UW-Madison Raises More Than $511,000 in Annual Flamingo Fundraiser – Madison.com

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association fundraiser, called “Fill the Hill,” encourages alumni and other university benefactors to donate to an educational program, student aid fund or scholarship chapter of their choice in 24 hours, which began in 17:00 on Thursday. For each donation received, the Alumni Association plans to drive a pink plastic flamingo into the ground in front of Bascom Hall facing the Library Mall.

Donations were still coming in Friday night, with 3,334 gifts as of 5:30 p.m.

“We are deeply grateful to our many alumni and friends of UW-Madison for their generous giving this year,” Betsy Popelka Masnik, director of annual giving for the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, said in a statement. “The return of the flamingo to Bascom Hill symbolizes not only the whimsical spirit of this event, but also the crucial support it generates for the University of Wisconsin.”

The Great People Annual Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students who are accepted to UW-Madison but cannot afford the costs, topped the list with $40,922 from nearly 500 donors. Second is the School of Business with about $31,462 from 127 donors; third was the Chancellor’s Fund with $28,772 from 177 donors.

The School of Engineering was fourth with $19,363 given by 115 donors; the School of Human Ecology was not far behind with $18,900 given by 80 people.

Just over 43% of donations came from people currently living in Wisconsin, with residents of California and Illinois in second and third place. A handful of gifts came from outside the US

The class of 1985 had the most donors, with 70 alumni opening their wallets for a total of $9,393, while the class of 1991 gave the most money, with a total of $24,748 donated by 64 people. The largest donor group was alumni, who gave a total of $324,160 and represented 65% of the endowment fund.

The amount raised this year was down slightly from last year’s $513,142, but still up sharply from five years ago, when the 24-hour fundraiser brought in just over $202,000 from about 1,500 donors. Over the 12-year history of the annual fundraiser, a total of 21,000 donors have raised a total of $3.5 million.

There is no set fundraising goal for the Fill the Hill Foundation, Wisconsin and Alumni Association spokesman Todd Pritchard said. There are no specific areas of emphasis, with donors determining which of more than 100 programs they want to support.

Donors who gave $350 or more received a pink flamingo from Bascom Hill. In previous years, donors automatically received several flamingos if they donated enough; now the default is just one, as the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association strive to reduce plastic consumption. Donors can still receive more than one if they donate $700 or more—they just need to contact Foundation staff.

On the first day of school in 1979, students were greeted by 1,008 plastic law flamingos. The prank was led by Leon Varjian and Jim Mallon, members of a fake political party, the Bucket and Spade Party, which had seized control of UW-Madison’s student government. They chose to use an $80,000 budget to pull off a series of pranks that year, which included installing a papier-mâché replica of the Statue of Liberty on Lake Mendota.