Athletic trainers crowdfunding

How sad is it that Cornell, with a reported endowment of $6.8 billion, has its athletic training department crowdfunding to raise money for new stationary bikes, a new ice machine (one that makes crushed ice instead of ice cubes), and other equipment. I know the endowment isn't used for expenses like this, but it's hard to imagine other Ivies doing something similar to raise $25,000. You'd think they could just call some benefactor and get him/her to write a check for the whole amount. They could probably even name the new ice-making machine after that person!

Seems to me they've done a pretty good job with crowdfunding projects like this one, and it allows many people to feel like a valuable part of a worthwhile improvement to the program. Looks like it's going to succeed, too, and pretty quickly. That doesn't seem very sad to me.

That's not to say it wouldn't be wonderful to get one individual benefactor to make the gift, but "new stationary bikes and a new ice machine" isn't very sexy as far as things for which you want to know you're giving $25,000. Fully equip the entire training facility along with proper maintenance in perpetuity? Yeah, that might get my blood moving, but it'll be $500,000, easy.

I think creating an endowment to buy new stationary bikes and ice machines every year or two is a fantastic idea, incidentally. Endowments are "used for" whatever the donor of the endowment wants them to be used for, at least within reason. But if you want to have $25,000 in current use spending every year (adjusted for inflation, natch), you'll need to aim for a starting gift of at least $625,000.

Beeeej
Endowments are "used for" whatever the donor of the endowment wants them to be used for, at least within reason

Are scholarships for hot redheads within reason?