Take away the quotation marks from the headline. Then add the name of every automobile brand. Then visit every auto dealer within fifty miles of the campus.  Not to ask for a donation. Instead, you should be asking a local mogul to sponsor a scholarship. 
 
After the auto dealers, try soft drink bottlers and distributors, leading retailers, law firms and other businesses of any size in your community. 
 
It's quid-pro-quo fundraising, and its relevance may be in the ascent. Every fundraiser who has been a member of this noble profession for more than twenty minutes knows the advantage a negotiation has over a plea. Which would you rather do… plead? Or negotiate?

A relevant principle is one every fundraiser should have engraved on his or her fingertips: mushroomed ego. An altruist who has never in his or her life attended a symphony orchestra concert may very well endow a chair for the lead violinist. A car dealer who may never have attended college or who dropped out of South Side Subnormal will recognize and value a touch of immortality in endowing a scholarship.

From a development point of view, scholarships very well represent the advantage a negotiation has over a plea. Even in tough times, a relatively simple luncheon discussion can bring favorable results, especially when compared against flagging returns from conventional fundraising methods.
 
Named scholarships, tied firmly to exclusivity, are well used for local purposes.  They also deliver a second advantage—photo ops. How about one with the recipient of the debut scholarship shaking hands with his or her benefactor at the beginning of the school year? How about a follow-up photo at graduation? Or when the scholarship recipient wins the Nobel Prize? 

In the words of an ancient television commercial: Try it. You’ll like it.

Herschell Gordon Lewis writes direct response copy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
for clients worldwide. His web site is www.herschellgordonlewis.com.