Senior Gift

Senior Gift is a longstanding Lewis & Clark tradition where the Senior Class raises money to support an area of campus to leave a legacy that supports current & future students. Last year, the class of 2024 made 56 gifts, unlocked matching funds from other donors, and raised over $5000 for financial aid. This year, we hope to raise even more and make an impact on what we care about most.

SPC is a student organization whose mission is to bring a spirit of philanthropy on campus. We host events on campus such as Thank a Donor Day, Pumpkins for Pios, and Day of Giving to raise awareness about fundraising, support student organizations, and promote a positive campus atmosphere.

We get to choose! An important part of Senior Gift is the surveys we send to get the whole class’ opinion on what fund the senior gift should raise money for. 

In order to make sure our Senior Gift has the biggest impact possible, we are fundraising for existing, current use funds, not for new projects. While we’d all love to bring back something like Maggie’s (RIP), that would require us raising enough money to take on that project– and if we didn’t, nothing would happen and our money would sit in a fund, unused. Making a gift to an existing fund on campus means our gift has a direct, immediate impact on the lives of current and future students.

Whenever you make a donation, you have the option to designate your gift to an existing fund on campus. When you designate your gift, the money you donate can only be used in the fund you designate it to.

While tuition is certainly a portion of the college’s revenue, it actually covers only 2/3rds of the costs to operate the college– especially as operating costs continue to rise. Additionally, 99% of the student body receives financial aid– meaning that a portion of the college’s funds go to ensure that students can attend L&C. In order to continue offering scholarships, create new programming, and continue growing as an institution, Lewis & Clark relies on the generosity of its donors. Parents, alumni & other community members give every year to support the school.

Donating is a powerful & personal choice. Maybe it’s because there’s a cause on campus you support. A community or program that’s offered you a lot that you want to give back to. A system that’s under-resourced or needs to be improved. Maybe you have a spare dollar and feel like it that day. Maybe a friend asked you to give. All of that (& more) is absolutely okay.

Every gift, no matter the size, makes a difference. As cheesy as that sounds, the math does really support it. If every senior in this graduating class (approximately 500) gave $5, that’s already $2,500. If every senior gave $10, that’s $5000. As a collective, there is a great power to create change and have a real impact on current & future LC students. This is also a way to show your support for the programs you care most about– and a high number of donors encourages other people to give!

You can give online on a giving page using a credit or debit card, paypal or venmo. If you prefer to give cash, you can either make a gift at one of our in-person events throughout the year or you can contact us at spc@lclark.edu to arrange a time to make a gift.

Because of online processing fees, we can’t accept a gift of less than $5 (even through services like Venmo). However, if you’d prefer to give less than $5, we accept cash gifts of $1 or more. If you’d prefer to give cash, please email us at spc@lclark.edu to make arrangements.

You can give at any time of the year to any fund and have your gift counted towards senior gift. If you’d like to donate specifically as part of our Senior Giving campaign, visit the giving form to learn more. 

There are lots of important areas of campus you can support with your gift! Donations to the Annual Fund go to the areas of greatest need in a given school year (including maintaining facilities, providing financial aid, and much more). You can also choose to donate to a more specific area, such as specific academic departments and offices on campus, and resources like Watzek Library, Financial Aid, etc.

We’d love to have your support in any form! This can look like getting involved in the Senior Gift campaign & contributing your thoughts/ideas– to join us please contact us at spc@lclark.edu. This can also look like signal boosting & asking others to give– you can share the giving link on your social media, share it with friends and others.

This FAQ page is a work in progress, and the only way we can improve it is with feedback from you! Please share your questions with us at our email, spc@lclark.edu, and we will do our best to answer them.