March Matchness 2017 Ends In Victory for SUNY Oswego

SUNY Oswego Graduates Of the Last Decade (GOLD) joined together in support for the 2017 March Matchness fundraising challenge. The Class of 2016 earned bragging rights as the class with the highest number of donors.

The goal was to encourage at least 300 alumni from the classes of 2007-16 to make a gift to The Fund for Oswego, with the promise that Oswego Alumni Association board member Dr. Raelynn Cooter ’77 would make a gift of $25,000 if it was met. The challenge aims to support current and future student programs and experiences.

“I knew the Oswego GOLD community would rally to meet this ambitious challenge,” Dr. Cooter said. “It was exciting to see the team captains and their classmates share their Laker pride and raise funds for the college.”

A GOLD alumnus set up his own mini-challenge to help encourage other alumni to make gifts. Tyler Edic ’13 said he would donate an additional $5 for every member of the Class of 2013 who participated in March Matchness.

Including the challenge gifts, a total of $34,318.24 was raised by the 2017 March Matchness campaign, with a total of 360 gifts collected throughout the month. The campaign netted a 13-percent increase in donors as compared to 2016. In fact, 47 percent of the March Matchness participants were new donors to The Fund for Oswego.

Throughout the month, alumni took to social media to help raise awareness for the college’s event. GOLD Leadership Council members Sara Cooper ’14 and Bridget Jackson ’15 encouraged other alumni on Twitter to make their own gift towards March Matchness.

According to Melissa Manwaring ’01, director of development and campaigns, alumni using their social media accounts helped to make the connections needed to reach the ambitious goal. In addition, alumni who answered the phone calls of SUNY Oswego student Telefund callers accounted for 87 percent of the campaign’s gifts.

“It’s exciting to see our GOLD alumni come together to support their alma mater,” she said. “The gifts they give make a difference every day in the experiences of today’s students.”

—Emily Shaben ’18

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