Trinity raised $950,814 from 4,215 donors during this year’s 1869 Challenge, surpassing its goal of 3,500 donors. The annual giving event, which ran from Sept. 24 at 4:50 p.m. to Sept. 25 at 11:59 p.m., rallied alumni, students, faculty, staff and others to support the Trinity campus.
Now in its 11th year, the 1869 Challenge began as a 24-hour giving day before expanding in 2019 to 1,869 minutes in honor of the university’s founding year, according to the Department of Alumni Relations. The initiative has since become a tradition that kicks off Trinity’s academic calendar every fall.
Wren Ramos, class of ‘22 and assistant director of annual giving, explained that this year’s totals surpassed last year’s total of $876,263 and 4,080 donors. She said that the 2024 campaign, which marked the 10th anniversary, set a high bar for community engagement. Matching and even surpassing those numbers in the year after surprised Ramos as well as the Department of Alumni Relations.
“We had more funding, and there was more to push last year,” Ramos said. “So, on the 11th year, to do something like this and match those same numbers is impressive.”
Top donors directed their donations across multiple areas: $259,991 for athletics from 1,590 donors, $249,226 for academics from 1,034 donors, $192,766 for the endowed fund from 304 donors and $72,695 for Fraternity and Sorority life from 622 donors. However, organizers said that the challenge is about more than just money.
“Participation is a huge part of it,” Ramos said. “It shows the university what areas of campus people care about most.”
Ramos noted that student giving has increased over the past two years, and that donations — no matter the amount — allow students to directly support the organizations that matter to them.
“Not every student has the capacity to donate, but if they’d like to get involved, there are other things they can do,” Ramos said. “They can shout out that their org is fundraising or participate in these games.”
According to Ramos, the Trinity University Student Ambassadors (TUSA) played a key role in boosting student participation. Members tabled from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the first day and with goals to motivate their peers to donate leading up to the event and after.
Ariana Oaxaca, senior computer science major, is a co-director for TUSA and was involved in this year’s 1869 Challenge. She helped coordinate games such as extreme nacho hour and pie-a-tiger, allowing students to get involved without donating. She said that TUSA gave out churros and donuts as well as merchandise and stickers for those who were not able to donate but could still participate in the events and processes of donation.
“I think this year, all of TUSA made themselves known on campus,” Oaxaca said. “We were consistently tabling, so it allowed students to donate at any point throughout their day.”
Kathy McNeill, senior director for annual giving programs, said that a defining feature of the 1869 Challenge is its donor-driven challenges, which unlock additional funds upon completion. This year, retired staff member Linda Crick Campbell pledged $50,000 if Trinity secured 250 new donors, while another challenge promised $35,000 if the university met the 3,500 donor goal.
“The moment we broke the first goal, we wondered if we were going to break the second,” McNeill said. “And then we broke it nearly an hour later. That was crazy.”
This year also introduced a new giving platform, GiveCampus, which allowed donors to use Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay. While the switch came with a few technical hiccups, according to Cynthia Uviedo, class of ’93 and director of annual giving programs, the digital options ultimately made giving easier, especially for students and younger alumni.
For Uviedo, the 1869 Challenge is a reflection of how the event has grown into a campus-wide tradition.
“Having worked on this almost since the beginning, it’s really fulfilling to see how much it’s grown and how people have embraced it,” Uviedo said. “Everyone comes together at that time — students, faculty, staff — and that’s what I love to see.”
With the 1869 Challenge wrapping up another year of giving, the Department of Alumni Relations hopes to continue creating a community of philanthropy through the “I Heart TU” campaign in February and the 1869 Challenge next year.
