If anyone cares I have a few thoughts:
First I believe the confusion related to the 10,000 number is due the the ranking system we use. If you have ever given to the Athletic Foundation or ever bought season tickets you earned priority points so it stands to reason that if you bought seson tickets or donated for the first time you are probably in the 10,000 range(Keep in mind that 10,000 number represents EVERYONE for the history of the program).
Secondly I like to address the football as a magic bullet question: Is that how Phil should base his decision?? Probably not, but the fact is it is the only way we will ever create the connection neccesary to make alumni want to give to the school.
The fact is the school has never put in the neccesary resources into fundraising and it doesnāt seem to understand how to cultivate a culture of giving.
Lets take myself as an example: When I graduated in December of 1991 I beleive I can recall saying to a friend, āI will never give this school a dime.ā I think I had just paid off the last of my parking tickets and got had just gotten back $15 for a text book I paid $80 for and for the next 10 years or so I never thought much about UNCC(thatās what it was called then) and certainly never gave any money (I think I was called 2 or 3 times). Then the biggest 49er fan I had ever met (Didnāt even know they existed) invited me to Halton for the first time. The next season a group of us bought season tickets and made the weekly trip down from Clemmons, a year later I joined the Athletic foundiation for the parking pass and free soda and chips at half time and then a few years later I found ninernation.net and realized there actually were a group of 49er fans like other schools had.
Fast forward to the present and I have given more money that I ever imagined I would have when I graduated and I certainly have giving a lot more of my time that I ever thought possible. I am now invested in the school and want to see itās continued growth and success. Now they key for me going forward is, the school also has to want it too.
When we get football or the parameters for getting football is set, then our approach to fundraising will have to change drastically. Right now they Athletic foundation consists of 3 whole people, luckily they are all excellent, but there is only so much 3 people can do. They will add at least 2 more people with the addition of football which should help. The key will be over the 3 to 4 years before we take the field it to develope the culture of giving and get the the entire alumni base involved. By they time we take the field I would like to see us have 5000 foundation members and I have some ideas on how to make this happen.
In this area we have several of the most successful booster groups in the country. State has over 20,000 member and they raise more money than god, If you havenāt been to Carter Finley in a while you will see what I mean. ECU has over 14,000 members and raise close to 4 million a year. Clemson and UNC also boost huge memberships and can basically raise however much money they need.
While it is hard to imagine us ever at their level, keep in mind without football we are still within 200 to 300 members and a couple of hundred thousand of what App St raises every year even with 3 straight national championships.
