The Alumni Council Challenge
Giving Tuesday is first and foremost an opportunity to raise money for the SMCM team, academic department, club, scholarship or cause you care about.
Fund Reps will rally their networks to give directly to their fund, and every dollar they raise goes straight to support that cause.
The Alumni Council Challenge is the bonus.
This year, current and former members of the Alumni Council are providing nearly $50,000 in additional funding for participating Giving Tuesday funds.
Instead of competing for Champion votes, funds will earn Challenge awards based on the number of donors who give directly to them during the 32-hour campaign.
The model is simple. Raise money for your fund and bring as many donors along as you can. If you do that successfully, you’ll also put your fund in a strong position to earn additional money through the Alumni Council Challenge.
What’s New This Year
Fund Reps replace Champions.
- Fund Reps represent a specific SMCM fund and help rally support for it.
- Multiple Fund Reps can work together on behalf of the same fund.
There is no Champion voting.
- Donors simply give directly to the fund or funds they want to support.
- Each person who gives at least $10 to a participating fund counts as one donor toward that fund’s Alumni Council Challenge total.
There are three separate competitions.
Participating funds will compete within one of three categories:
- Academics
- Athletics
- Clubs, Scholarships & Beyond
This gives teams, academic departments and other SMCM causes the opportunity to compete against similar groups rather than against every participating fund.
Donors can support more than one fund.
- A donor can give to multiple participating funds in the same transaction and count once toward each fund, as long as at least $10 is designated to each.
- The previous alumni/student bounty and Champion merchandise incentives have been retired. The focus this year is on raising direct support for your fund and building donor participation.
3 Alumni Council Challenge Competitions
Academics
Academic departments will compete against other participating academic departments.
The academic department with the most donors will receive a $5,000 Alumni Council Challenge award.
Athletics
Varsity teams will compete against other participating athletic funds.
The athletic team with the most donors will receive a $5,000 Alumni Council Challenge award.
Clubs, Scholarships & Beyond
Student organizations, scholarships and other eligible Foundation funds will compete within this category.
The participating fund with the most donors will receive a $5,000 Alumni Council Challenge award.
Challenge Awards - 30 in Total!
This year, the Alumni Council is providing nearly $40,000 in bonus funding for participating Giving Tuesday funds.
Each of the three Challenge categories — Athletics; Academics; and Clubs, Scholarships & Beyond — will have its own competition and the same prize structure.
- 1st Place — $5,000
- 2nd Place — $3,500
- 3rd Place — $2,000
- 4th Place — $1,000
- 5th Place — $500
- 6th–10th Place — $250 each
That means 10 funds in each category — 30 funds overall — will receive Alumni Council Challenge funding.
Remember, the Challenge is the bonus. Every dollar you raise directly for your fund stays with your fund, regardless of where you finish in the competition.
The Nitty Gritty Details
How Donor Counts Work
- The Alumni Council Challenge is based on the number of donors to each participating fund, not the amount of money raised.
- A person who gives at least $10 to a participating fund counts as one donor for that fund.
- If that same person gives $10 or more to several participating funds, they count once for each fund they support.
- For example, a donor could give $50 to Men’s Soccer, $50 to Biology and $50 to a student club in one transaction. That donor would count once for each of those three funds in their respective Alumni Council Challenge competitions, and the full $150 would go directly to the funds they selected.
- Giving more than once to the same fund does not create additional Challenge donors. All gifts still benefit the fund, but each individual can count only once toward that fund’s Challenge total.
Fund Rep & Fund Eligibility
- To compete for Alumni Council Challenge funding, a participating fund must have at least one registered Fund Rep by November 9.
- Faculty, staff, students, alumni and other supporters of SMCM may serve as Fund Reps. Members of the Advancement team are not eligible.
- Fund Reps must represent an official SMCM varsity team, academic department, student organization, scholarship or other eligible Foundation fund.
- Multiple Fund Reps may work together on behalf of the same fund.
- Advancement will confirm each participating fund’s Challenge category.
- Challenge awards will be credited directly to the winning fund and cannot be transferred to or divided with another fund.
Giving & Donor Rules
- Only gifts made during the official 32-hour Giving Tuesday campaign count toward the Alumni Council Challenge. The campaign begins at 4 p.m. on Monday, November 30 and ends at midnight on Tuesday, December 1.
- A donor must give at least $10 to a participating fund to count toward that fund’s Challenge total.
- Each donor can count once for each participating fund they support.
- Donors may support multiple participating funds in the same transaction. If at least $10 is designated to each fund, the donor will count once toward each fund’s Challenge total.
- Donors can give through a fund’s Giving Hub or through the general Giving Tuesday giving form. The two are connected, so gifts designated to a participating fund will count toward that fund’s Alumni Council Challenge total regardless of which giving option the donor uses.
- The size of the gift does not affect the Challenge count. A donor giving $10 and a donor giving $1,000 each count as one donor toward that fund’s Challenge total.
- Giving more than once to the same fund does not create additional Challenge donors. All gifts still support the fund, but each person can count only once toward that fund’s Challenge total.
- The donor name entered on the giving form must match the name of the person making the gift and the name associated with the credit or debit card used for the transaction. Donors may not make a gift under another person’s name in order to create an additional donor count.
- Donor information must accurately identify the person making the gift. Duplicate, fictitious or otherwise ineligible donor records may be removed before final results are calculated.
Results
- Results shown during Giving Tuesday are preliminary.
- After the campaign, Advancement will review all gifts and donor records before finalizing the Alumni Council Challenge results. This includes removing duplicate donor counts when the same person gives more than once to the same fund and reviewing any other ineligible records.
- Final results will be announced on or before Friday, December 18.
- The total prize pool may be adjusted based on the final amount contributed by current and former members of the Alumni Council.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I vote for a Fund Rep?
No. There is no Champion or Fund Rep voting this year like in previous years. Simply give directly to the fund or funds you want to support.
Can I support more than one fund?
Yes. You may support multiple funds in the same transaction. If you give at least $10 to each participating fund, you will count once toward each fund’s Challenge total.
Does giving more money give my fund more Challenge credit?
No. Challenge standings are based on the number of donors, not the amount raised. Once you give at least $10 to a participating fund, you count as one donor for that fund.
What if I give to the same fund more than once?
Every gift still supports that fund, but you will count only once toward its Alumni Council Challenge total.
Do Fund Reps compete against each other?
No. The funds compete, not the Fund Reps. Multiple Fund Reps can work together to raise money and bring donors to the same fund.
What should Fund Reps focus on?
Raising money for their fund.
Share your donation link, tell people why your cause matters and encourage your supporters to give and spread the word. If you bring donors to your fund, the Alumni Council Challenge will take care of itself.
The money you raise directly is the focus. The Alumni Council Challenge is the bonus.
