Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS THE BIG TEN GOLD CHALLENGE?

The Big Ten GOLD Challenge creates a means by which participating Big Ten universities can compete to see who has the most loyal alumni. This Web site is a one-stop source for information about alumni giving, and perhaps even more importantly, consists of a series of graphs to show how both your university and your graduation year participation rates compare to your peers at other Big Ten schools.

The main focus of this Challenge is to increase the percentage of undergraduate alumni of the past ten years who make a gift to their University, from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006.

WHICH GRADUATION YEARS ARE INCLUDED IN THE GOLD CHALLENGE?

"Graduates of the Last Decade" refers to alumni who graduated from 1996 through 2005.

WHY FOCUS ON JUST GRADUATES OF THE PAST TEN YEARS?

Roughly a third of each school’s undergraduate alumni are graduates of the past ten years. In addition, this population’s giving rate is typically lower than the total alumni population. Focusing on graduates from 1996-2005 will hopefully increase giving percentage across the board, and at the same time help increase the dollars for valuable annual support of the university.

WHY FOCUS ON PARTICIPATION RATHER THAN TOTAL DOLLARS RAISED?

Staff at each participating university recognize that there are many demands for recent graduates’ hard earned money. Many alumni in this population start new jobs, buy houses, new vehicles, and generally are "getting settled." Therefore, we stress that it is not the amount of the gift that matters, but rather one’s participation. Every gift matters and does make a difference, even if it may seem modest or not significant to the donor. Plus, increasing participation will indeed increase total dollars raised, especially in the long run.

HOW CAN I MAKE A GIFT?

Each university has different methods of accepting gifts. All schools want to make giving as easy as possible, and most have on-line giving pages. To make a gift, please click on your school’s logo.

WHEN ARE RESULTS UPDATED?

Results are posted monthly. Check back and check often!

HOW IS YOUR ALMA MATER DOING?

Click here to see.

CLICK ON YOUR SCHOOL’S LOGO ABOVE to learn more about alumni giving, the importance of philanthropy to higher education, AND/OR to make your gift to help increase alumni giving participation at your school.