The 14th annual Fill the Hill fundraiser at the University of Wisconsin-Madison raised a preliminary total of $835,059 with 5,366 gifts, breaking the previous record of $737,849 from 2025 according to a press release.
Fill the Hill is a 24-hour fundraising event put on by the University of Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) on the Friday of Homecoming weekend. Donors can purchase plastic, pink flamingos or pay to place one on Bascom Hill, all supporting a UW-Madison department of their choice.
“It's a fundraiser, and that's very important, but it's also an emotional connection as well,” Tod Pritchard, WFAA director of media and public relations, told The Daily Cardinal. “It's something that people look forward to and it tugs at your heart because it's almost becoming an annual event for a lot of people to come here and see the flamingos.”
According to Pritchard, this year saw a lot of student engagement compared to previous years.
“This year, I think, something really special is happening,” Pritchard said. “Every year we try to improve things. We have the student experience and the student donations this year, which have really taken off.”
Pritchard added that soon after the fundraiser ends, WFAA starts planning for next year’s.
“We're always looking for new ways to have people engage,” he said.
The “sea of pink” started at 7 a.m. Friday morning followed by student activities and giveaways on Bascom Hill, including new photo stands of cardboard flamingos and new games.
This tradition didn’t start as a philanthropy event — it actually started as a prank.
Leon Varijan, a member of the student government Pail and Shovel party whose campaign was dedicated to absurdity, purchased and placed 1,008 pink flamingos on Bascom Hill in 1978 with student funds.
Pritchard said one of his favorite memories in his nine years of being part of Fill the Hill was getting to meet two original members of the Pail and Shovel party, including James Mallon, co-president of the party at the time of the prank.
He said he values seeing people’s reactions to a hill covered in flamingos every year.
“It's seeing the smiles on people's faces,” Pritchard told the Cardinal. “One of the most fun reactions is seeing little kids' faces because they've never seen anything like this.”
Pritchard said donations become immediately available.
“There's no jumping through hoops,” he said. “If there's an immediate need that a [department] has, they can hopefully get that taken care of [through this].”
Placing a plastic, pink flamingo on the hill required a minimum donation of $5, according to Pritchard, and donors could also get one flamingo sent to them per $350 donation.
“We had someone who qualified for, I think, eight flamingos,” Pritchard said.
The flamingos left Bascom Hill at 5 p.m. Friday, but WFAA keeps the online website running through the weekend for those who still wish to donate.
Zoey Jiang is the Associate News Editor. She has covered breaking news on a variety of campus issues, federal changes affecting UW-Madison and local community stories.
