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Duck coaches are grinches when it comes to Charitable Fund Drive

12/24/2014: Every year the state of Oregon runs a Charitable Fund Drive for employees. You know the drill. You get a few emails asking you to sign up for payroll deductions to support community groups like the United Way, the local food bank, and so on. This year’s drive is wrapping up, if you haven’t given yet you can do it here.

In an attempt to create some inter-departmental competition and increase donations, the CFD posts the data on giving by department, here. While some people object to being pressured to give at work – in my experience it’s pretty mild pressure – on the plus side you can pick from a large group of state and local charities, you don’t get a lot of junk mail, and the charities don’t have to spend money soliciting donors.

So, who gives? This year, as usual, the business school and the librarians are big donors. The Duck Athletic Department? Not so much:

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Which seems a little stingy, given the salaries that top Duck employees pull down:

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Interestingly, while the NCAA is devoted to the idea of encouraging its unpaid student-athletes to “play it forward”, to the point that many teams *require* that they engage in volunteer activity (NCAA report here) they don’t seem to have a similar program for their well paid coaches.

UO’s program is called “O’Heroes”. They award points to the players based on how many charitable events they participate in. Duck strategic communicator Craig Pintens then hypes the events in press releases and on “Around the 0”, as here.

As I understand it the players can then cash their points in for things like airfare for their parents to come watch a game. Seems pretty effective – maybe Pintens should try something similar with the free bowl-game junkets for coach’s families and the athletic department hangers-on?

17 Comments

  1. Anonymous 1 12/24/2014

    Dear UO Matters,
    I really don’t like this particular posting. I know extremely generous people who give in all kinds of ways that have nothing to do with work. There are several groups of people that believe giving anonymously is the most important and ethical way to give. Therefore, they will never give in a manner that can be reported (particularly by their employer). I personally don’t want UO to know anything about what I give or to which orgs. I keep these two areas of my life somewhat separate.

    To imply that the coaches, no matter how obscenely they are paid in comparison to others at UO, are somehow not generous or “stingy” because they don’t give through work, is yellow journalism or just plain ugly. You and I have no idea what they give or to which orgs. Today and tomorrow, of all days, are not the time to sew anger, jealousy, and mistrust based on spurious allegations.

    As far as pressure and “competition” go, I think these are completely inappropriate in the area of charitable giving. Public shaming has no place in charitable giving.

    Finally, in my religion, charitable giving isn’t a choice, it’s a commandment — a responsibility to the community assigned by God. No human has the right to make the claim for or against another human’s decisions regarding giving.

    • no way 12/24/2014

      Beautifully put, Anonymous 1. Blessings of the season to you and your family.

    • Old Grey Mare 12/24/2014

      I agree w/Anonymous 1. Many do not want the UO to have anything to do with their charitable giving. Please don’t judge anyone by the records of the Fund Drive.

    • just different 12/24/2014

      Isn’t it anonymous if the stats are only published by department? And what accounts for the huge discrepancy between the business school and the athletic department? What would it mean if our coaches but not business professors uniformly don’t
      want their charitable giving associated with UO?

      • Anonymous 12/24/2014

        It’s not anonymous when the person in charge of your evaluations comes to your office subtly pressuring you to donate. This is what happens in LCB and its distasteful, at best. I find the competition, the subtle message that I’m not a team player if I don’t give and the public display weird.

        So, I don’t give at the office because it’s none of the office’s damn business what I do with my money.

        • just different 12/27/2014

          Somehow this sounds to me like “I don’t tip. I don’t believe in it.”

          • Anonymous 12/28/2014

            Well then you aren’t reading very carefully because that’s not what it says. Either way, it’s not the University’s business if I “tip” or not. For what it’s worth, I give elsewhere.

            • uomatters Post author | 12/28/2014

              Please use a screen name

  2. notagrinch 12/24/2014

    This is very commendable. Maybe the faculty/staff should start their own cluster kickstarter campaign.

  3. uomatters Post author | 12/24/2014

    I don’t mean to suggest that this type of fundraising is particularly moral or ethical, since I don’t understand what those words mean.

    But Maimonides would probably have put giving only when asked publicly by your employer far below step one of his ladder of philanthropy:

    Maimonides believed that Tzedakah is like a ladder. It has eight rungs, from bottom to top. Each step you climb brings you closer to heaven.

    1. The person who gives reluctantly and with regret.
    2. The person who gives graciously, but less than one should.
    3. The person who gives what one should, but only after being asked.
    4. The person who gives before being asked.
    5. The person who gives without knowing to whom he or she gives, although the recipient knows the identity of the donor.
    6. The person who gives without making his or her identity known.
    7. The person who gives without knowing to whom he or she gives. The recipient does not know from whom he or she receives.
    8. The person who helps another to become self-supporting by a gift or a loan or by finding employment for the recipient.

    See, e.g., http://www.jtfn.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/maimonides_ladder_and_tzedakah_texts.pdf

    On the other hand it is a very effective mechanism for providing public goods, as shown for example in the “Altruistic Punishment” work of Fehr and Gachter (2001):

    Here we show experimentally that the altruistic punishment of defectors is a key motive for the explanation of cooperation. Altruistic punishment means that individuals punish, although the punishment is costly for them and yields no material gain. We show that cooperation flourishes if altruistic punishment is possible, and breaks down if it is ruled out. The evidence indicates that negative emotions towards defectors are the proximate mechanism behind altruistic punishment. These results suggest that future study of the evolution of human cooperation should include a strong focus on explaining altruistic punishment.

    http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6868/full/415137a.html

  4. FSU #1 12/24/2014

    Phil Knight pays Dana Altman $1.8M? That sort of charity is sure in the Christmas spirit!

  5. Impositions 12/24/2014

    Isn’t some of this about hypocrisy? This is what the linked NCAA report says:

    “Athletic departments and coaches play a role in service engagement. 50% of student-athletes report that they are required to take part in community service as part of their athletics participation. Research indicates this athletic service requirement enhances the likelihood that student-athletes will participate in service on a regular basis.”

    If UO’s coaches don’t believe in having a UO linkage to their own philanthropy, should they publicly disavow any process of pushing their unpaid student athletes to do reportable public service? Alternatively, if they do participate in the service processes described by the NCAA, should they also participate in the UO-related fund-raising efforts?

  6. Ben 12/26/2014

    As much as I want to hate these coaches, this is not a valid reason. Besides the point brought up by the anonymous poster above, who are we to judge someone for not donating enough? They are under no obligation to donate anything at all, so the fact that they donated over $6000 should be a compliment, not an insult. Sure, others should be complimented even more, but it is bad form to criticize someone for not donating to your standards of what you think they should give (especially since, for all you know, they might have given $20,000 each to some other charity for which they have a personal connection. You don’t know, so it is irresponsible to call them out.)

    I love this blog, but I think that from time to time, your desire to critique the athletic department influences your observations.

    • Ben 12/26/2014

      (I forgot to mention… as a Beaver fan, I WANT there to be many, many critiques, so my opinion on your observations is through a filter of wanting you to be right.)

      • micro 12/26/2014

        What is wrong with having one’s observations “influenced”, Ben Beaver? Like there are ANY observations that aren’t influenced? Ha.
        Your transparency is showing. ;)

    • Fishwrapper 12/26/2014

      I, too, love this blog.

      I don’t give at work via the (overly) promoted giving plan. Anyone who tries to shame me for not doing so is invited to demonstrate their prowess at vertical micturition guided by braided strands of hemp.

  7. duckduckgo 12/27/2014

    I am thankful for the Charitable Fund Drive. I can click on a few charities, type in a number, and be done. I feel like I get less spam from those charities than if I were to send in the donations individually, plus I don’t have to type in my info over and over again.

    But, I don’t feel any pressure to do so. We get two notifications from the departmental office that the drive is going on, and certainly not any visits from supervisors. That would make me uncomfortable, indeed. We do get visited by supervisors to kick in a little for the office staff Christmas gifts, but I don’t mind that since I like having a way to show my appreciation there as well.

    The one giving situation that made me resentful was when the department started a foundation account in honor of an esteemed graduate, and the UO Foundation said they would help attract donations if current faculty all gave heavily to help demonstrate sincerity. Faculty all gave substantial amounts, and the Foundation has done zero, even when some obvious potential donors are pointed out.

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