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Chat with Washington State Associate Athletic Director/Development Chris Walker on Thursday, May 7 at 11 a.m. PT.

Moderator: Good morning and thank you for visiting wsucougars.com and today's online chat with Executive Director of the Athletic Foundation Chris Walker. Before we begin, please notice the two links at the top of this page. The top link directs you to the Athletic Foundation home page; the second directs you to a link where you can make an online donation to the Athletic Foundation. You also may donate to the Athletic Foundation by phone at 1-877-IMA-COUG. Chris, thank you for joining us today.

Chris Walker: Thanks for having me today. I appreciate the opportunity to interact with Cougar Nation. It has been a very busy time in Cougar Athletics. The Athletic Department's financial situation has become `top-of-mind' for most Coug fans over the last few weeks with our decision to keep the Apple Cup played on campus. In talking with many, many donors and fans over the past few weeks, the passion and emotion for WSU Athletics is very evident. We have been presented with a great opportunity to generate awareness for the Athletic Foundation and let Cougar Nation know that private support through philanthropic giving is critical for the future success of the Athletic Department.

Moderator: Okay, let's get to answering questions.

Evan (Pullman): If you could identify the greatest area of need(s) within the WSU Athletic Foundation, what would it/they be? In other words, what ways can Cougar Nation make the biggest impact?

Chris Walker: Thanks for the question, Evan. Right now, our top two fundraising priorities for Cougar Athletics are the Martin Stadium Renovation project and student-athlete scholarships. Completing Phase III of MSR positions WSU Athletics on more competitive financial footing within the Pac -10. Premium seating areas in Phase III -- club seats, loge boxes and luxury suites - will generate additional annual revenue that will positively impact not just the Cougar football program, but all of the sports programs that represent the department. Student-athlete scholarships are an annual expense that our department incurs. Last year, we raised approximately $3.3 Million from annual contributions for student-athlete scholarships and our scholarship bill was over $6 Million. We need to expand our donor base, who make annual scholarship gifts, to narrow that gap. To answer your second question, the one way that Cougar Nation can make the greatest impact is becoming a member of the Athletic Foundation - minimum $100 annual gift - to support student-athlete scholarships, if you are not currently a member. If you are, please continue to support and consider increasing your gift.

Ken (San Diego): Hey Chris, Is there anyway to get the TPS program more automated? That is, more along the lines of Airlines Mileage plans, in that you can go to your site & check your status and/or get 6 month updates which also tell you where you're at & what you need to donate to get to the next level & the benefits of doing so. People get married to their airlines plans & even book trips just to get premier benefits.

Chris Walker: Ken, when the TPS program was implemented it was determined that a TPS ranking would be generated once a year. A real-time system is something that I would like to investigate, as I believe it could benefit both our donors and the Athletic Foundation. There are a handful of schools around the country that are beginning to move in this direction.

Gray W Lifetime Member: What do you see as the role of the Gray "W" Varsity Club in the future of WSU athletics and development?

Chris Walker: The Gray "W" is a very important component of our external constituency. The purpose of the Gray "W" Club is to provide a vehicle for our former student-athletes to stay connected to their sport programs and the Athletic Department. It is a membership-based organization. My hope is that once our former athletes become reconnected with WSU through the Gray "W," that they will continue their relationship with the Athletic Department by becoming a member of the Athletic Foundation. That relationship starts prior to graduation while our current student-athletes are still competing with the Student Gray "W" Club. We need to create awareness for the Athletic Foundation as well while they are still in school.

Glenn Osterhout, Bellevue: Chris, can you please explain the importance of season ticket sales to the athletic departments revenue.

Chris Walker: Thank you for the question Glenn. Season ticket sales are down a bit from last year - we are at about 85-90% of where we were at the same time last year. That isn't uncommon though for many of the schools in the Pac 10. Football season ticket sales and annual contributions are down just about everywhere in the Pac-10 according to colleagues at other schools. But just because it is happening elsewhere doesn't minimize the impact it has here. Ticket revenue makes up a substantial part of our annual budget. We need folks to buy season tickets. Where the decrease doubles in its negative impact is folks who do not renew in our donor seating areas (Sections 4-8 and 24-26), or renew their tickets but move out of the donor areas and into non-donor seating. The donation requirements that are tied to those seat locations are earmarked for our annual student-athlete scholarship fund.

Steve (Spokane): Do we have the staffing in place to achieve our goals? Could you talk a little about the structure that you have and also what we as volunteers can do to help?

Chris Walker: Thank you for the question Steve. We have 10 full-time staff members in the Athletic Foundation. Among the 10, four are focused solely on fundraising and two more have fundraising duties as a part of their overall responsibilities. The staff works the state of Washington geographically as we have full-time fundraisers based in Pullman, Seattle, Spokane, and Vancouver/Portland. With approximately 150,000 alumni in our University database it is unrealistic to think that the staff can do it all on its own. We need volunteers to assist us in identifying and soliciting new Athletic Foundation prospects. We are putting a plan in place that has a grass-roots component that will lean heavily on volunteers. We have local Cougar Clubs around the state that in the past have focused primarily on events. They have been very successful, but moving forward we need them to expand their efforts to also include annual gift fundraising. We have had great success implementing a model similar to this in King County that has aided us in securing annual and major gifts. As far as how you can help, spread the word about Cougar Athletics and giving support to the Athletic Foundation to all of your Coug friends!

Carson (Vancouver): I've been reading a lot on the internet and it seems like there are a lot of people out there who think they should be asked to donate, rather than just stepping up and helping the Cougs. Is it realistic for fans to expect that they each be contacted individually and asked to donate? What are the ways that you make it easy for the Cougar Nation to support WSU Athletics?

Chris Walker: Carson, thanks for your question. As much as we would like to contact and personally ask each individual, it is not realistic because of our level of staffing and financial resources. As I mentioned in my previous answer, we have six people who work on fundraising and an alumni database of 150,000. A direct mail piece to this entire database would have an expense in the range of $50,000-$60,000. We need volunteers to supplement our staff and reach people that we haven't been able to reach. We need to take advantage of cost-effective technology (for example e-mail and the web) to reach more people while also making it easy for people to donate to the Athletic Foundation. There are several positions on the home page of wsucougars.com where people can make a donation and there is a link at the top of this chat page to give to the Athletic Foundation. We are working on other ways to make giving as convenient as possible for Cougar fans.

Lew Wright, Los Angeles: The Apple Cup negotiations created a window of opportunity for media to tell the story about the WSU athletic foundation. That window is closing already. Is there a plan to continue telling the story about the foundation in a way that doesn't make it sound like a PBS pledge drive? Athletics are an important component of the WSU experience and need resources to compliment academics. What is the vision to make that happen?

Chris Walker: Thank you Lew for the question. Our job is to keep that window open, and this chat is just one small example of our efforts to provide information to the public about the Athletic Foundation and the Athletic Department's financial situation. Other examples we are working on include communication with our alumni database through e-mail, and using our spring events as a communication opportunity as well. One other vehicle we are considering is conducting town-hall meetings across the state. There is no doubt that the Apple Cup discussion created an opportunity for us to explain where we stand financially. Our athletic budget ($30 million), donors to Athletics (6,185 Athletic Foundation membership last year) and fundraising numbers ($8.2 million in gifts last year) are all last in the Pac-10. If we would have played the Apple Cup at Qwest, it would have provided us over $2 million in revenue annually and would have tremendously assisted us in meeting our financial challenges. Those challenges are still in front of us and the only way we meet them - and improve our standing in the Pac-10 - is through increased private support from the entire Cougar Nation.

Lisa (Seattle): It seems to me that Cougs are never shy in showing support, whether it is through license plate purchases, when we beat UW in painting the Space Needle, or when I see people wearing Cougar gear. I can't believe we are last in the Pac-10 in number of donors. How can this be?

Chris Walker: Great question Lisa. I am new to WSU, having only been on the staff for six months. I have been amazed by the great sprit and passion amongst Cougs. When I travel around the region and also nationally I, too, see tons of Coug gear. However, there is a difference between being a fan and being a donor. A fan buys the license plate, has a bunch of Coug hats, T-shirts, and golf shirts and I am appreciative of Cougs expressing their passion of the school that way. A donor does all the above AND supports the University with a philanthropic gift. We need all of our passionate fans to take that next step and become donors. I am confident that through the efforts of the Athletic Foundation staff and Cougar Nation we can work together to make this happen.

Moderator: Okay, that is all the time we have. Chris, thank you for joining us once again.

Chris Walker: Thank you for having me and thanks to all of you for the questions. We appreciate all of the support from our current donors and encourage all of you who are not Athletic Foundation members to become one. Please call 1-877-IMA-COUG or e-mail me at walkerc@wsu.edu to find out how you can support the Cougs.

Moderator: Thank you to everyone for your questions. Remember, to get all the information about WSU Athletics, go no further than wsucougars.com, the official website of Cougar Athletics. Please check back to wsucougars.com for future online chats.