Make Your Mark! - Student Giving Challenge 2013 is a program created by the Office of Student Giving to encourage students to donate to Geneseo.
Geneseo has had a student giving program for the past 25 years, but this is the fourth year that the program is branded as Make Your Mark! - Student Giving Challenge. It is also the first year that the program will run weekly challenges to raise awareness among the student population.
Starting on March 1 and ending on April 6, five weekly giving challenges will be targeted at fraternities, sororities, women’s intercollegiate athletics, men’s intercollegiate athletics and academic departments.
This year, Jeff Clarke ‘83, a member of the Geneseo Foundation Board of Directors, has made the challenges possible. He donated $10,000 to the student giving fund, which will be used as prize money in Make Your Mark.
Each week, the organization with the highest percentage of members making a gift of $10 or more to Make Your Mark will receive $1,000 from the challenge gift. Second place will be awarded $700, and third place will receive $300.
Anyone from these organizations can donate. Program coordinator senior Jessica Shatzel said, “Philanthropy begins in your own community.” Make Your Mark encourages campus-wide student giving.
Organizations will put prize money to immediate use. Through the approval of the organization’s advisors, the money can be used for activities that will develop the organization in a positive way.
“The Student Giving Challenge is unique in that students can donate to any club, organization, athletic team or academic department that they choose,” Shatzel said. The program’s tagline is: “Make Your Mark on what matters most.”
According to Shatzel, funding that Geneseo receives from the state is currently at an all-time low. Clubs and sports are made possible through donations.
“Geneseo has a very strong tradition of philanthropy,” Shatzel said. “The program seeks to encourage and further develop that.”
“As students, it is important that we show our support for the things that we are so avidly involved in,” Shatzel said.