Strike Tour ends, silence begins: FAMU still won’t say how much it raised

With FAMU’s football season less than three weeks away, a basic question about the university’s latest athletics fundraising campaign remains unanswered: How much money did the Strike Tour actually raise?  Nineteen days after the 2026 Strike Tour ended, the department has yet to disclose how much it raised.

A fundraising campaign wrapped in silence
The five-city campaign ran from July 10 through July 25, with stops in South Florida, Tampa, Jacksonville, Chicago and Atlanta.  According to FAMU Athletics, the Strike Tour a gateway for Rattler coaches and athletic administrators to engage with alumni across the country and region and raise money for the department. 

“The Strike Tour is more than a series of events. It’s an opportunity to reconnect alumni, supporters, and friends of FAMU around a common purpose ― investing in the success of our student-athletes,” said Retired Lt. Col. Ricardo “Rick” Kinsey, the president of the Rattler-in-Arms, told the Tallahassee Democrat.

Football Coach Quinn Fordham Gray Sr., men’s basketball coach and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, women’s basketball coach Bridgette Gordon and Athletic Director John F. Davis were scheduled to attend the stops, joined by other coaches and athletics officials.

As of today, the department has released no final dollar amount, donor count or indication of whether the campaign met its goal. In Central Florida, for example, organizers led by Kinsey set a goal of raising $100,000 during that leg of the tour.

The omission is difficult to reconcile with FAMU’s own history. After the 2021 Strike Tour, the department announced that it had raised more than $500,000 across 11 stops. Totals were tallied and announced at each stop, with the campaign’s final amount released immediately after the tour. The contrast raises a straightforward question: Why has the university been so reluctant to disclose the results of this campaign? 

This year, nearly three weeks have passed without an accounting. The silence has created an unnecessary credibility problem.

The UGA contract casts a larger shadow

The timing is particularly troubling because the campaign followed questions about Athletic Director Davis’ handling of FAMU’s scheduled 2028 football game with the University of Georgia. FAMU agreed to cancel the game, giving up a reported $650,000 cancellation payment and prompting criticism of the athletic department’s financial judgment. 

The juxtaposition was difficult to ignore: An athletic department facing scrutiny over a lost revenue opportunity was simultaneously asking alumni to contribute more money.

That makes transparency about the Strike Tour especially important.

FAMU has invested in fundraising — so where is the money?

FAMU has also invested in strengthening its fundraising operation. In 2025, the university added Marvin E. Green Jr. as a major gift officer for athletics and the Marching “100” Band. Yet the department has not publicly accounted for one of its most visible athletics fundraising campaigns.

Jennifer L. Castellani, a fundraising expert with CCS Fundraising, said "organizations sometimes delay releasing totals while contributions are reconciled or results are measured against internal goals. That may explain a delay. It does not explain the absence of communication."

"If the tour exceeded expectations, supporters should know. If it fell short, they deserve the same candor," Castellani added. "And if the final figure is still being reconciled, FAMU should simply say so."

Silence creates its own narrative

One alumnus has already questioned publicly whether this administration can be trusted to report fundraising results accurately, citing concerns about this springs 1887 Strike campaign, in which the FAMU Administration seemed to inflate the total dollar amount raised and the number of individual donors weeks after the campaign closed.   

With the football season beginning in 16 days, the department should provide the number before it asks the Rattler Nation for another dollar.

How much did the Strike Tour raise?
Did the Strike Tour strike out? After 19 days, supporters should not have to ask.