March Matchness Ends in a Win All-Around

SUNY Oswego’s newest graduates came out strong in support of their alma mater during the 2016 March Matchness Graduates Of the Last Decade (GOLD) fundraising challenge. The Class of 2015 earned bragging rights as the class with the highest number of members (63 donors) making a gift to the college during March. The Class of 2012 came in second place with a total of 44 donors.

But the big winner in the fun-spirited competition was SUNY Oswego. Having surpassed the donor goal of 250 by 27 percent, 318 GOLD donors secured for their alma mater a $5,000 gift from an anonymous challenger and another $5,000 from Jennifer Shropshire ’86, an Oswego Alumni Association board member and then national chair of The Fund for Oswego.

A total of $19,788 was raised by the 2016 March Matchness challenge to support current and future student programs and experiences.

The challenge spurred 194 GOLD alumni to make their first gift to the college. The total amount of GOLD alumni contributions increased considerably over the past three March Matchness challenges, rising from $5,618 in 2014 to $7,621 in 2015 to $9,788 in 2016, or an increase of approximately 74 percent in two years.

“It was exciting to see the team captains from each year posting thank-yous to their classmates and sharing school spirit while also raising funds for the college,” Shropshire said.

Throughout the month, Shropshire posted frequently on Twitter, spurring GOLD alumni to make a gift.

GOLD Leadership Council President Austin M. Byrd ’10 also took to Twitter to remind GOLD grads to make their gifts. Some class captains posted thank-you messages to their classmates via Facebook and rallied others to make their gifts.

“Seeing such a spirited response from our most recent graduates is a very encouraging sign for the future of The Fund for Oswego!” said Ryan O’Donnell, associate director of annual giving.

All March Matchness gifts also counted toward the $40 million multi-year fundraising initiative, With Passion & Purpose: The Campaign for SUNY Oswego.

—Margaret Spillett

passionrevtag_cmyk_50_blk