(07-25-2013 09:11 AM)Pitz Wrote:  I'm working on it, guys. Give me a couple more years.

I've used it jokingly, but I can't wait til your official title is "Erik Pitzer, Cornhole Baron".

(07-25-2013 09:01 AM)DolleyMadison Wrote:  JMU has just has many alumni with $$$ as schools that raise 10x, or in some cases, 100x more than us. Like me, most of you probably have friends or family that have gone to other schools that aren't as great as JMU but raise a lot more money than we do. This comes down to the culture set at the school and the emphasis put on giving by the leadership.

The only reason JMU doesnt raise big $$$, like some of our peers, is because the guy Tat first mentioned at the beginning of this post are the majority of our alumni. Disconnected from the school and uneducated about the growth the school has seen over the years.

Over my four years at JMU, as I got to know the school's history, I slowly realized that the buildings weren't named after big donors but rather historical figures (Ashby Hall, Wilson Hall), former governors (Godwin), former university presidents (Rose & Carrier Library), geographic areas (Shenandoah Hall, Chesapeake Hall), or just flat out the name of the building just describes what it is (Convo, ISAT, Bio Sciences Building).

If it wasn't for this message board, and my love of JMU sports, I question how connected to the university I would still be...and that's a shame.

Good point about the buildings on campus. We have at least 3 named after donors ( Plecker Center, Forbes Center, Bridgeforth Stadium) and there may be more that I'm missing. Having donors that can and will give multi-million dollar gifts is nice and we have some. Our biggest group of donors should be those that can give $10,000 over a 5 year time frame. We should easily have 10,000 alums that can contribute this amount. The question should be what will it take to get those 10,000 to part with $10,000? That's an easy $100,000,000 from donors that graduated in the '80s and '90s alone.

I'm a bit sadden by your comment that this message board is one of 2 reasons for your connection to JMU. I like the board but it's way down the list of connection points to JMU for me. The good news is that it makes the list. Have you thought about coming back to speak to a class, join an advisory committee (or form one), get on a board, etc.

(07-25-2013 09:16 AM)HotHamandCheese84 Wrote:  [quote='DolleyMadison' pid='9527712' dateline='1374760874']
The good news is that it makes the list. Have you thought about coming back to speak to a class, join an advisory committee (or form one), get on a board, etc.

Steve can you elaborate on this? I'm curious if it's only for older, more distinguished alumni with something to say, or real world experience. Personally I feel like I've always been connected to the University, but I'll admit it was usually of my own initiation. However, I'd love to get involved in a capacity like you listed above, but am not sure a) how b) if I have the experience required or c) what it would entail.

I'm sure others are curious as well.

Thanks!

Other than attendance at sporting events, this message board is really my sole connection to JMU.

(07-25-2013 09:36 AM)brizzock Wrote:  Other than attendance at sporting events, this message board is really my sole connection to JMU.

What would JMU need to do to get you more connected? I don't work for JMU but I provide some advice and counsel to some folks that are in a position to make some changes at our fine university.

(07-25-2013 09:16 AM)HotHamandCheese84 Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 09:01 AM)DolleyMadison Wrote:  The good news is that it makes the list. Have you thought about coming back to speak to a class, join an advisory committee (or form one), get on a board, etc.

Steve can you elaborate on this? I'm curious if it's only for older, more distinguished alumni with something to say, or real world experience. Personally I feel like I've always been connected to the University, but I'll admit it was usually of my own initiation. However, I'd love to get involved in a capacity like you listed above, but am not sure a) how b) if I have the experience required or c) what it would entail.

I'm sure others are curious as well.

Thanks!

I think one of the easiest ways to get involved is to try to connect with the major or college that you had at JMU.

For example, I received my M.S from West Virginia University and, while I was there, I was surprised by the amount of alumni they had return to the school. The program I studied would have alumni come back to recruit, talk to the class and have informal dinners. They also had a mentor program that connected students with alumni.

After graduating from graduate school, I didn't see why something like this couldn't work at JMU. So I pitched a similar mentoring program to a former professor of mine and we are hoping to launch the program on Homecoming weekend. Students will be able to connect with a mentor and talk with them informally about their profession and hopefully many will also be able to job shadow. We have entry level alums such as myself involved but we have also had executives of large companies express their interest to get involved.

I think other alumni could do something like this as well. All it takes is to try to contact former professors or a dean of a college to see if you could come back to speak, serve on a board, etc.

(07-25-2013 09:41 AM)HotHamandCheese84 Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 09:36 AM)brizzock Wrote:  Other than attendance at sporting events, this message board is really my sole connection to JMU.

What would JMU need to do to get you more connected? I don't work for JMU but I provide some advice and counsel to some folks that are in a position to make some changes at our fine university.

They wouldn't need to do much in all honesty--I'm all about JMU. It'd just be nice to know what opportunities are out there to participate and help. I obviously don't live in VA, but I'd have no problem making the time to come back for a good purpose. I would have never heard of things like advisory councils if not for these message boards.

While we've beaten the dead horse regarding the fact that JMU isn't the best at soliciting donations, they also don't have a good structure to ask alumni for their time as well.

The further out from JMU graduation you get, the less connected you are. Quite honestly, even though I just graduated in 2009 ... most of my friends only come back for homecoming and maybe beerfest weekend ... or an occasional guys weekend non-HC football game. Most others don't come back at all unless prodded into attending HC or something. Many of the comments around these people relate to the fact that they'll come back when we move up. As sad as that is and as frustrating as that might sound to some ... it's the god honest truth.

People LOVE JMU when they are there. They love the tailgates, the games, the atmosphere. But what exactly does JMU offer to the 25-45 crowd other than a mediocre football team and a chance to reconnect with old friends at a tailgate homecoming weekend? For a lot of people life gets in the way ... and all it takes is 3-4 years before people stop attending homecoming, fall out of contact with most friends from college, etc. I struggle as it is to keep the core group of friends I have attending these things. It sucks, but that's the truth.

JMU needs to figure out a way to take that "you'll love JMU while you're here ... greatest 4 years of your life" and find a way to get alumni back to campus or donating with another strategy besides nostalgia ... because that IS NOT WORKING.

How many people disliked their experience at JMU? How many absolutely loved it? How many in their 30's and 40's or 50's to this day say that their JMU years were some of the best? Probably a huge portion of our alumni ... but what is keeping them from coming back or donating? That's where someone needs to get paid and figure out wtf is going on with the disconnect

I say, the ones who can really write the big checks are still working many long hours making their companies grow and be successful. These people turn 65 and 70 years in age and we'll see a difference in the giving from the big boys. They need to have time on their hands to think about this type of thing. I believe they are still working 65-70 hour work weeks.

(07-25-2013 09:47 AM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 09:16 AM)HotHamandCheese84 Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 09:01 AM)DolleyMadison Wrote:  The good news is that it makes the list. Have you thought about coming back to speak to a class, join an advisory committee (or form one), get on a board, etc.

Steve can you elaborate on this? I'm curious if it's only for older, more distinguished alumni with something to say, or real world experience. Personally I feel like I've always been connected to the University, but I'll admit it was usually of my own initiation. However, I'd love to get involved in a capacity like you listed above, but am not sure a) how b) if I have the experience required or c) what it would entail.

I'm sure others are curious as well.

Thanks!

This is not just for older, more distinguished alums. I had to be proactive in the beginning to get more involved at JMU. There were very few official opportunities when I first started to get more involved and very few where people approached me first. Sadly, that is still the case now but something I'm working to change. Frankly, when my wife and I were approached a number of years ago about giving to COB (my wife graduated with the business degree; I have a public admin & political science degree--a good set up for law school), I told JMU Development that I wanted to get more involved with boards at JMU. My contact in Development started to look for opportunities. You don't need to give a ton of money but you need to give something to start the relationship with someone in Development. Be very clear what you want out of the relationship. Development has the ability to get donors on various boards and advisory committees. It's a give and take relationship.

I also started to seek out speaking opportunities on my own and setting up events on my own. 10 years ago, I contacted Mickey Matthews to get him to donate football clothes and hats for various silent auctions related to other boards (non-JMU) I was on. About 6 years ago, I invited him to play golf when he was coming to Richmond for the Spring and late summer Duke Club events. To my surprise, he accepted. 4 years ago, I started hosting 12 golfers (JMU alums and coaches) the day of the Meet the Dukes Dinner in Richmond. This allowed me to get to know many more people.

In 2009, I was asked by Development to serve on the Honors Advisory Council. I went to a strategic planning meeting for this start up council and I provided advice and counsel to them (so did other alums they tapped) and I accepted the invitation to join. My daughter had not been accepted at JMU when I joined the HAC. 6 months later she was accepted and decided to go to JMU. I'm now the chair. I've helped shape the vision and mission and the HAC is being recognized nationally as a model advisory board. We are developing mentoring relationships with alums (not just Honor alums) and students. We are developing an internship program. We are building relationships in an intentional way.

Recently, I received the newsletter from my major providing insight into programs it was developing. I contacted the Dean and told him I was interested in getting involved in several issues and we started working together. I told him when I was going to be on campus next and when I wanted to speak to a class.

The experience base of everyone on this board is good for giving back some time. I don't know who you are based on your name here but when you tell me, I can be more specific off line. We need HAC members now. It requires 3 meetings in Harrisonburg a year. The fall meeting is the Friday of Homecoming weekend. We also meet in Jan and April. There is 2 hours of committee work each month. There is a $1,000 monetary contribution. The money goes to funding 3 scholarships (we developed 3 Hillcrest Scholarships 3 years ago) and funding 2 incoming freshmen receptions.

(07-25-2013 10:31 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  I say, the ones who can really write the big checks are still working many long hours making their companies grow and be successful. These people turn 65 and 70 years in age and we'll see a difference in the giving from the big boys. They need to have time on their hands to think about this type of thing. I believe they are still working 65-70 hour work weeks.

I am sorry, but I have heard this too many times from JMU folks and I am not buying it. There are plenty of schools that are younger than us and smaller than us that are raising a lot more money than we are.

If they can do it, why can't we?

(07-25-2013 09:09 AM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  

(07-24-2013 10:12 PM)TheDudeWithTheJMUTat Wrote:  I had a meeting a few weeks ago with the CEO and President of a multi-million dollar company regarding a short-term partnership (like, multi-multi-million), and when I asked him to tell me about himself when we sat down, the first thing that the gentleman said to me was this: "I'm originally from Northern Virginia and moved to the West Coast. I went to James Madison, and I checked out your linked-in profile on my flight into DC, and I see that you did too. Go Dukes."

My first thought wasn't work related. I wanted to say "PLEASE DONATE A MILLION OR 5 AND HELP US BUILD THE OTHER HALF OF OUR STADIUM." Unfortunately, I remained professional.

I looked him up after the meeting, and this guy has been in Forbes, Business Week, and on every major news network, yet I had never heard his name mentioned. Now, I know you're going to say "Who is it Tat?!?!" I'm not going to say his name, because I like to keep the zone (err CSN BBS) and real life separate, especially while I'm still with my current employer.

But this begs the question: Who are our most powerful and rich alumni? Surely we must have untapped alumni with bountiful pockets somewhere, right? I do what I can with my salary, but I can't even begin to put the kind of dent in a donation that the guy I met with is capable of doing.

Two things: 1). I realize that I'm asking you to do something that I'm not doing myself: name names. Maybe that's unfair, but due to my current business relationship with this guy, I don't feel comfortable doing that. 2). I asked him if he had been back recently, and he told me that he had only been back twice since he graduated over 20 years ago. He had no idea that the football stadium was rebuilt. I was flabbergasted. We need to be reaching out to these people and have them come back to our campus!

Tat are you a Duke Club Rep? If not, you should be. You could have gotten a big deal just by mentioning it, and plus they give you all the best info to say and great facts, etc.

(07-25-2013 07:25 AM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  - dude who wrote lawless / WCITW

He's a Pi Kapp, too.

Good enough for me. I think there are at least a half dozen of us on here!

(07-25-2013 08:52 AM)JMUSkinsfan Wrote:  ESPN anchors don't make a ton of money ... but they do have the power of the microphone/camera ... Lindsay Czarniak is a pretty clutch alum to have from a PR standpoint. She reps us a lot on air when we are in the news ... just not sure how far that can go.

She is the regular host of the 6pm SportsCenter now though

2010-2011 she worked for TNT covering the 1/2 doz Sprint Cup races that TNT gets. 2011 she hosted the pre race Countdown to Green show.

She just hosted the Indy 500:
http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2013/05/aura...-telecast/

(07-25-2013 09:01 AM)DolleyMadison Wrote:  JMU has just has many alumni with $$$ as schools that raise 10x, or in some cases, 100x more than us. Like me, most of you probably have friends or family that have gone to other schools that aren't as great as JMU but raise a lot more money than we do. This comes down to the culture set at the school and the emphasis put on giving by the leadership.

The only reason JMU doesnt raise big $$$, like some of our peers, is because the guy Tat first mentioned at the beginning of this post are the majority of our alumni. Disconnected from the school and uneducated about the growth the school has seen over the years.

Over my four years at JMU, as I got to know the school's history, I slowly realized that the buildings weren't named after big donors but rather historical figures (Ashby Hall, Wilson Hall), former governors (Godwin), former university presidents (Rose & Carrier Library), geographic areas (Shenandoah Hall, Chesapeake Hall), or just flat out the name of the building just describes what it is (Convo, ISAT, Bio Sciences Building).

If it wasn't for this message board, and my love of JMU sports, I question how connected to the university I would still be...and that's a shame.

Good post, Dolley. I completely agree with this and frequently come across alums that have substantial incomes that do not donate to the university or feel any sense of connection as an alum. Very frustrating.

I just got this in my inbox. I'm glad we've reached 8,000 but that's sad for an alumni base as large as ours.

History made!! For the first time ever, more than 8,000 alumni made a gift to their alma mater in the same year.

That's 8,508 alumni, to be exact.

Thank you to all those who gave in 2012-13. You're helping amazing things happen at Madison.
JMU Office of Annual Giving http://www.jmu.edu/give

Click here to unsubscribe.

Connect with JMU

(07-25-2013 11:05 AM)fanofallthatisjmu Wrote:  Steve,
I appreciate your dedication, involvement and love of JMU. Your involvement seems to have stemmed from someone visiting you to give to the COB. The problem is, how many people are getting those visits? Not many. I do not think JMU has the infrastructure in place currently to reach 10,000 alums let alone 10,000 to give $10,000. I am still fairly young, but have been fortunate in my career trajectory and have given to the COB $1,000 for the past few years. I have received a thank you note and that is it. Never got a call from someone there saying "hey, I see you have given $1,000 a year. I would like to thank you for that. However, I would like to ask you if you are in the position to possibly double that and sign a commitment for 10k over 5 years?" Hell, when I signed my capital contribution for the stadium 4 years ago at this point, I was the one who had to reach out and say I wanted to be involved. I served on the Duke Club Board of Directors directly after graduation and got to know various people through that group. However, since then as the years pass, I get a little further disconnected, and more apathetic towards JMU. I have written many times on the lack of vision and competency from Development and Alumni. I have spoken with Nick Langridge and Steve Smith in person about this previously. They are great guys and have nodded their heads at me, but I never received a followup email asking me for my thoughts on what could be done. There seems to be a pervasive culture in Development and Athletics that they are raising some money, and its enough to keep their jobs, so why put the effort in to try something new and different?

Thats my 2 cents. I love, and will always love JMU, but there needs to be some changes. I can say I am not that excited about the path JMU is on. It is a good path which will lead to good things, but we can and should be doing great and amazing things.

We had a visit from Weston Hatfield and he asked us what we are passionate about at JMU. We had 3-5 areas we were interested in. It was a series of meetings and we worked on a plan together. We arrived at a COB gift that was related to someone with an interest in Human Resources (my wife is a former HR exec and I am a labor and employment lawyer). We need you back brother. Send me an e-mail: sbrown5683@gmail.com

Lets not forget Showker and Wampler halls....big donors!

We jabe sports folks too...Sapong, Haley, Moats, Clark, Norwood..

(07-25-2013 09:16 AM)HotHamandCheese84 Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 09:01 AM)DolleyMadison Wrote:  JMU has just has many alumni with $$$ as schools that raise 10x, or in some cases, 100x more than us. Like me, most of you probably have friends or family that have gone to other schools that aren't as great as JMU but raise a lot more money than we do. This comes down to the culture set at the school and the emphasis put on giving by the leadership.

The only reason JMU doesnt raise big $$$, like some of our peers, is because the guy Tat first mentioned at the beginning of this post are the majority of our alumni. Disconnected from the school and uneducated about the growth the school has seen over the years.

Over my four years at JMU, as I got to know the school's history, I slowly realized that the buildings weren't named after big donors but rather historical figures (Ashby Hall, Wilson Hall), former governors (Godwin), former university presidents (Rose & Carrier Library), geographic areas (Shenandoah Hall, Chesapeake Hall), or just flat out the name of the building just describes what it is (Convo, ISAT, Bio Sciences Building).

If it wasn't for this message board, and my love of JMU sports, I question how connected to the university I would still be...and that's a shame.

Good point about the buildings on campus. We have at least 3 named after donors ( Plecker Center, Forbes Center, Bridgeforth Stadium) and there may be more that I'm missing. Having donors that can and will give multi-million dollar gifts is nice and we have some. Our biggest group of donors should be those that can give $10,000 over a 5 year time frame. We should easily have 10,000 alums that can contribute this amount. The question should be what will it take to get those 10,000 to part with $10,000? That's an easy $100,000,000 from donors that graduated in the '80s and '90s alone
I'm a bit sadden by your comment that this message board is one of 2 reasons for your connection to JMU. I like the board but it's way down the list of connection points to JMU for me. The good news is that it makes the list. Have you thought about coming back to speak to a class, join an advisory committee (or form one), get on a board, etc.

And[/i] what about politics? Surovell in the VA legislature...

(07-25-2013 11:05 AM)fanofallthatisjmu Wrote:  Steve,
I appreciate your dedication, involvement and love of JMU. Your involvement seems to have stemmed from someone visiting you to give to the COB. The problem is, how many people are getting those visits? Not many. I do not think JMU has the infrastructure in place currently to reach 10,000 alums let alone 10,000 to give $10,000. I am still fairly young, but have been fortunate in my career trajectory and have given to the COB $1,000 for the past few years. I have received a thank you note and that is it. Never got a call from someone there saying "hey, I see you have given $1,000 a year. I would like to thank you for that. However, I would like to ask you if you are in the position to possibly double that and sign a commitment for 10k over 5 years?" Hell, when I signed my capital contribution for the stadium 4 years ago at this point, I was the one who had to reach out and say I wanted to be involved. I served on the Duke Club Board of Directors directly after graduation and got to know various people through that group. However, since then as the years pass, I get a little further disconnected, and more apathetic towards JMU. I have written many times on the lack of vision and competency from Development and Alumni. I have spoken with Nick Langridge and Steve Smith in person about this previously. They are great guys and have nodded their heads at me, but I never received a followup email asking me for my thoughts on what could be done. There seems to be a pervasive culture in Development and Athletics that they are raising some money, and its enough to keep their jobs, so why put the effort in to try something new and different?

Thats my 2 cents. I love, and will always love JMU, but there needs to be some changes. I can say I am not that excited about the path JMU is on. It is a good path which will lead to good things, but we can and should be doing great and amazing things.

Interestingly enough I have given to JMU for about the last 10 years and have never received a phone call asking if I can give more. While my financial status has changed I haven't thought about giving more until recently when I started to follow this message board. My wife went to Dartmouth and they are constantly calling our house asking her to donate both her time and more money. These are students who are calling. She donates to both the women's basketball team and the Engineering School. She receives back hand written notes from the head basketball coach and the dean of the school thanking her for her donation every year. I don't understand why we can't do something like this.