Seminole Boosters said its individual donor base fell 17% in fiscal 2026, dropping to 14,781 from 17,835 in fiscal 2023, a decline that lands while Florida State keeps pressing supporters for more investment in the Seminoles. For Marwan Saidi, that pressure came with a personal lesson in how fragile donor loyalty can be: he says he tried to renew his pledge in May, never got the call back he expected, and has since sent the money elsewhere.
Saidi had signed on around May 2023 after a New York-based Seminole Boosters representative reached out with ways to give. He agreed to a three-year commitment of about $100 a month, with half of it going to the football-only facility and the rest split between the soccer and softball programs, plus a separate pledge to the general fund. When the three-year pledge ran out in May, he says he planned to renew and increase his support to $2,600 a year for soccer and softball. Instead, he says nothing was completed, and when an automated email arrived in August with a renewal link, it sent him to the Seminole Boosters homepage. He could not find a way to continue the monthly commitment, and a screenshot showed the message: There are currently no consumer donations on file.
That breakdown matters because it points to more than a missed payment. Saidi said he never received a call back after contacting Seminole Boosters, and he said the history attached to his account showed past payments to the football-only facility and softball but missing soccer contributions. He also said, in his words, the website was pretty hot garbage, and that the failed renewal cut deeper because he could not go to games and used the pledge as his way to stay connected.
Ponder said the organization could not find a Salesforce record of Saidi’s original renewal call. Ponder wrote that it sounded like the call went into the ticket office and may not have been properly relayed. That leaves the donor problem on two tracks at once: the overall base is shrinking, and at least one supporter says the mechanics of keeping him from walking away did not work when it counted. Saidi has already moved the money, saying that even if the call came tomorrow, he and his wife decided to spend it on Sacred Heart University Fencing this year because their daughter is on that team.
The larger backdrop is plain enough. Florida State has spent the past several years asking supporters to invest in the future of the Seminoles, and those efforts have delivered financial gains in premium seating and total fundraising commitments. But the donor count now shows the cost of holding that base together, especially after a stretch that has been hard on the field and for the average fan. Saidi said FSU Soccer even sent Christmas cards after its 2023 and 2025 national championships thanking him for his support. Whether Seminole Boosters can repair the communication and recordkeeping gaps he described may determine how many other donors decide their money belongs somewhere else.
