To HuskyMedic - the $40m

[Chief00]

I finally got a direct solicitation for a gift about 14 months ago. Asked for their financials and if I remember correctly the annual cost of Foundation Activities and Management were between 27 -30 Million.

If true - insane.

 

[UConnNick]

FWIW, AD Dave hired two assistant ADs that I believe were new positions.

Yeah, the heads of the departments within the AD, such as athletic communications, are all associate ADs. Beyond that, the only reason for Benedict to be hiring non-dept. head ADs is if he or somebody else in the dept. doesn't feel like doing all or some part of his or her job.

 

[huskymedic]

To illustrate the point, she cloaks the finances of the UCONN Foundation in total secrecy. Some folks who make donations might be quite surprised to see how some of their money is being spent. They tell you a particular rule can't be broken, and then they break it themselves. A few years ago they had 115 salaried employees. What the heck are all these folks doing? It takes that many people to raise money? It would be interesting to see what it costs to employ all these people.

I finally got a direct solicitation for a gift about 14 months ago. Asked for their financials and if I remember correctly the annual cost of Foundation Activities and Management were between 27 -30 Million.

If true - insane.

PWC 2018 Audited Financial Statement for the UConn Foundation (supports UConn Health Center as well).

2018 Annual Report

Foundation Board of Directors

 

[SubbaBub]

Let me simplify this. If UConn shows itself to be a cash cow in any category, certain people in Hartford start cutting support for the University. Short term accounting gimmicks are a statewide pastime that is not limited to Storrs.

Look at one number, the university as a whole, revenue v. expenses. Everything else is shifting money around.

 

[UConnNick]

I finally got a direct solicitation for a gift about 14 months ago. Asked for their financials and if I remember correctly the annual cost of Foundation Activities and Management were between 27 -30 Million.

Well, John, based on the "official" numbers Huskymedic kindly posted, if I'm reading them correctly, they understated what they told you by roughly half, which I will assume would prompt Chief00 to remark "double insane".

The only line item on the sheet I have some personal familiarity with is alumni expenses. No matter what, to a very large extent, that could be one of, if not the most important items on the whole sheet. That's what the Alumni Association used to do. It involves running all the alumni groups in regions and cities throughout CT and across the country. Whatever is spent in that area is well worth it because it has a direct influence on how much donors contribute.

I've personally seen a little money spending waste in that area which, if it's much more widespread across the board than I've seen, would be somewhat distrurbing. However, at the relatively modest anount being spent in that area comparatively, I don't think it's much of an issue, considering all the good that money does.

In the big picture though, spending over 51 million dollars per year to raise money for the university seems crazy. Maybe it isn't if you look at similar sized other public flagship state universities, but if this is common, all I can say is wow. I guess the best way to evaluate it would be the cost per dollar donated, to see what the ROI is. Since there is likely some money contributed which has nothing to do with anything the foundation does, even that number probably wouldn't accurately represent the foundation's effect.

This university operated for almost 100 years with no formal fundraising organization. I know times have changed and there's an important need for these organizations now, but it seems the operational costs involved have gotten way out of control. I know personally that of the amounts I've contributed over the years, a vastly great percentage of it had nothing to do with the foundation. A lot of the money wasn't even directly paid to it.

 

[John Greene]

The data that huskymedic posted were the same as I got only mine did not include 2018. I got the number of 27-30 Million by assuming that the first two categories under "program support" were mostly in support of UConn faculty and student activities, not the foundation itself. I may be wrong in that assumption.

I got the data at a meeting with a gentlemen named Otis. I remember since I tried to make a little joke about seeing his building the last time I was in I84 in Farmington. It took him a couple of seconds to get it.

To the main point. I believe the foundation raises about 75-80Million annually. I will never give to any fund raising organization that spends 30-40% of what is raised annually on funding itself.

 

[huskymedic]

The data that huskymedic posted were the same as I got only mine did not include 2018. I got the number of 27-30 Million by assuming that the first two categories under "program support" were mostly in support of UConn faculty and student activities, not the foundation itself. I may be wrong in that assumption.

Agreed... when discussing Foundation salaries, etc the number is in the Foundation operations line items not the combined number for Program support and Foundation Operations. The actual Annual Report goes into much more detail of what the Foundation sausage making looks like.

Is there fat - sure, show me a budget that doesn't have sand in it.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Otis, Brian: likable guy

Not to defend the Foundation by any stretch, yet apparent ongoing chips on the shoulders of some past Alumni Association defenders remain comical. Epically amateurish failed mom&pop club, move forward.

Setting that aside, John’s interpretation of the high-level summary’s first Program Support item, Student Scholarships, fellowships and Awards $9.4m, and potentially some of the other items appears correct. Expenditures, yet a fair chunk may be unrelated to operation. Supporting notes may break out the allocations in greater detail. That said, no suggestion a lot of dinero is not allocated to operational support.

 

[Pudge]

Are the Football scholarships “endowed”?


Clearly they are a Plug in that deficit number. However, I recently heard the term “endowed” regarding our football team and other sports. Which means ... they are using the Plug plus they aren’t using State/Student Fee dollars anyway.