{"id":79593,"date":"2025-12-11T10:21:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/79593\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T10:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:21:18","slug":"famu-launches-donation-app-as-alum-giving-drops-under-20m-amid-tenure-of-president-critics-call-maga-marva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/79593\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMU Launches Donation App As Alum Giving Drops Under $20M Amid Tenure Of President Critics Call ‘MAGA Marva’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida A&M University<\/a> is finding innovative ways to boost donations amid a sharp decline in alumni giving. The HBCU\u2019s donations dropped below $20 million this fiscal year, after receiving increasing contributions in the years prior. FAMU<\/a>\u2019s Board of Trustees addressed this concern in a recent meeting, while the university launched a donation app last week.<\/p>\n

FAMU\u2019s alumni donations have dropped below $20 million this fiscal year<\/p>\n

Alumni donations were trending upward from 2019 through 2024. During the 2024-25 fiscal year, fundraising dropped below $25 million. In 2025, it was recorded to be below $20 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith continued support from the board, we can convert the momentum of the last several years into lasting strength through major gifts, strategic engagement and targeted investment,\u201d Brandi Tatum-Fedrick, FAMU\u2019s acting vice president of university advancement, said during a Thursday meeting, according to The Tallahassee Democrat<\/a>. \u201cIn short, the environment is changing, but the foundation we are building positions FAMU to continue moving forward with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some members of the board disagreed with this take and have called out what they see as FAMU\u2019s failing reputation, administrative issues and leadership under FAMU President Marva Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university\u2019s administrative house is not in order. FAMU\u2019s financial house is falling off the cliff, and sadly, our reputation as being among the elite HBCUs is going up in flames,\u201d FAMU alum and former ABC News President Kimberly Godwin said. \u201cDonations are way down, and alumni are disenfranchised and upset \u2013 not because of my protest, but because of this administration\u2019s presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson completed her first 100 days as FAMU president on Nov. 9. She recently shared a message to the campus community and university alumni. Still, she did not address fundraising, which the Board of Trustees has criticized.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough they\u2019re called the president\u2019s goals\u2026 my goals are actually goals that we worked on as an executive leadership team,\u201d Johnson told the board. \u201cThere\u2019s something in the scope of these goals that everyone on our team is accountable for contributing to. We all collectively lift the weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAMU Foundation board member Chekesha Kidd said Johnson should use her connections to attract fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFundraising is her job,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cAs fundraiser in chief, the goals of the annual giving campaign should be tied to her performance. These are her relationships that she should be bringing to the Foundation \u2013 not the Foundation doing that work alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Blavity<\/a> reported, both Godwin and Kidd had previously opposed Johnson\u2019s candidacy as FAMU president due to her ties to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Republican Senator Rick Scott. Johnson received the nickname \u201cMAGA Marva\u201d from her critics.<\/p>\n

FAMU launched a donation app to increase funding<\/p>\n

The university launched the FAMU Change app on Nov. 25. It is FAMU\u2019s \u201cfirst micro-donation platform designed to turn everyday purchases into powerful acts of philanthropy,\u201d according to a press release<\/a>. The goal of the app is to invite alumni, students and parents to donate small amounts to FAMU while completing everyday purchases. If spare change reaches $5, it is donated directly to the HBCU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about giving\u2014it\u2019s about reconnecting with the FAMUly from across the country,\u201d Johnson said in the press release. \u201cEvery coffee, every tank of gas\u2014it all adds up to something bigger. Together, we\u2019re building a stronger FAMU, one transaction at a time. Together we can Make Change, Bragg Different.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAMU is hoping to reach 25,000 downloads by the end of 2025. It said 4,000 active users could generate over $100,000 each year. According to the HBCU, nearly 10,000 students are enrolled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida A&M University is finding innovative ways to boost donations amid a sharp decline in alumni giving. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-79593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}