Choose Your Southwestern Challenge

We reached our Bonus Challenge goal of 650 donors! Thanks to our generous anonymous alumna donor, each group will receive an additional $1000 in funding and the Southwestern Fund will receive $20,000 to support our students and faculty. Collectively, we unlocked over $50,000 in bonus gifts!

We couldn't have done it without the support of each and every alumnus, student, parent, faculty, staff and friend of Southwestern who gave generously and spread the word to support causes that they care most about.

Thank YOU for choosing Southwestern!

---

UPDATE: We reached our goal! The Challenge doesn’t stop there… Now if we reach 650 donors we will unlock an additional $1000 to each group/project and $20,000 to the Southwestern Fund!

WOW-- Four of the eight projects have reached their donor goals, unlocking their $3500 bonus gift. There are still some projects who need your help to meet their goal!
Help spread the word! Click here for ways you can help encourage others to help us reach our goal.

---

Each student’s Southwestern Experience is unique and defined by many interests. Through the Choose Your Southwestern Challenge, you can make any size gift to support what matters to you most.

The Leaderboard features eight compelling groups and projects where you can direct your gift. Each group or project that reaches their donor goal will receive an additional $3500 in funding! Click the Donors tab above to see the Leaderboard.

You can choose one area to support or support multiple projects. Gifts of any size count toward each donor goal.

Also, you can choose the “other” option to designate your gift to any scholarship, organization, or cause you care most about by writing in your choice.

Help spread the word! Click here for ways you can help encourage others to help us reach our goal.

Leaderboard Project Details:

1. Coalition for Diversity and Social Justice (CDSJ): The Office of Diversity Education is a place where all of Southwestern can gather to learn from one another. Your support will bring a Diversity Speaker to campus for a special event.
2. Mask and Wig is a storied campus organization with a long history of outstanding theatrical performances. Your contribution is an investment in the arts at Southwestern and will enrich performances in the next academic year.
3. Pirate Fund is the catch all fund for the areas of greatest need within all of Athletics. Visit the Choose Your Pirate Athletics Challenge page to give to your favorite team or teams and help them reach their team donor goal!
4. Purdy Endowed Fund for Collaborative Research honors Dr. Jesse Purdy’s 35 years of teaching at Southwestern by providing permanent funding for faculty-student collaborative research in Psychology.
5. SCOPE/student-faculty collaborative research: Student-Faculty Collaborative Research, like SCOPE, fosters a culture of research, promotes student investigative learning, persistence, self-efficacy, and success and creates an inclusive and diverse research community.
6. Spring Breakaway (formerly known as Destination: Service) allows students to spend their spring break in different communities while having an unforgettable service-learning experience. Gifts help defray the cost of travel expenses to make the experience affordable to more students.
7. Study Abroad exposes students to living and learning in a new cultural setting and then continuing the learning process as they return to Southwestern. About ⅓ of Southwestern students study abroad during their time, with costs ranging $5,000-$35,000 per semester.
8. Sustainability Project- Walzel Courts: Southwestern University is committed to sustainability. In 2016, students voted to allocate $10,000 to replace the outdated light fixtures in the Walzel Court with energy efficient LED lights. This allocation was matched by the University. Your gift will help complete the project saving energy and money and helping to make SU a greener campus.