Gophers and Give To The Max Day

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citywok

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Probably going to get internet beat up for this post.

I noticed that Gopher Sports are making a push on social media for Give To The Max Day (which is coming up in 2 days, you should strongly consider giving to your favorite charitable cause). GTTMD happens once a year in Minnesota and is more or less a "non-profit holiday". You can go online and give to one or more charitable organizations, including things like school bands, yearly community parades or events, or traditional larger non-profits. Some organizations have matching grants available, some can be underwritten by local for-profit companies that want to match donations. Prizes are given away to random donaters.

The Gophers are making a GTTMD push to get an athlete's scholarship funded. This "non-profit" dog and pony show within college athletics needs to stop. It is a grey area and that they are piggybacking on something like this is disrespectful to me. Their revenue exceeds 100 million each year, and they are tied to so many for-profit revenue sources. GTTMD is supposed to be a one day push to highlight charitable giving. Money that goes to "fund an athlete's scholarship" that everybody knows would have been funded anyway (and the money is just paid out to another University department, one big circle), is being taken away from real charitable services that rely on a day like this for important revenue.

And yes, I realize that it isn't a given that if someone couldn't donate to Gopher Athletics, that they would donate somewhere else.
But 95% of the time they aren't ONLY interested in funding a Gopher athlete's scholarship if they took the time to register and participate as a part of GTTMD- they are interested in giving to charity that day, that is their primary motivation.
And if people are interested in donating somewhere, they have a specific budget for charitable giving. This isn't like going shopping and finding something that you can't live without and then throwing it on the credit card. You decide you want to donate, and you figure out that you can spare $xxx. Then you donate to the cause(s).
Therefore, in my opinion, this actively takes money away from real charities and non-profits and they should stop immediately.
 

I'm not sure your theory on "everybody knows would have been funded anyway".

I think college sports would in fact dramatically change if there were no charitable donations. Probably resulting in fewer opportunities for athletes.
 

Fair point A_Slab_of_Bacon... I am not trying to say get rid of all charitable giving within college athletics. Just to make a clear differentiation between what they're doing and what, say, a food shelf is doing.

I guess one thing is, in this case, give me one example of any single U of M athletic scholarship that has not been able to be funded. They are always funded, and they are the "non-profit" in the budget. Perhaps, if you take a smaller sport, you can see other areas where in a given year they are short money and they have to trim something else within their "for-profit" slice of the pie. But it is never the scholarships- those are their "foundation" and those are funded every year and that is like, the first thing on the money list, even before hiring a coach.
 

citywok said:
Fair point A_Slab_of_Bacon... I am not trying to say get rid of all charitable giving within college athletics. Just to make a clear differentiation between what they're doing and what, say, a food shelf is doing.

I guess one thing is, in this case, give me one example of any single U of M athletic scholarship that has not been able to be funded. They are always funded, and they are the "non-profit" in the budget. Perhaps, if you take a smaller sport, you can see other areas where in a given year they are short money and they have to trim something else within their "for-profit" slice of the pie. But it is never the scholarships- those are their "foundation" and those are funded every year and that is like, the first thing on the money list, even before hiring a coach.
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I don't think anyone mistakes the University for a food shelf.

I don't know what you mean by your second paragraph. Otherwise my statement that without donations things would be quite different.... would require donations to stop to prove, they haven't so I don't know what example you're asking for.

You can find schools that due to costs have cut sports and etc elsewhere.
 

"Mistaking them for a food shelf" is an oversimplification of what I am saying and a classic message board move!

They are able to operate in this realm as a "non-profit" and it is unfortunate, as it is likely a detriment to real non-profits out there, concerning Give To The Max Day.
 


citywok said:
"Mistaking them for a food shelf" is an oversimplification of what I am saying and a classic message board move!

They are able to operate in this realm as a "non-profit" and it is unfortunate, as it is likely a detriment to real non-profits out there, concerning Give To The Max Day.
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You just don't like one group as much as the rest and declared them not a part of the "real non-profits out there".

The point is, I think people know the difference.... they get to pick.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
You just don't like one group as much as the rest and declared them not a part of the "real non-profits out there".

The point is, I think people know the difference.... they get to pick.
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Wrong, I love Gopher sports. They are simply not a real non-profit.
 

citywok said:
Wrong, I love Gopher sports. They are simply not a real non-profit.
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The University of Minnesota Foundation, which accepts all private giving to the University of Minnesota on its behalf, is a real nonprofit. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 

dpodoll68 said:
The University of Minnesota Foundation, which accepts all private giving to the University of Minnesota on its behalf, is a real nonprofit. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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This was advertised by Gopher Sports as "Fund an athlete's scholarship on Give to the Max Day". Not UMF. And I still think this is a sham and minorly harmful to real charity- including a lot of good work that UMF does.
 



citywok said:
This was advertised by Gopher Sports as "Fund an athlete's scholarship on Give to the Max Day". Not UMF. And I still think this is a sham and minorly harmful to real charity- including a lot of good work that UMF does.
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I'll repeat - any and all philanthropic giving to the University of Minnesota is accepted by UMF. It is a 100% real and authentic charity, regardless of the aspersions you cast on it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I'll repeat - any and all philanthropic giving to the University of Minnesota is accepted by UMF. It is a 100% real and authentic charity, regardless of the aspersions you cast on it.
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Nice use of a 25 cent word. I never said anything bad about UMF or doubted its authenticity though. "Funding a Gopher athlete's scholarship" is not charitable, though it is certainly philanthropic. That is my point.
 

citywok said:
Nice use of a 25 cent word. I never said anything bad about UMF or doubted its authenticity though. "Funding a Gopher athlete's scholarship" is not charitable, though it is certainly philanthropic. That is my point.
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How is it not charitable?
 

dpodoll68 said:
How is it not charitable?
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Above all charity has to do with need, above all philanthropy has to do with generosity.
There is nothing need-based about funding these athletic scholarships, other than that "we need to be flush with cash because we need to finish installing a brand new athletics village because we need to start winning our border battles again otherwise we will need to buyout a bunch of coaches".
 



citywok said:
Above all charity has to do with need, above all philanthropy has to do with generosity.
There is nothing need-based about funding these athletic scholarships, other than that "we need to be flush with cash because we need to finish installing a brand new athletics village because we need to start winning our border battles again otherwise we will need to buyout a bunch of coaches".
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People donate to athletic scholarships all the time. Flip gave $500,000 to endow two men's basketball scholarships four years ago. That wasn't charitable?
 

dpodoll68 said:
People donate to athletic scholarships all the time. Flip gave $500,000 to endow two men's basketball scholarships four years ago. That wasn't charitable?
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No, it was philanthropic. And I thought you were a lexicomane!
Charity is aid given to those that are in need. Or the object that is given to them. Or an organization that provides help to those in need.
Philanthropy is the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people. Overlapping, but different.
 

citywok said:
No, it was philanthropic. And I thought you were a lexicomane!
Charity is aid given to those that are in need. Or the object that is given to them. Or an organization that provides help to those in need.
Philanthropy is the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for other people. Overlapping, but different.
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That may be your preferred definition of charity, but it certainly isn't the only one.

This is possibly the stupidest pet agenda ever advanced on a site with a long, long history of them. Find a hobby.
 

dpodoll68 said:
That may be your preferred definition of charity, but it certainly isn't the only one.

This is possibly the stupidest pet agenda ever advanced on a site with a long, long history of them. Find a hobby.
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Says the guy with over 14,000 posts on this message board.
This, nestled amongst like 10 different threads about whether or not Mitch Leidner is a full or half sack of trash, ranks relatively low right now. I guess you can just dive back into those. Later.
 

citywok said:
Says the guy with over 14,000 posts on this message board.
This, nestled amongst like 10 different threads about whether or not Mitch Leidner is a full or half sack of trash, ranks relatively low right now. I guess you can just dive back into those. Later.
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People can have strong opinions on a topic and still declare other topics silly.... works both ways.
 

I see that CLA is seeking to fund internship scholarships through Give to the Max Day. How dare they! Giving to scholarships isn't charitable!
 








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