Burton: “We want to be a leader in NIL in Group of Five”

[Dizzy21]

Let's just say that you wanted to fund the UCONN Football Coaching Staff as a donor, and let's say as an example that you wanted to set the budget at $5M a year. There are a couple of ways to do it.

1) Donate $5M a year for current use

Expensive but compared to the alternative....

2) Set up an endowment that will fund the $5M/year in perpetuity.

Choosing #2 means you have to donate $117.6M in order to be able to distribute $5M/year at the 4.25% spending rate.

On the field, the results are the same. #1 is invisible to the endowment, #2 makes the endowment look great, but nearly 20% of the endowment would be for a single purpose.

Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but not everyone understands how foundations/endowments work.

Those are all great points about how endowments operate, but everyone has the same rules. Your points do not address and they do not explain why UConn is so far behind other Public institutions, that are funded by their states, in far less wealthy states, some with smaller populations. Simply look at the list of Public Institutions that receive state funding. UConn has around half the endowment of the 50th school on the list.

If there was some large wealthy donor base out there, it would show up in the endowment. The fact that we are in a wealthy state has not shown up in donations to UConn. For quite some time now, UConn has been pushing donors and yes, donations have gone up, but for people to sit there and somehow think there is some mysterious huge sum of money that we are just not tapping into...well it is the same thinking that basketball is going to get us into the P4/P2.

I do hope that changes in the future, especially as more alumni make more and more money, but the reality is they are not presently out there giving money. Just like us getting into the P4/P2, a lot has to change for the current situation to change in anyway.

 

[Bongo Fury]

We had that kid that transferred to Fordham with after Moorhead left. Had they kept Moorhead at OC, that’s still an 8 win team in 2011.

Or if Whipple ran the offense with his QB along with Don Brown defense. Yes, Don Brown wanted to leave MD. What possibly could have been I guess

 

[husky8273]

Because they are just handing out money.

The Bleeding Blue collective - they ask for the students to do something for charity in return for their money. Also means that Bleeding Blue is tax deductible, but giving to D'Amelio isn't.

The tax exemption is unlikely to remain for most collectives. The IRS has said that payments to compensate individuals are not a tax exempt activity unless they are incidental to the tax exempt purpose.

 

[husky8273]

https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/

If you go here and search for Bleeding Blue for Good - you will find the IRS 501c3 letter stating that donors can deduct contributions under IRC Section 70.

The D'Amelio collective has no such letter that I can find.

BBFG tax exempt status preceded IRS guidance that questioned collectives tax exempt status, see IRS memorandum calls tax-exempt status of NIL collectives into question

 

[DoctorWho85]

Or if Whipple ran the offense with his QB along with Don Brown defense. Yes, Don Brown wanted to leave MD. What possibly could have been I guess

Crazy Whipple was the best coach at UMass since they moved up to FBS and still got fired.

 

[J187Money]

Those are all great points about how endowments operate, but everyone has the same rules. Your points do not address and they do not explain why UConn is so far behind other Public institutions, that are funded by their states, in far less wealthy states, some with smaller populations. Simply look at the list of Public Institutions that receive state funding. UConn has around half the endowment of the 50th school on the list.

If there was some large wealthy donor base out there, it would show up in the endowment. The fact that we are in a wealthy state has not shown up in donations to UConn. For quite some time now, UConn has been pushing donors and yes, donations have gone up, but for people to sit there and somehow think there is some mysterious huge sum of money that we are just not tapping into...well it is the same thinking that basketball is going to get us into the P4/P2.

I do hope that changes in the future, especially as more alumni make more and more money, but the reality is they are not presently out there giving money. Just like us getting into the P4/P2, a lot has to change for the current situation to change in anyway.

I addressed that at the beginning. They didn't take this seriously until the last 15 years. It isn't any more complicated than that. Given where we were in 2005 we are faring much better, but we are WAY behind. AND - a LOT of the money we have raised has gone to current use projects and NOT the endowment because the state decided to stop bonding 100% of UCONN projects.

That, coupled with the fact that most of the wealthy people in this state have relationships with private universities and the expectation was always that the state would fund everything so there was no reason to give. The "I'm already paying taxes" line of thinking.

If you think it is bad at UCONN, it is way worse at the other CT state schools.

But with $115M in new gifts in the last fundraising year - can't say that the money isn't out there. Just think of where we would have been if we took it seriously in the 80s...

 

[Patman]

Ultimately that is the problem is uconn will always be a new England school and in almost all these other states there is no real private competition. Your elites in Michigan are going to Michigan if they stay in state. Similar with the other places.

People don't come to uconn to be elite and elites don't go to uconn.

This doesn't mean you can't make something of yourself but we are talking patterns and chances

 

[Bongo Fury]

Crazy Whipple was the best coach at UMass since they moved up to FBS and still got fired.

UMass is a more difficult job than UConn. Think they got 4 wins. Scored a lot of points but the opponents usually scored more. Made twice as much as a coordinator after.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

Once the new division is established, UConn will never need to associate itself with the G5 or non-power conferences again.

 

[mikedog10]

But with $115M in new gifts in the last fundraising year - can't say that the money isn't out there.

Is there any momentum for investing a greater percent of the new money into the endowment vs spending on current use projects? It would be nice if the department had more endowment revenue so they could be less dependent on annual gifts…

 

[J187Money]

Is there any momentum for investing a greater percent of the new money into the endowment vs spending on current use projects? It would be nice if the department had more endowment revenue so they could be less dependent on annual gifts…

The problem with endowment money is that it is always directed by who set up the endowment. For example, I'm one of the sponsors for the UCONN NYC Alumni Chapter Scholarship Fund. We have $200K in there - awesome. Let's just say that someone put $100M in there - awesome, but it can only be used for scholarships for full-time undergrads going to UCONN from the 5 boroughs. So does nothing for the rest of the school.

Endowments are great, to the extent that there is a need and an endowment steps up and fills that need. The issue is that a LOT of endowment money is super specific and while it is helpful (and may relieve pressure in other places) it may not do what you want it to do.

I would want the majority of donations to be for current use - depending on how the donor wants to use them.

I sit on the board of another university foundation, and you wouldn't believe the restrictions that people try to put on their donations. The gift officers spend a lot of time trying to get them to broaden the requirements or give to one of the general purpose endowment funds.

 

[J187Money]

https://www.foundation.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/entry-1071-uconn_foundation_financial_statements_6.30.2023__final.pdf

Read footnote 9 - Net Assets

Total assets without donor restrictions: $12.3M
Total assets WITH donor restrictions: $739.6M

(there are assets not in the endowment which is why this number is so much bigger than the endowment)

The $739.6M breaks out like this:

Scholarship support: $268.6M
Faculty support: $169.6M
Program support: $301.4M

And what we can't see is how much of that is restricted to go where - meaning that if it all is in support of the Drama department - cool - but ultimately useless to the athletic department as an example.

So "grow the endowment" is overly simplistic.

 

[Dizzy21]

https://www.foundation.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/entry-1071-uconn_foundation_financial_statements_6.30.2023__final.pdf

Read footnote 9 - Net Assets

Total assets without donor restrictions: $12.3M
Total assets WITH donor restrictions: $739.6M

(there are assets not in the endowment which is why this number is so much bigger than the endowment)

The $739.6M breaks out like this:

Scholarship support: $268.6M
Faculty support: $169.6M
Program support: $301.4M

And what we can't see is how much of that is restricted to go where - meaning that if it all is in support of the Drama department - cool - but ultimately useless to the athletic department as an example.

So "grow the endowment" is overly simplistic.

For me, this is not about grow the endowment, it's about people thinking there is some magical huge sum of money to be tapped into that people want to give to UConn. The endowment is the best way to measure the size of the amount that people are willing to donate to a specific University.

It also signifies the ability of the university to make it through periods where things like a $30,000 a year per athlete opt in or out choice comes along or the NIL. A university with a large endowment can either tell a donor to give to NIL instead of the athletic endowment, or pay with endowment money for that drama department and redirect the drama money to athletics.

In the end, being in Connecticut, a wealthy state, has not proven to be a benefit for raising money at UConn. I sincerely hope that changes, but it is the reality that we currently live in and there is a ton of work to do to change that.

 

[J187Money]

2023 they got $157.9M in new gifts and commitments - led by a $40M gift to the school of nursing. A record year.
2022 - $115M - a record year
2021 - $93.3M - a record year
2020 - $89.5M - a record year

Again - we are way behind, but moving in the right direction. Just have to keep pushing.

I think our biggest problem is that we have more than 250K alumni and only 22K gave. It is hard to win when 90% of your alums won't participate.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[gars44]

2023 they got $157.9M in new gifts and commitments - led by a $40M gift to the school of nursing. A record year.
2022 - $115M - a record year
2021 - $93.3M - a record year
2020 - $89.5M - a record year

Again - we are way behind, but moving in the right direction. Just have to keep pushing.

I think our biggest problem is that we have more than 250K alumni and only 22K gave. It is hard to win when 90% of your alums won't participate.

Yeah, we have to figure out a way to increase participation. Most UConn grads don’t appreciate this as a priority, they think the state will take care of everything, i.e, “I already pay taxes” etc. How can we get through to the pool of grads? Even if half contributed as little as $50 that‘s $6M which pays for a lot of NIL. I don’t even know where to give and I’d like to. Anyone know?

 

[J187Money]

Yeah, we have to figure out a way to increase participation. Most UConn grads don’t appreciate this as a priority, they think the state will take care of everything, i.e, “I already pay taxes” etc. How can we get through to the pool of grads? Even if half contributed as little as $50 that‘s $6M which pays for a lot of NIL. I don’t even know where to give and I’d like to. Anyone know?

Where do you want to give? NIL or the university?

 

[Drew]

 

[huskyinfl]

Where do you want to give? NIL or the university?

Tell me where my named brick is in the library at the new bookworms that I donated to in 2006. Oh it doesn't exist. That's why people don't give UConn money.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

We had that kid that transferred to Fordham with after Moorhead left. Had they kept Moorhead at OC, that’s still an 8 win team in 2011.

Mike Nebrich. Broke every passing high school record in the state of Virginia. Moorhead recruited the kid. Moorhead quit in December after PP had demoted him to QB’s coach prior to the start of the season and decided to start trick shot artist Johnny McEntee (McEntee was mostly awful btw) while Nebrich sat on the bench for the most part. I lost all respect for Paul Pasqualoni after he PP’d away that season. Nebrich always reminded me of Matt Grothe.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Tell me where my named brick is in the library at the new bookworms that I donated to in 2006. Oh it doesn't exist. That's why people don't give UConn money.

Witnessed something similar the past spring at Elliot Ball Park. A gentleman was trying to locate any of the seats he donated to. He asked a number of AD personnel at the game if anyone had a donor map, a couple said yes but had trouble finding it on their phones then other game related issues came up and they moved on. He made a like remark and moved on to his game seat.

 

[husky8273]

Witnessed something similar the past spring at Elliot Ball Park. A gentleman was trying to locate any of the seats he donated to. He asked a number of AD personnel at the game if anyone had a donor map, a couple said yes but had trouble finding it on their phones then other game related issues came up and they moved on. He made a like remark and moved on to his game seat

I donated a seat at Morrone and a locker at Toscano that I have never been shown

 

[husky8273]

2023 they got $157.9M in new gifts and commitments - led by a $40M gift to the school of nursing. A record year.
2022 - $115M - a record year
2021 - $93.3M - a record year
2020 - $89.5M - a record year

$455MM in 4 years. only a portion goes to the endowment. Credit is also given for in kind gifts and pledges.
Would like to know how much of the $455MM was added to the endowment?

 

[AllHusky]

Those are all great points about how endowments operate, but everyone has the same rules. Your points do not address and they do not explain why UConn is so far behind other Public institutions, that are funded by their states, in far less wealthy states, some with smaller populations. Simply look at the list of Public Institutions that receive state funding. UConn has around half the endowment of the 50th school on the list.

If there was some large wealthy donor base out there, it would show up in the endowment. The fact that we are in a wealthy state has not shown up in donations to UConn. For quite some time now, UConn has been pushing donors and yes, donations have gone up, but for people to sit there and somehow think there is some mysterious huge sum of money that we are just not tapping into...well it is the same thinking that basketball is going to get us into the P4/P2.

I do hope that changes in the future, especially as more alumni make more and more money, but the reality is they are not presently out there giving money. Just like us getting into the P4/P2, a lot has to change for the current situation to change in anyway.

Realistic presentation Dizzy. Fairfield County residents just started nudging their kids toward UConn in the last 20 years. Ivies for Academics and Michigan or Notre Dame for FB still take precedence, but more and better kids from Fairfield as well as wealthy NY and NJ towns have been showing up at UConn since the early 2000's. When does that demographic translate into donors of consequence to the University, the Athletic Department and Football? Later rather than sooner.

We have missed the boat at least twice now. The question becomes how long can we "hang around", trying to succeed or provide value to whatever the P? landscape becomes? Had we caught the lifeboat first time around, when BC ditched the BE, those undergrads that had the "Big Time" FB experience would be 38-40 now, and who knows which Hedge Fund owner would have been donating 1-10 million per year to help us survive the next big move? Heck, we might have been taken with MD to the B1G instead or Rutgers.

In the meantime, it's all or nothing, All in for FB, or no FB at all. No FB does not fit the world view of the University of Connecticut however, so really we are left with one choice. Go UConn!!

 

[AllHusky]

I donated a seat at Morrone and a locker at Toscano that I have never been shown

Stewardship is lacking. Repeat consumers are the key to any business. Can't count how many smaller($100-$1000) donors have commented, "Geez, couldn't they at least send a t-shirt or a hat?"

Those self inflicted wounds add up. On the one hand you can't "take care" of every donor like they are Burton or D'Amelio, but you need as much positive energy as possible.