A look at Birmingham in videos, featuring nonprofit organizations in honor of today’s Martin Luther King Day of Service …
“American Artifacts” visits the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. From C-SPAN.
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Carlos Izcaray is the new music director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, shown here in a 2013 interview from Casa da Música. From Casa da Música.
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How Easter Seals helps people with disabilities. From Easter Seals of the Birmingham Area.
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At age 6, Emily didn’t realize that her tummy ache could be ovarian cancer. From Laura Crandall Brown Ovarian Cancer Foundation.
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A look at New Rising Star’s mission for 2014-15. From New Rising Star Community Support Corporation.
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Glenwood’s work with people with autism. From Glenwood Inc.
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Celebrating Founder’s Day at the A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club. From A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club.
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Cedric Sparks with the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Division of Youth Services speaks at the Exchange Club luncheon. From Exchange Club Child Abuse Prevention Center.
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How Not Forgotten helps street children of Iquitos, Peru. From Not Forgotten.
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Sonya Moore and her family find a new start with the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries. From Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries.
Alumni upset over UAB’s decision to drop football
have responded on donation request cards.
In college, I had to make cold calls to alumni to solicit donations. They weren’t just any alumni, and it wasn’t for just any gigantic endowment fund.
I played in marching band every year, and it costs thousands of dollars to maintain uniforms, rent buses and buy and repair instruments. I called “bandies” to catch them up on recent shows, but more importantly, hit them up for cash.
I have a soft spot for those tasked with fund-raising for their schools and causes. It’s not an easy job.
The most recent posted update for the Campaign for UAB
One Birmingham institution is in the middle — nearly dead center — of its $1 billion drive, the Campaign for UAB. As of Oct. 31, it had raised $534 million. It may be closer to the end than anyone knows.
The events of the last couple of months have changed the momentum:
Nov. 29: The football team wins its final season game, making it bowl eligible for the first time in 10 years. Bill Clark would later be named Conference USA Coach of the Year.
Last week: Graduate Student Government passes resolution of no confidence in Watts.
Friday: Watts speaks publicly for the first time since Dec. 2, announcing an independent review of the numbers that led to his decision.
Tuesday: Undergraduate Student Government Association passes resolution of no confidence in Watts.
This morning: Faculty Senate passes resolution of no confidence in Watts.
Video:Â Susan Key explains the Faculty Senate vote.
Following the Senate vote, Susan Key of the Collat School of Business told a reporter, “It’s the first ‘no confidence’ vote in Alabama that I’ve ever heard of. … You really can’t lead if you don’t have any followers behind you.”
It’s telling that the faculty’s no confidence resolution barely mentions football or athletics at all; their dispute is over a lack of shared governance during Watts’ 22 months in office. His round of secret, closed door meetings with segments of the university appear to have had little effect, except to illuminate his discomfort with transparency.
Off campus, a number of cities including Birmingham proper have passed their own resolutions supporting UAB football.
Video: overview of today’s no confidence vote from UAB faculty
Watts said in a statement, written and video, that he would continue to work hard as president to regain trust and build consensus. The UA board of trustees, his employer, has also said it would continue to support him.
It’s clear that the Free UAB movement has built a coalition of students, employees, alumni, fans and donors that has real clout. In 6 weeks, it has gained widespread support on campus and appears to move quickly, even as the administration response has seemed almost glacially slow.
The $1 billion question is how it will impact fund-raising, and to a lesser extent, enrollment. It may take years to determine if students are staying away in droves from UAB, but only months to see if donations dry up.
The Campaign for UAB, launched in October 2013, is intended for research, economic development, faculty recruitment and construction. Disappearing dollars will not only hurt the school but also the city.
The good news is that the campaign reached the halfway point in under a year, with the original end date of 2018. The bad news is the school could extend the deadline to 2118 and still not raise the other $500 million.
The alumni in Free UAB have been vocal about their commitment not to donate until Watts is removed from office and football is restored. They have posted numerous photos of pledge cards with large handwritten cries of “Not another dime” and “Fire Ray Watts” (shown above).
UAB and the UA board of trustees must decide whose numbers matter more, before they become dire.
Johnny Johns, best known as CEO of Protective Life, has a dual role as UA trustee and co-chair of the Campaign for UAB. He can either back up his hatchet man Watts or he can attempt to rescue the $500 million in future donations, but he can’t do both.
I know from firsthand experience the challenges of raising thousands of dollars for nonprofit organizations. I learned a lot from manning the phones back in my college days, especially about how institutional reputation could make or break my pitch long before I opened my mouth.
Let’s see the month-to-month numbers behind the giving in the Campaign for UAB. They can paint a picture far more vivid than the hollow repeated promises of a puppet president.
Watts costs $2,338.26 a day in salary. But keeping him could cost UAB and Birmingham thousands, maybe millions, of dollars in the long run.
BrickFair lets builders sail away with their imagination.
OK, so “The Lego Movie” didn’t pick up an Oscar nomination today for Best Picture … or even for Best Animated Picture. (It did nab one for Best Song.)
What’s the consolation prize? BrickFair.
The annual Lego convention takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Birmingham. Exhibitors show off their creative side with cityscapes, ships, robots, churches and more.
Watts said in a statement, written and video, that he would continue to work hard as president to regain trust and build consensus. The UA board of trustees, his employer, has also said it would continue to support him.
