Get Your Donations In

As most Georgia fans know, the deadline to submit donations to the Hartman Fund is February 15. Donating to the Hartman fund allows you to become eligible to purchase season tickets for the University of Georgia football games. As I documented here on the blog, last year I finally accumulated enough points to be eligible to purchase season tickets. The minimum donation to buy tickets last year dropped for the second consecutive season. After peaking at a ridiculous amount of more than $10,000 before the '08 season, the donation minimum last year to start new tickets fell to around $1,500. With the combination of the bad economy and a disappointing 2010, I expect the donation minimum to drop again. I know many of you are frustrated with the football team, but here are some reasons why you should make the donation this year:

1. This may be the lowest donation minimum to start new tickets you will ever see. Once you have tickets, the minimum donation per ticket to maintain your seats is $250 a year. If you want to buy 4 season tickets, that is going to cost you $1,000 a year in donations anyway. You may only have to donate the minimum requirement to maintain 4 seats to start your own tickets this year.

2. The Athletic Association needs donation to continue to revamp the facilities on campus. The result of the 2008 donations are the recent renovations to Stegeman and Butts-Mehre. Having nice facilities goes a long way with attracting recruits. I've heard people say they are going to cut their donations as a sign of displeasure for the recent season. While that is a personal choice they have every right to do, cutting donations is not going to help the program get any better.

3. We don't want to end up like Tennessee and Auburn, selling tickets to the general public. Georgia is one of 4 SEC schools that sold out all of its games last season. That is something to brag about. Despite their run to the national championship, Auburn failed to sell out all of its games this season.

4. We only have 6 home games this year. That means the cost to buy your tickets on top of the donation will be $80 less (if you get two seats) than it will be next year when we have 7 home games.

UPDATE: One more thing, Hartman Fund donations are 80% tax deductible. For those of you who itemize, there is a nice tax deduction to put down.