A challenge 25 years in the making, the Make Your Mark Program engaged students to raise more than $10,000 to support what matters most to their experiences on campus.
The Class of 2015 launched the Make Your Mark Program this year with an ambitious goal; to have 500 senior donors by graduation. The response from the Geneseo student body was tremendous and helped make Geneseo history. The Class of 2015 firmly left its legacy on our campus by achieving student giving records unmatched by any class since the Senior Gift was created in 1987. For the first time ever, more than 50% of seniors gave back to Geneseo, reaching their goal with 502 senior donors. And it isn’t just the senior class making a difference. In total, more than 940 students, from freshman to seniors, donated back to Geneseo through the Make Your Mark – Student Giving Challenge raising a total of $10,822.
A significant milestone for Geneseo’s Student Giving initiative, students have truly shown their commitment to the future of the College. Molly Costello ’15 and Jessica Steenbergen ’15, the two student gift chairs leading this initiative, remarked that they are overjoyed to be a part of this momentous accomplishment, and are proud to be a part of a growing tradition which creates a culture of philanthropy on our campus.
The Make Your Mark Program seeks to encourage and further develop that culture of philanthropy by educating and engaging students about the importance of giving back to Geneseo. The program asks that students give back in recognition of the donors who paved the way before them and in honor of the extraordinary experiences they had as a result of private support for the College.
Geneseo’s student giving program differs from those of many other comparable colleges and universities in that the Make Your Mark Program allows students to make a direct gift to areas on campus that mean the most to them. Through Make Your Mark students can designate their gift for immediate use in any program, department, athletic team, club or organization that helped to define their years at Geneseo.
The College hosted a champagne toast to the Class of 2015 showing their overwhelming gratitude to Geneseo’s many student donors.