Fundraising/capital campaigns question

[Anonymous]

I don’t think the development office is sitting there googling people. They use some kind of software. They do the amounts because they have some industry research showing that it is more effective in the end, even if it makes some people mad.

A really important thing to remember is that a lot of private family foundations are created because of estate tax policy. People don’t necessarily put their own money that they had after taxes into family foundations. They can’t have the money that’s in there and they have to distribute a certain amount of it. The sacrifice is not the same as taking the money out of your checking account. Both are fine, but I don’t think people widely understand the difference.

The school cares about participation rates for the annual campaign. So if you’re going to give $50 or $100 dollars, do it there.