FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David DiFranco
(313) 212-4656
NOTRE DAME ALUMNI CONFIRM $13.9 MILLION
IN WITHHELD DONATIONS
Financial Penalty of Obama Invite Continues to Mount
DEARBORN, MI - (May 13, 2009) – Organizers of ReplaceJenkins.com, the online effort that asks alumni and donors to the University of Notre Dame to withhold donations, announced Wednesday that they have tallied nearly $14 million in withheld donations from alumni and donors who feel disenfranchised by the trend of Notre Dame’s leadership to abandon its Catholic identity.
The website ReplaceJenkins.com has received over 1,400 pledges from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations. After more than three weeks since the website was launched, the addition of new alumni and donors on the site continues daily.
ReplaceJenkins.com spokesperson David DiFranco (Class of ‘95) commented: “Most of the donors were at least loosely aware of the University’s trend away from its Catholic identity. But the invitation of President Obama to speak and to receive an honorary degree, combined with the weak responses presented by Father Jenkins as a defense to those who have criticized the decision, is what drives most alumni to our site.”
“Unwittingly, Father Jenkins has brought national attention to a problem that is decades in the making,” DiFranco explained. “A shrinking percentage of Catholic faculty and the efforts of secular-minded board members has long been eroding the Catholic heritage and foundation that makes Notre Dame great. President Obama’s invitation represents the culminating scandal in this trend.”
Alumni and financial supporters of the University of Notre Dame launched the online effort in an effort to withhold donations from Notre Dame, until Rev. John Jenkins, CSC is replaced. The coalition website – www.replacejenkins.com - urges supporters to withhold all contributions to the Notre Dame General Fund until President Jenkins is replaced with someone who is committed to the authentic identity of Notre Dame, grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
“We have discovered, in no uncertain terms, that alumni did not need our suggestion to withhold contributions. In nearly all cases, those who have contacted us had already decided to cease donating. Our website merely tallies the sum of their collective decision” said DiFranco.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David DiFranco
(313) 212-4656
NOTRE DAME ALUMNI CONFIRM $8.2 MILLION IN WITHHELD DONATIONS – IN ONE WEEK
Financial Penalty of Obama Invite Growing Rapidly
DEARBORN, MI - (April 27, 2009) – Organizers of ReplaceJenkins.com, an online effort urging alumni and donors to the University of Notre Dame to withhold donations, announced Monday that they have personally confirmed over $8.2 million in withheld donations as a part of their national outreach effort.
The website ReplaceJenkins.com has received over 900 pledges from alumni and donors promising to withhold future donations. Several of the largest gifts include estate bequests to the University that have been removed from donors’ wills. ReplaceJenkins.com organizers have personally confirmed a majority of the largest donations, and continue to verify the validity of millions of additional gifts.
ReplaceJenkins.com spokesperson David DiFranco (Class of ‘95) commented: “We knew many donors and alums were unhappy with the decision to honor a pro-abortion president, but we never expected this large of a response. We can hardly keep up, and this is only the beginning. We can only imagine what fundraisers at the University are experiencing, but understandably not reporting.”
“The process of verifying the largest donors has been carefully conducted,” DiFranco explained. “We dismissed the obvious bogus submissions, and are not counting a huge number of larger donations that we are still in the process of verifying. We are speaking directly with donors, and in several cases we have spoken with estate attorneys to confirm that Notre Dame has been stripped from a donor’s will. We are going about this process with a critical eye in order that that the numbers we report are accurate. For that reason, the $8.2 million we are reporting today is actually very conservative.”
Alumni and financial supporters of the University of Notre Dame launched the online effort just over one week ago in an effort to withhold donations from Notre Dame, until Rev. John Jenkins, CSC is replaced. The coalition website – www.replacejenkins.com - urges supporters to withhold all contributions to the Notre Dame General Fund until President Jenkins is replaced with someone who is committed to the authentic identity of Notre Dame, grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
“As momentum continues to build, we are now certain that the financial penalty resulting from the decision to honor the most pro-abortion president in our nation’s history, will be enormous. The fact that this effort is necessary is unfortunate. However, alumni and supporters of Notre Dame have little other recourse than to protest with their pocketbooks. We will continue our efforts as long as it is necessary to bring about positive change at Notre Dame that will honor ‘Our Lady’s’ University,” said DiFranco.