Colleges single out students by name for not donating to student-gift drives

I don't think it's 'irritating' or 'obnoxious'. I think the word is 'unethical'. Coercing people into giving their time or money is morally and ethically reprehensible.

I will -never- give money to any organization that does this, and I will loudly tell anyone else around about it as well.

I've seen these organizations force people into giving money when they can't afford to go without it themselves. Worse than failing to help, they are actively harming people. Whenever I see it, I make sure to let the person know that they do -not- have to give and they would be fools not to go withdraw their pledge.

"from the schools' point of view, individual gifts are literally worthless"

What the schools want is for alumni to always be giving. Not dissimilar from venture funding, they really care about the tiny fraction of alumni who hit it big, and give tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. It's easier to get the few rich alumni to give if everyone's in the habit of giving.

Ironic. I grew up in a communist country and witnessed the same type of psychological torture. "Society" and various "communities" had the right to dispose of your money, your effort, your life... You were supposed to sacrifice your beliefs for the sake of what some bureaucrat told you is a greater social good. You were supposed to give, and those who received did not say thank you - they regarded the acts of claiming and receiving their rights. You were supposed to reward the mediocre, punish the capable for their ability, conform, pretend to believe in the slogans, pretend to do everything voluntarily. These are some of the ideals that brought down half of the world. It hurts to see this in America.

As a Dartmouth '10, I'm glad that people are continuing to discuss this topic. I really did feel tremendous pressure to donate this year. While I probably would have donated anyway (and I admit - it did feel good to have the class united under a common goal), I now associate the act of giving with guilt and peer pressure. Those emotions might make me less likely to donate in the future.

How impressively obnoxious. Were I singled out, I think I'd start agitating to have my fellow students revoke their pledges, cancel their checks, etc.

    from the schools' point of view, individual gifts are literally worthless

A huge motivator for getting people to donate any amount at all is college rankings. The US News and World Report takes into account the "average alumni giving rate"[0] as a factor in their rankings. Since high rankings in turn drive admissions, staying as high up in the rankings as possible is hugely important for most colleges and universities (and "elite" schools most of all).

I'm a senior at a school that generally ranks pretty highly (Wesleyan University) and I hear this brought up quite a lot in the context of donations. They don't care if you only donate a dollar, but they want you to donate something.

[0] http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/...

Irritating. If you want to mandate a contribution, create a structure that does so and implement your own internal taxation. It's weak to nominate something as a donation, inferring it is optional, and then try to enforce it. Complete lack of backbone somewhere in the chain of command.

"Why would anyone with a normal human level of income give any money to these universities?"

Because a hot sounding woman calls you and you don't want to sound like a cheapskate.