#UMassGives 2018

Beginning April 26 at 12:01 a.m. through April 27 at 11:59 p.m., we are calling on students, parents, fans, and alumni to come together and help raise money for UMass Athletics. We are hopeful that YOU will want to be a part of this special day by giving back to UMass Athletics and telling your friends about it.

The Minutemen Club (MMC) and UMass Athletics raises money each year for student-athlete support and the general athletics operating budget. These funds give our student-athletes the tools they need to be successful in the classroom, in competition and in the community. Our goal is to raise $150,000 from 1,500 donors over the two-day span of UMass Gives. We need your help us get there!

There are two ways YOU can have an impact on UMass Gives: 

1. Make a gift to UMass Athletics
2. Post that you participated and encourage others to do so on your social media accounts and use the hashtags #UMassGives and #UniteTheMasses 

If you have already made a gift this year, THANK YOU.  Please consider making a gift above and beyond your annual MMC/Sport Specific Gifts or Pledge Payment and reach out to your friends and teammates, ask them to support UMass Athletics. Be creative and have fun. For example, we have 21 sports… make a $21 gift.  Or if you graduated in 1997… make a $19.97 gift. 

 
Student-Athlete Alumni Challenge  

Calling all former student-athletes! If you played a sport at UMass, and make a gift during UMass Gives, you will be counted towards your program’s overall total for the two-day Student-Athlete Alumni Challenge.  

The sport with the most alumni participation wins! The program with the highest percentage of donations over the two-day span will unlock a challenge gift of $5,000 that will go directly to support the current team and student-athletes. The program that finishes second will receive $3,000 and the third-place squad a sum of $1,000. 

Make a gift and get your teammates to do so as well to prove your sport has the most alumni engagement. 

UMass Athletics would like to acknowledge the following alumni for their support of the student-alumni challenge:  Shaun Fitzgerald, Pam & Bob Jacobs, Jess Kane, John Kennedy, Paul Manganaro, Russ and Leslie Paparo, Ed Shirley and Ed Ward. 

Current Student-Athlete Challenge 

We are asking all teams to get involved. For teams with a 100% participation from their current roster, will have the opportunity to pie their coach in the face. Additionally, if every senior student-athlete makes a gift over the two-day period, that team will get a chance to “sink” Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford in a dunk tank!   

Sport Specific Challenges and Matches 

UMass Athletics is also offering several sport specific challenges and matching opportunities.  Please check back over the two-day initiative, as this section will be updated.  Or follow-up us on Twitter @MinutemenClub for up-to-the-minute details. 

Thank you to all the donors who contributed challenge or matching money to support the athletic department around UMass Gives!

Updated:  12 am

***Women’s Basketball:  An anonymous alumni will give $2,500 when 40 total donors give in support of women's basketball. TOTAL: 39 Donors

***Football: We have a very special challenge that we would like to share on behalf of Richard & Lindsay Stafford, parents of Todd Stafford ’17.  As many of you know, the UMass football family lost offensive lineman Michael Boland (#71) just over a year ago.  Michael was a sturdy pillar for the program and represented all of UMass with pride, dignity, and class.  UMass Gives is a time for Minutemen to come together to support its own and there is not a better group of individuals then football alumni to illustrate how it’s done.  In memory of Michael Boland, the Stafford’s are challenging 25 people to make gifts of $71 in memory of Michael.   The Stafford family will personally contribute $2,500 in honor of Michael. TOTAL: 9 Donors

***Football:  An anonymous football alumni will match dollar-for-dollar every gift up to $2,000 from members of the 1986 Yankee Conference Championship Team. 

CHALLENGES SECURED

***Football:  Gerry Greene will match dollar-for-dollar the first $1,500 donations to the football program by football alumni.  CHALLENGE SECURED

***Football:  Paul Metallo will donate $1,500 to the program when 50 total donors in support of football is reached.  CHALLENGE SECURED

***Men’s Basketball:  Marcus Camby will match dollar-for-dollar the first $1,500 donations to program by men’s basketball alumni.  CHALLENGE SECURED

***Hockey:  The Pond Club Board will give $3,500 when 75 donors give toward the men’s hockey program.  CHALLENGE SECURED

***Men’s Cross Country & Track:  Jim and Ellen Hunt will donate $2,500 when 75 donors give to the men's cross country & track program.  CHALLENGE SECURED

***Men’s Swimming & Diving:  Jim O'Sullivan has challenged the swimming alumni to top the UMass Gives total of 101 donors from last year; he will give $4,000 when that happens.   CHALLENGE SECURED