Help Us Meet The Cortland Challenge

03/20/2018 

All members of the SUNY Cortland community have an opportunity to help the College improve educational, cultural and athletic programs, further develop top-quality faculty and staff and open more research and applied learning options for students by participating in SUNY Cortland’s annual 24-hour challenge on Wednesday, March 21.

The #CortlandChallenge fundraising event starts at the stroke of midnight as Tuesday becomes Wednesday, offering students a chance to join hundreds of other SUNY Cortland alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends to donate online to give back to the College.

The goal of the event is to get as many participants as possible, and several generous alumni have set up thousands of dollars in matching gifts that depend on the rest of the community hitting a series of goals. A contribution of any size, designated to a campus cause or interest area of your choosing, will count toward the first targeted number of donors and unlock the challenge gift. A new goal will then be set for the next matching gift.

 The Cortland Fund is looking to build on the success of last year’s challenge, when SUNY Cortland received $117,073.70 from 601 individual donors.

“Challenge days are exciting because it is a rare opportunity for an individual donor to see just how a gift of any size can have impact as part of a greater community of donors,” said Jason Pomeroy, director of The Cortland Fund. “It is also an opportunity for the greater SUNY Cortland community to come together online and across social media to reminisce about their time at Cortland and show their Red Dragon Pride.”

            There are actually two types of challenges that will be going on throughout the day.

            The first is the overall challenge, in which every unique donor during the 24 hours of March 21 will count toward the totals needed to realize $11,000 in matching gifts pledged by Victor M. Rumore II '84 and Michael J. Cappeto ’71, M ’73.

            The second type of challenge is the Athletics Challenge. Mike Vela ’88 has put up $10,000 to create a little competition among our Red Dragon athletic alumni. Each team has a unique donor goal to meet during the day and prize money will be given to the teams that meet those goals. Please go to the Athletics Challenge page to learn more about the Athletics Challenge and about Vela, our challenge donor.

Participating in the #CortlandChallenge is easy! Simply login to Red Dragon Network on March 21, select the amount you would like to give, select the cause you want your gift to go towards, provide some basic information about yourself, and hit next.

Not comfortable paying online? The Cortland Fund offers a list of alternate payment options on the Red Dragon Network website. You can either mail your contribution in, call it in, or bring it in in person to any one of the four locations listed.

Those wishing to keep their gift anonymous are more than welcome to do so.

Last year’s successful challenge means the bar has been set pretty high for 2018.

Monica Bedford Voldstad ’72, M ’77 and Michael ’81 and Catherine Suarez Leeolou ’81 last year offered challenge donations when numbers surpassed the initial goal of 321 donors and reached 500 generous gift-givers. In addition, Louise M. Conley gave $10,000 on behalf of reunion celebrants.

Look for more details and updates via email, social media and other channels.

To help spread the word about this opportunity, share the link, RedDragonNetwork.org/challenge, using #CortlandChallenge on social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

For additional information, feel free to contact Jason Pomeroy, director of The Cortland Fund, at 607-753-5578 or by email.

Prepared by Communications Office writing intern Hannah Bistocchi