Raising Montana

Culture of Giving Puts UM on the Map

Photos by Tara Jensen, UM Foundation

UM students Katie Corwin, Ashley Glover, and Becca Millsap, (left to right) members of the Senior Challenge 2012 committee, and Tara Udall, UM Foundation staff member and Senior Challenge 2011 committee member, celebrate the unveiling of a campus map at the M.

Ask Tara Udall to identify the moment when she felt she was a part of something bigger, and she’ll tell you that moment was riding a rhino up Mount Sentinel to the famous M overlooking The University of Montana campus.

But not that kind of rhino.

The “rhino” in question was a Yamaha ATV, and Udall’s memory was tied to the Senior Challenge project becoming a reality.

“I remember riding to the M with the facilities crew, looking over the city, and this time Missoula looked different,” Udall says. “Seeing the map physically installed made it real. Until then, all of it had just been drawings and ideas.”

The project, coordinated by Udall and Eric Stokes, chair of the Senior Challenge committee, was the Class of 2011's gift to the University: an illustrated map detailing all the buildings on campus installed at the M on Mount Sentinel.

The Senior Challenge is a student-run fundraising campaign to educate graduating seniors about the importance of philanthropy. Participating seniors choose the programs or area on campus their fundraising efforts will support. Seniors who give before the end of April are recognized in the semester’s final Kaimin issue and on the UM Foundation’s website. Donors also receive a special tassel charm to wear during Commencement. Most importantly, these seniors have the opportunity to contribute to

UM’s legacy.

Each class answers the challenge in new and interesting ways. For the Class of 2011, it was the map at the M. The Class of 2010 planted new trees on the Oval, and the Class of 2009 installed a bike rack. And the Senior Challenge doesn’t just fund individual projects; all donations and pledges that aren’t specifically used for the project go directly to scholarships.

“When you’re a student, you don’t always think about where the buildings and facilities come from,” Udall says. “But when you get ready to leave, you begin to see the bigger picture. The University gave me a world-class education, and this was one way for me to give something back, to really leave my mark.”

Becca Millsap, chair of this year’s Senior Challenge committee, agrees.

“You go into this, calling seniors and asking them to commit to $20.12—for the Class of 2012—and you think you’re going to hear everyone say, ‘I have loans to pay off,’ or something similar. But what’s really surprising is how many people are excited about it and how they realize this truly does mean something. It’s just the spirit of giving, and every $20 is the start of a relationship. These are people who may give large gifts later and may have stadiums or buildings named after them at some point.”

The Senior Challenge fits into the overall culture of philanthropy among UM alumni and supporters. Major projects bear the names of people who have strong ties to the University and Missoula. The Gallagher Business Building. The Payne Family Native American Center. Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The Davidson Honors College. Don Anderson Hall. The list goes on. Senior Challenge is a first step on that road to giving.

“It’s not just about taking your diploma and never looking back,” Udall says.

If it all sounds like an effort to create connections with graduating seniors, it is. The Senior Challenge encourages the graduating class to identify needs, of course. But more than that, it’s a powerful way to transition from UM students to UM alumni.

That’s important, because the relationships can be powerful and enduring, says Millsap. The past four years, she’s participated in the Excellence Fund phonathon, talking to alumni across the world.

“For many people, we’re their only access to the University,” she says. “Maybe it’s a forestry grad who loves to talk about Foresters’ Ball. Or maybe it’s a music major who asks about Odyssey of the Stars or the jazz festival. You get a sense of that common bond, of what it means to be a University of Montana student and alum.”

The importance of giving and what it means is vividly displayed for Millsap at the beginning of each phonathon drive.

“We gather all of our callers, and we start by asking who is the recipient of a scholarship,” Millsap says. “Almost every hand goes up.”

That’s why the Senior Challenge, and giving in general, focuses on participation more than a dollar amount—every gift, no matter the size, really is a major gift.

“Most students don’t realize those scholarships are made possible by alumni who are simply being kind, giving back to the University, giving to them,” Millsap says. “They don’t think about how many individual contributors give to their scholarships. But when they start making those calls, they get it. And it’s pretty powerful when they realize it.”

The experience is coming in handy for Millsap now that her Senior Challenge committee is starting to call on fellow seniors.

“I really do want to get the whole senior class involved this year,” she says. “I want it to be their campaign, and I want it to be their gift—something that represents our University, and represents our class as a whole.” She pauses. “Ten years from now, we’ll be able to look at something we did, point to it, and say we were a part of it.”

It’s a feeling shared by the thousands of alumni who give each year. And that, after all, is the whole mission of the Senior Challenge: to create a sense of shared identity and shared giving.

Seeing how UM graduates are rising to the Senior Challenge, it’s safe to say: Mission accomplished.