With the departure of the pink flamingos from Bascom Hill Friday, the annual “Fill The Hill” event raised $436,478 for a variety of programs and funds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Receiving 2,230 gifts from donors, the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association’s event will support over 100 programs and areas of campus that participated in the fundraiser, according to WFAA Director of Media and Public Relations Tod Pritchard.
Causes involved this year included the Chancellor’s Annual Fund and the Raimey-Noland Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund, among several other programs, schools and colleges.
The Chancellor’s Annual Fund enables Chancellor Rebecca Blank to provide student financial support, recruit and retain faculty while developing programs and research possibilities in an effort to maintain the university’s “excellence.”
Additionally, the Raimey-Noland Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund provides resources that promote DEI efforts across campus such as increasing the diversity of the student body as well as of faculty and staff, supporting an inclusive culture, investing in research and programs that address social and racial injustice and providing student support.
Originally, university officials set the goal of raising $10 million for the fund’s efforts, but this amount was quickly exceeded and now totals over $15 million.
“I had no idea how many people would jump in and what would happen,” Blank said in an interview with the Daily Cardinal about the Raimey-Noland Fund. “I have been amazed at the response to this.”
The All Ways Forward campaign, which the Raimey-Noland Fund and several other programs fall under, was also central to the “Fill The Hill” event this year as donors were given exclusive red flamingos for their donations during the fundraising event.
This campaign, which began in 2015 and will come to a close at the end of the year, has raised over $4 billion since its inception.
Sophia Vento is the former editor-in-chief of The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the college news editor. She has covered breaking campus, city, state and sports news, and written in-depth stories about health, culture and education. Any newsroom would be lucky to have Sophia on staff. Follow her on Twitter at @sophiasvento.
