CSU-Pueblo Alumni Association offers an opportunity for undergraduates, alumni and people who live throughout Colorado, to purchase university license plates.
In 2009, the license plate campaign became a non-profit fundraiser said Tracy Samora, who is director of alumni relations and annual fund for the alumni association. She said she began working at the university in September 2009, she and members of the alumni board implemented the campaign.
Employees in the alumni association office started on the campaign because many people requested the university sell and create university license plates. The university was one of a few statewide institutions that did not sell license plates, Samora said.
The process to get the university license plates approved was time consuming, Samora said. “It was a pretty cumbersome process acquiring signatures and going through the process to actually get the plate approved and designed,” she said.
Alumni or people who want license plates have to fill out the license plate donation forms, pay a one-time $50 donation and return them to the alumni office, Samora said. She said when people return the forms, Samora signs them and they will receive certificates to show at a local county motor vehicles office or local county courthouse.
She said undergraduates are required to fill out the license plate donation forms and pay $10 donations and return them to the alumni office. Then, she said, undergraduates will get certificates signed by Samora to take to a motor vehicles office or county courthouse for approval and pay a $50 one-time fee to get the license plates.
“They (people who buy the license plates) actually have to have this plate to show that they have made their donation to CSU-Pueblo,” Samora said. It shows the students, alumni or people who live in Colorado contributed to the campaign, she said.
The people who donate money to the campaign also get a free T-shirt. The T-shirt is designed with a thunder plate on front and a slogan on the back, Samora said.
The alumni association promotes license plates discounts from time to time, she said. Employees of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce receive a $10 discount, which means they donate $40 to the campaign. Other discount opportunities happen at events and the prices for plates are marked at $25, Samora said.
She also promotes the campaign by advertising in activities and events held on campus, she said. Samora said she talks to staff members of Office of Student Activities to promote the campaign and increase recognition. A few of the activities and events are the Distinguished Speakers Series, the President’s Gala and football tailgate parties, Samora said.
“I think with this particular campaign, it’s very word of mouth driven,” she said. “It’s something that people see.”
She worked with James Bowman, arts professional III for external affairs, she said, which he created posters to use as a method of promotion on campus.
On March 1, 2012, the alumni association has to sell 500 license plates to continue the campaign. The campaign will not continue if, she said, 500 license plates are not sold by the required date, Samora said.
On Tuesday, Aug. 31, she said, there were 74 university license plates that were on cars in Colorado. The number of license plates continues to increase because 140 people donated money and received the certificates to get license plates, Samora said.
There are about 20,000 alumni in Colorado though, talking to the alumni, who live statewide, would be a challenge but it could help increase the sales of the license plates. The goal by March 2012 is to sell 500 license plates, Samora said.
She said university administration, staff and faculty members support the campaign.
“There’s a lot of support from administration to see this program succeed,” Samora said. Joe Garcia, president of the institution in the president’s office, who has a thunderplate and supports the campaign, and he speaks about it at events, she said.
