a favorite sport(s) – you can designate your gift$ and begin to feel like you own a little more of that one than the rest of us.

               please, just start giving.
               please, keep raising your contribution each year or when you can.
               please, attend as many Virginia Tech events – alumni, educational, athletic, social, and cultural – as you can.
               please, participate in Hokie Club events. and
               please, keep the VT conversations on the sunny side.

               Go Hokies!

      2. Med and Law grads=more $$$$. Not sure that can be overcome.

         1. Yet we touted a few years ago the data that said the average VT grad, 10 years out of school, made more than the average UVA grad.

            But yes, it could be skewed data with UVA having some VERY rich, and some starving poets, while VT tends more toward the average….and perhaps very rich give more to make up for the lower earning average.

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