An accomplished fundraising professional, Matt Kupec serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Southern Illinois University Foundation. Over his career, Matt Kupec has helped raise more than $5 million for the organizations where he led fundraising efforts.
When an institution of higher education reaches out to alumni for financial support, it is working to collect funding that will provide the margin of excellence that will all these organizations to offer a full compliment of programming activities. In many cases, alumni donations provide the final funding to bring a program or initiative to fruition. Colleges and universities attain funding through a variety of sources, from tuition to state government funding, and, though this money might launch or initiate a project, it may not be enough. For this reason, alumni donations can be the deciding factor that completes a project, often referred to as “the margin of excellence.”
Alumni donations make a difference in less tangible ways, too. For instance, donating to an alma mater is a good way to stay connected to an organization that contributed to one’s professional and personal development. A strong alumni community can influence a university in numerous ways. Relatedly, the amount of alumni donations an institution receives is seen as a reflection of the quality of its offering, and some school ranking lists directly take alumni donations into account when rating colleges in the U.S.
When driving up to Memorial Stadium I was very impressive with the outside of the football stadium. Columns on the outer walls made me think of the Los Angeles Coliseum which is home to the USC Trojans. The inside of the stadium is somewhat of a different story with lots of concrete, field turf and a facility lacking in character. I do believe with some minor renovations it could be a pretty cool place to play. Ghosts of the late great Red Grange still run strong in the football environment.
I consider the Rose Bowl to be the best stadium in all of college football. I have seen three games there including the 2005 Texas win over USC to capture the national championship and 2009 National Championship games in which Texas fell to Alabama. I grew up loving to watch the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day when the major bowls still played their games on the same day to start the new year. I love the beautiful grass, the hills in the background, the circular stadium and history of the place.
I grew up watching Notre Dame highlights on Sunday with Lindsay Nelson and Paul Horning providing commentary. Watching ND legends like Terry Hanratty, Jim Seymour and so many others filled my childhood dreams of being a football player. The gold helmets. The plain uniforms. No colors in the end zone but diagonal white stripes. And real and beautiful grass. The echo’s of Knute Rockne and Touchdown Jesus outside. A majestic place that, unfortunately, has been tainted by the installation of field tur. It is painful to watch ND on television these days. Shameful!
Matt Kupec 