College Alums Get the Blahs

So here you are, the president of a university's alumni association and you've got to raise some bucks for your school.  Of course with money being tight and everybody worried about their own situation, you've got to do it in such a way that will get noticed and folks will respond in a positive way. (ie Send you the money.)

What do you do?  You send out a letter with the word "blah" in there 137 times.

Not the letter 137 times of course.  The word "Blah."  As in "With the recent economic downturn and loan crisis, it has become even more important for Framingham State College to receive your support. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,"

The school has stated that the September 5th letter was an attempt to inject a little 20-something humor into the effort to raise money for its Legacy Fund.  Of course the college's advancement office quickly apologized when the MetroWest Daily News brought it to their attention, saying the letter's attempt at humor was misguided. (Don't they always.)

But hey, guess what?  It worked.  The school collected about $2,000 from nearly 40 alumni who had never donated to the school before.  In exchange though, some alumni said they found the letter insulting, unprofessional and ridiculous.

Was it worth it?  Gotta admit 2 grand isn't that much.

Picture from here.