Today, Cougfan.com ran a story titled, "Kansas State and Oregon State fundraising success in athletics points to world of possibility for Washington State," in which the message was that WSU fans need to step up to the plate and give to athletics.
The man in charge of the Cougar Athletic Fund, Uri Farkas, had this to say about WSU fans and their donating habits:
"As we gain 1,000 new members in a year, we often lose 600, 700 or more," he said.
In that same story, this was written:
Farkas also said there’s a cultural hurdle that needs to be cleared at WSU.
Based on his previous career stops in the Pac-12 and his conversations with Power 5 fundraisers elsewhere in the country, he believes there’s more of a tendency among Cougar fans to withdraw or withhold financially based on what’s happening on the field of play week to week.
Now, I have my own thoughts about why the CAF is failing to retain up to 10% of its total membership every year, and also have strong feelings about the implication contained in that second excerpt. But I’d like to hear from you guys who have been donors — has giving to the CAF been a generally positive experience? A negative one? What made it so? Is there anything you wish was different?
Please, email us at cougcenter@gmail.com and share your experiences in as much detail as you can. Whether it’s 50 words or 500 (hopefully not 5,000, although we’ll take that, too), we want to hear from you.
Disclaimer up front: We might print your response at some point, but we won’t print your name without your permission. Your anonymity is guaranteed unless you tell us otherwise.