Class Gift Update

BACKGROUND

CHAIR's COMMENTS

CHAIR'S COMMENTS
     Let me begin by saying that I can understand the concern about the constraints we face in the selection of our Class Gift. I was also surprised to learn how this process works when our Committee began its focused deliberations a few months ago. My initial expectation, similar to those which several of us have expressed in the last couple of days, was that the Committee would brainstorm a few options, poll the Class for additional ideas, run the numbers to determine how much $ Bob Morris' fundraising team would have to raise, and present the ideas to everyone for a vote. Our initial wish list included a couple of ideas generated by members of our Class; seed money for an equestrian center, funds for an entrance gate at Stony Lonesome, and a staff & faculty locker room close to the Academic area.

     But when we first got hooked up with the Class Giving folks at AOG a short time later, we found out that the process is a little different. In fact, we learned that the Supe has developed a process to control the types of gifts that alumni classes can give to our Alma Mater, and that the starting point for gift ideas is the list of needs approved by the Academy's leadership. Truth be known, by that time another class had already tried to donate the Stony gate, but their request was denied through the existing framework. All this, of course, is a product of the recent reduction in federal funding for West Point and AOG's increased focus on raising private donations for Margin of Excellence programs.

     So we tried to tackle the dilemma from two directions: compile a slate of gift options from the Bicentennial Needs List, and delay putting that slate to a Class vote to see if either the equestrian center or locker room ideas might be approved in time for the Reunion. We were quite skeptical that there would be any movement on either proposal -- but if one or both were approved and added to the Needs List, we could simply put the idea on our slate. The rest of the story is pretty simple -- there is virtually no flexibility in the gift process, and no realistic chance that ideas other than those already recognized would be approved. Polling the wider group for additional ideas was clearly a non-starter.

     We pushed back once more on the question of dedicating a room in Arvin Gym to Richard Mull -- but again, the response from AOG was pretty direct ... the Supe will not allow private funds to be used in that project until all the federal dollars are spent. In cases where private funds had previously been mixed with federal, USMA lost appropriated dollars as a result.

     In similar fashion, the expansion of the existing West Point cemetery isn't even on the Needs List -- it is scheduled to be funded with federal $ which will apparently be sufficient for the project. When I talked with AOG this week, I learned that the first step in the expansion will be the removal of the gas station near the old PX -- my impression is that they will start the demolition soon.

     So the result of all this for our Class is the Gift Slate we recently received in the mail with Bret's letter. We kept more choices on the list than the AOG preferred in order to provide as much flexibility as possible, but we followed the Academy's process in putting it together. In the end, this outcome makes sense to the members of your Gift Committee who have studied the process and thought hard about it -- but we also realize that we have been immersed in the details for quite some time, so have had the chance to "come to grips" with the framework.

     From my personal perspective, I firmly believe that every question recently asked about our Gift in this forum has been reasonable and deserves a detailed response. At the same time, though, I support the Supe's approach because I believe he is in the right position to judge what our Class can best do to support USMA on the occasion of our upcoming Reunion. Of course, that trust is also based on the fact that I know the rest of the Academy's leadership and our Classmates who are stationed there will keep a collective eye on the process and protect our interests should the Supe one day wake up and decide to use USMA 80 cash to build a sauna and home theater in his quarters rather than toward one of our gift options.

     There's one other aspect of this effort which I should highlight -- to a person, your Classmates on the Gift Committee volunteered to drive this process with the goal of uniting rather than dividing the Class. And we're going to keep our fingers crossed that, in the end, the net effect is just that.

--John Stoner