Chancellor Michael Martin said the University may not meet the $750 million Forever LSU fundraising endeavor by the 2010 deadline.  Martin said Wednesday he thought there was a better than 50-50 chance the University could meet the fundraising goal set by former Chancellor Sean O’Keefe. “I thought it was a stretch, but I trusted Sean at the time,” Martin said.The Forever LSU campaign began under O’Keefe’s administration as a way to raise money for the LSU Foundation. But for Martin, the fundraiser is a reminder of hard economic times. “People are doing everything they can, if economy doesn’t improve — as an economists  — it will be an uphill battle,” Martin said.Martin said the economy is affecting people’s donations to the fund, but he is “cautiously optimistic” the University will still meet the goal on time.  “[The donations] may not be on the same time schedule, but it will happen,” Martin said. Martin said he will make every effort to reach the goal. In response to the economic hard times, Martin said he met Tuesday with alumni and supporters before the Southeastern Conference Board of Directors in Atlanta to discuss fundraising. “If we don’t meet [the goal], it won’t be because people haven’t worked hard,” Martin said.O’Keefe piloted the fundraiser and told The Daily Reveille he calculated the $750 million goal based on private consulters adding the donor’s capabilities. “It was realistic,” O’Keefe said. “Concerning the realistic range at the time, it was well in [the University’s] range.” O’Keefe said he could never have predicted the market meltdown in the last six months because at the time the goal was put into place, it was realistic with the economy. Forever LSU has raised $582 million through donations — a  number Beverly Major, director of Forever LSU campaign, said will be updated at the end of March.”These are difficult times for the economy,” Major said. “We’re falling in line with where our peers are.” Scott Madere, LSU Foundation director of public relations, said officials are optimistic about meeting the goal.”It’s best not to get too excited about good times … or get too depressed by downward spikes,” he said. “Having record downward trend in one year it’s still only one year.”—-Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]