MGO Scholarship to UofM?

MGO internship?

Put Brian in charge of it, make it a contest and whoever wins creates a little bit of content while in school and gets some bmoney for books etc. Have it just be per semester or something, gets a bunch of people writing. Could also have Brian send this person to non Football/Basketbal/Hockey events to expand content areas?

Greatest idea ever. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I'm an incoming freshman to Michigan next year coming from out of state...

...will anxiously await the chance to donate to such a cause on Kickstarter. I would gladly do what I can to send more people to my beloved alma mater. This is an excellent  idea. 

Coming out of school, if you want to work for a major regional utility, just let me know. We have a pretty good internship program that could stand some Michigan alums. 

I read the same story, and it gave me those thoughts as well. Now that I am a few years older and an alum, I really enjoy hearing what is going on at the U. I saw how quickly Brian was able to finance the magazine, and it makes me wonder if we might not be able to do some good, a few dollars at a time. I like the idea that my modest contributions, when combined with those of the people I like to talk sports with, could add up and make a difference in someone's life. I think we'd all have a good vibe whenever we thought about it. An MGoScholar!

Of course, we'd have to send him to school in an official MGoTShirt to represent us all, but that is another story . . .

But it's going to take a bit of research by someone much more knowledgeable than me about legal requirements, Federal and State of Michigan tax ramifications and what-not before making this a reality.  Any lawyers (or others with expertise on setting up a such a scholarship) out there on the MGoBoard that can enlighten/guide the process of getting this up-and-running?

Great idea!  I would definitely chip in for that.

We are already funding a mgoscholarship.  It's going towards all of Brian's (future) kids.

I'm in the recent grad, save money part of my life, but one day I'll definitely contribute

I would totally be interested in this. School's getting crazy expensive and this would be a great opportunity for me and fellow students

1.  I love this idea.

2. Do you think that the quality of posting would improve if there was the chance of an internship or sholarship?

This would be amazing for students to get something like this. I'm a junior right now and I have started to visit schools and looking into prices, I'm going to have so much debt in when I get out of college.

I have an idea that I think is kind of fun. Maybe every now and then, we could challenge ourselves each, not to somehow provide thousands, but simply to match the budget that we each spend on beer and snacks on a given M sports weekend. Might make the giving more fun, and I'm sure it would add up in a hurry.

Anyone else have a "campaign strategy", or whatever we should call it ?

Grad School or not, but I will be applying to the College of Pharmacy in about a year.

This is weird. You are promoting a monetary scholarship fund on a blog that has a tab asking for donations to help run his business? Maybe you shouldn't be using another man's business venture, that you love so dearly, as a means of raising cash for a random blog poster?

Like raising funds for walkathons we could sponsor things like

1) Denard 100yrd rushing and passing games

2) tackles for a loss

3) number of pointing moves by Brady during a game

4) number of arrests of MSU players

I like the idea, but more as a "man/woman about town" in A2, covering the smaller sports, the culture, non-sport events, etc.  That way, the intern isn't relied on for time-sensitive information but you also have a more general or fan viewpoint versus the in-depth analysis delivered by the rest of the staff.

I'm a junior in high school and am probably going to attend U of M and looking at a nice amount of debt if I don't get any scholarships.

As a junior who's most likely going to Michigan, this would be INCREDIBLY awesome. It may seem weird, but I really don't like debt.

i believe that, to have scholarship donations qualify as tax-deductible, you can't yourself control the process of selecting the recipient. this means there'd have to be some official endowment and selection process, which creates some administrative hassles.

but here's an idea: we could just start a book fund and cover books for any mgoposter who's been active around here for some arbitrary period of time (say, more than a year) before matriculation to UM. it'd run like $750/year/kid, which is really easy to raise, and it'd be unique across the internet, without necessarily sucking up all additional funds that people might put towards mgoprojects. i think the time period is important to prevent us getting overrun, but we could have a really neat effect on more people, and the amount of money is going to be a nominal contribution to any kid's bill anyway, unless we're somehow going to raise $30k/year/kid.

UFR: the book fund idea might just end up going primarily to legacy kids who don't need the extra cash anyway. and now that i've read jmatthe313goblue's story, i'd be down with just getting that kid a (partial) scholarship. i mean, hell, why not?

Donors will most likely prefer to get a tax-deduction for their donation.  To do this outside the auspices of the University is time-consuming to administer and a bit more complicated from an IRS perspective (503C, IIRC).

Alternatively,  we might follow the example of the alumni clubs (or families who set up memorial funds).  Many clubs have scholarship funds (or, like Seattle, have their own full scholarships) that they award; however these funds are set up and monies are held/invested by the University.  The clubs decide who their recipients will be and the donors are assured that their gifts are tax-deductible.  I'm no longer near enough to a club to know if the procedures have changed (It was not difficult to do.), but there may be some mgoblogger who is familiar with it or who would be willing to contact either the alumni association or a university contact within the area that administers this type of fund to get the guidelines.

I do know that the Business School invests the university endowments and have performed with an admirable return even through the recent bad economic times.  This is a huge benefit given how diverse, unacquainted, and transient MGoBloggers may be over time!

All I can picture is van wilder interviewing Raj....

I could sure go for this since I'll be attending college next year!

Whatever you decide I think the scholarship money is a great idea! I also think it's a great example of the Michigan community. It also sets MGO apart from any other blog/fansite in college sports. What other fan site can offer intelligent dicussion without the rants, raves, and other bashing that  is typical on other blogs? With the added bonus of actually giving back to the students of the school that all of us have such a passion for. Kudos on the great idea and hopefully we can gain the support necessary to make this a reality.

Maybe you could hire an intern and offer scholarship assitance for a position related to the maintenance or administration of MGO? I also think an intern that could cover the smaller sports at Michigan is a great idea. Or maybe even a chronicle  of an  entire season of Michigan football from recruiting to off-season training to the actual season. It could be like a documentary. How interesting would that be? Behind the scenes of college football's historically most successful program. Then people could get an idea of how much work the student athletes (and at M they are actually STUDENT athletes) actually put in. Either way I think the idea of a scholarship is an excellent one. And a way for MGOers, fans, and people who frequent the site to do something for the University and contribute to the education of a student that might change their life. Either way, I think if we were able to make this a reality then maybe the money should go to someone who is at a financial disadvantage. Then it could really be life altering. But whatever you decide, like I said- GREAT IDEA!                   

nominate Robert Nkemdiche for the first 'endowment'. As someone mentioned above, the paperwork etc involved in making this happen seems daunting, so perhaps keeping it 'unofficial' may be a better course of action. How much money do you think we could raise for a prospective 'student' like Nkemdiche?