I have been giving to the facilities campaign (titled "athletics" on the donation form) on a monthly basis for many months, both before and after the new season ticket renewals with the "required donations" came out. I can't tell you how frustrated I am with the U of M, trying to get my questions answered about whether my current-year donations can "count" toward the required donation.
In my view, obviously there should be some credit for these donations -- at least at some point -- but apparently not...an answer that took far too long to get. There are different departments running these different campaigns at the U and all I get when I call or email is a bunch of bureaucrats transferring me back and forth. Often I'm transferred to a new person, then they don't pick up their phone, then I wait for a return call, then I send an email that goes unanswered, etc. Meanwhile, apparently there is no way to "turn off" my monthly automatic athletics donation via the web or email ... once again I have to try to reach some person at the U of M.
I've spent far too much time trying to sort this out, and at the end of the day ended up just canceling my facilities donation.
If this is other donors' experience with the U, these facilities are never going to get built and they are going to get many non-renewals of season tickets.
In my view, obviously there should be some credit for these donations -- at least at some point -- but apparently not...an answer that took far too long to get. There are different departments running these different campaigns at the U and all I get when I call or email is a bunch of bureaucrats transferring me back and forth. Often I'm transferred to a new person, then they don't pick up their phone, then I wait for a return call, then I send an email that goes unanswered, etc. Meanwhile, apparently there is no way to "turn off" my monthly automatic athletics donation via the web or email ... once again I have to try to reach some person at the U of M.
I've spent far too much time trying to sort this out, and at the end of the day ended up just canceling my facilities donation.
If this is other donors' experience with the U, these facilities are never going to get built and they are going to get many non-renewals of season tickets.
