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RCAF: RCAF’s Harris – ‘It’s gonna have to get painful”Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, February 20, 2016
When Jim Harris was hired back in August as the first executive director of the Ragin’ Cajun Athletic Foundation (RCAF) — the fundraising arm of the UL athletic department — shepherding donations was perhaps highest on his to-do list. Also on the list: altering the benefit structure of the RCAF’s Annual Fund, which collects unrestricted donations to the department beyond those earmarked for specific teams or projects. The benefits, which can come in various forms, serves as added incentive for giving beyond individual personal reasons like honoring a loved one, naming rights and/or tax breaks. “A lot of your Annual Fund is driven by benefit,” Harris said, “whether it’s parking for a sport (or) invitation to an event or whatnot. “So we’re always trying to bring value.” IRS-related implications prompted some of the changes Harris and the RCAF are implementing. With a local economy adversely impacted by painful oil-and-gas industry struggles, however, it seems reasonable that some of the changes, particularly higher minimum donation levels for receiving certain benefits, are rooted in the reality that it’s much harder to raise funds today than it would be in a stronger economy. The shortfall must be made up somehow, in other words. Harris does not necessarily disagree. “I can understand why someone would say that,” he said, “and why that might be a thought process.” But he also suggests that keeping donation amounts strong and consistent is requisite for a successful — and improved — Cajun athletic department. “How you measure ‘better,’ or how you measure ‘success,’ is a relative term,” Harris said. “But there are a lot of people that feel like we can be better than our peers right now, whether that’s in a conference or whether that’s geographically, or whatever it may be. “They want us to succeed,” he added. “In order for us to get where we want to go, it’s gonna have to get painful for people. And I mean everybody’s gonna have to do their part.” The Cajuns are members of the Sun Belt Conference, a Group of 5 league that is one level lower in the college sports pecking order than Power 5 conferences like the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and the Pac-12. Although SBC officials would disagree, some argue the Sun Belt also is a level below certain other Group of Five conferences. There is a contingent of Cajun fans who have long savored an invitation to join a different league. But there are other places UL is trying to get to as well. One would be to the postseason – even more, that is. That means – even if it might be unreasonable to expect from a program so relatively small compared to its SEC neighbors – improved performance success for a school that in the last five years has produced four New Orleans Bowl football wins, four NCAA Super Regional softball appearances including one Women’s College World Series trip, two Super Regional baseball appearances and one NCAA Tournament basketball berth. Another would be the back end of a $115 million athletic facilities masterplan that already has been produced a new athletics performance center, new end-zone seating at Cajun Field and a renovated soccer/track facility. A $10-plus million M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field baseball stadium renovation begins in earnest later this year, and other projects are planned including major renovation to and expansion of Cajun Field. New light standards at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field go up earlier this year. The improved lighting is part of a $10-million-plus renovation project at the stadium, with the remainder of the work scheduled to start after this season ends. (Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE, THE ADVERTISER) All those ambitions, however, come with a caveat. “We won’t get anywhere,” Harris said, “if everybody looks to their left and looks to their right, and says, ‘Alright, go ahead, help out,’ and looks over here (and says), ‘Go ahead and help out,’ but (also says), ‘I’m good; I’m good where I’m at.’ “We’re not gonna get anywhere if everybody says that, because then nobody does anything.” As a result? “We have to build in leverage where we have opportunity to drive revenue,” Harris said. “The biggest thing right now with all the (state-mandated) cuts the university is facing, and higher education in the state is facing: Universities are looking at their auxiliary units, like athletics, that is a revenue-producer, but also has high expenses because of everything it takes to run an athletic department.” The message athletic departments, including UL, are hearing? “ ‘You have to generate revenue,’ ” Harris said. “ ‘You have to be a self-sustaining organization.’ “So we have to get to a point where we’re not reliant on any university support to be successful. For that to happen, we have to drive revenue wherever we can. That’s sponsorships, that’s ticket sales, TV revenues, certainly donations. “We have to look at all of those factors,” he added. “So every so often, we do need to put things in place that are gonna keep pushing the bar – keep raising the bar.” For UL this year, that means changes like a booster having to donate $20,000 instead of $10,000 in order to fly on the team charter plane and stay at the team hotel for a football trip – a change also made, it should be noted, because there was not enough inventory to accommodate all of the $10,000 donors. Another change: Tailgating donation spots jumping from $250 to a $500 minimum for Zone 1 (closest to Cajun Field) and from $250 to $400 for all other areas. “We’ve got to keep striving to get better, and in order to do that it’s gonna take growth,” Harris said. “It’s gonna take expansion. And that could be donor levels, donor amounts. “When you have a brand-new (actually renovated) baseball stadium, brand new amenities and concessions and restrooms and a look and a feel and entryways, there’s gonna be higher costs associated with that. Because you have to maintain it. “So,” he added, “the price of playing just went up a little bit.” For all involved. Paying for improvements, however, is not the only reason for some of the RCAF benefit-structure changes. Another, according to Harris, involves remaining IRS-compliant when it comes to what donors are permitted to write off on their taxes. “The IRS has a stipulation on how much value you can actually give a donor based on a benefit — how much tangible value,” he said. “So we have to be careful. “We can’t give out Adidas shirts and polos and tennis shoes, or give everybody free food at all these different events — because the IRS will look at the value that we’re giving them, and at some point that donation they made no longer is tax-deductible, because we’ve given them too much benefit for it. “So this is something we have to carefully watch every year,” Harris added. “And we look at how people utilize these benefits, and we’ll make adjustments and changes based on that.” Accordingly, some of the newer benefits the Harris-guided RCAF is trying to implement are access-based, including social events in which boosters can interact with coaches. Harris calls those “things that will not directly affect the donor’s deductibility, but (will) provide them with something that they would consider unique.” By way of example, he mentions a breakfast for high-level donors that was held earlier this month on the NCAA’s National Signing Day for football recruits. “They got to see the actual faxes come through live from the student-athletes and their high schools,” Harris said. “They literally were the first people to know.” Harris — who worked previously as a fundraiser at South Florida, Ohio University and his alma mater Indiana — has other ideas, too. “I want to create more hospitality,” he said, “in more areas for RCAF members to go before events, before games, halftime of games — things to make us more social, and the RCAF brand more visible.” MOVIN’ ON UP A look at a few of the high minimum giving levels in UL’s RCAF benefits structure: * $10,000 to $20,000: for flying with the football team to a road game * $250 to $500: for a Zone 1 football tailgating spot * $250 to $400: for all other tailgating spots
UL football players stand after a 2015-ending loss to Troy at Cajun Field, where major renovation is planned. (Photo: Advertiser file photo)
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