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“It’s a powerful thing to be able to give back to your community — one that’s provided you with so much.”

~ Sophie McCauley ’25

The ethos of the Senior Gift program is for each graduating class to support future students through contributions to the W&L Fund. This year’s Senior Gift Committee co-chairs, Sophie McCauley ’25 and Uno Christopher ’25, say their class is on track to exceed their goals as the finish line of Commencement approaches.

The Senior Gift Committee, comprised of students in consultation with Katherine Dau ’19, director of the W&L Fund, began the 2024-2025 fiscal year intending to raise $6,000 and reach a 70% participation rate among the Class of 2025. Their efforts have accrued 136 donors and counting, and the group has now exceeded its monetary goal.

Christopher is a business major and computer science minor from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who arrived at W&L to play football. He fell in love with the campus during his first visit, a feeling that has remained with him throughout his W&L experience.

“This has been my home,” said Christopher, adding that his role on the Senior Gift Committee has been an invaluable opportunity to reconnect with his classmates and apply his leadership skills to an important endeavor.

“I’ve enjoyed hearing people’s stories about why they want to give back,” Christopher said.

McCauley, a sociology and global politics double major with a minor in data science, is a beneficiary of the Dallas Honor Scholarship and said her inspiration to get involved in the Senior Gift Committee came from her appreciation of the alumni who have made her education possible.

“I often think, as I go throughout my day, that all my classes, labs and all of the other things I have access to on a daily basis benefit in some way from the W&L Fund,” McCauley said.

Dau emphasized the importance of recruiting co-chairs who hold the respect and admiration of their classmates.

“We’re looking for students who have thought a lot about their time at W&L and what they’ve gotten out it,” Dau said, “and what impact they would like to have as alumni. They help us recruit the rest of the committee, which we then begin educating about the W&L Fund, philanthropy and what it means to be an alum and carry a legacy forward.”

The Senior Gift Program began 100 years ago with a letter from the Class of 1925 to university President Henry L. Smith detailing the class’s parting gift of $1,800, with a 92% participation rate. The classes of 1927 through 1931 funded the construction of the footbridge leading to Wilson Field. Now, two student leaders are selected each year as committee co-chairs and work closely with Dau and her team to recruit another 35 to 55 volunteers from their class. The committee coordinates events like coffee chats, tabling in Elrod Commons and call nights to try to reach as many members of the Class of 2025 as possible and to engage them in meaningful conversations about how their contributions to the W&L Fund will impact student life on campus.

“Everyone involved in the committee is assigned roughly 10 people in the class to reach out to, which is why we want to have a big committee to distribute the workload,” McCauley said. “The goal is to sit down and talk with students about what they care about and connect that to philanthropy.”

The program has instilled in generations of W&L students the importance of giving back to the university, Dau said, particularly to the W&L Fund, which allows their gift to have an immediate impact.

“The W&L Fund is really a lifeline,” Dau said, adding that W&L Fund dollars can be spent more easily than contributions to the endowment, so students who donate know their contributions will be used right away for programs that benefit current students.

A reception hosted by the President’s Society, open to students who donate $100 or more, is planned at Hotchkiss House during the week of Commencement to allow the committee to celebrate their success. The President's Society will hold a reception during Young Alumni Weekend this fall to celebrate the Class of 2025 reaching its goal. Classes that exceed the 70% participation goal are added to a commemorative plaque in the Webster Family Plaza.

Dau said the program offers valuable learning opportunities outside the classroom, fostering a sense of legacy in the graduating class and a responsibility toward the institution for those whose senior gift may be their first donation to W&L. And she said that McCauley and Christopher have been exceptional examples of leadership this year.

“We plan to crush our goals,” Christopher said.

Dau emphasized that experiences like this, as well as initiatives like W&L’s annual Philanthropy Education Week in March, are excellent opportunities for students to learn about philanthropy and the long-term impact of support on the student experience. These lessons will carry with them as they transition into engaged members of the W&L alumni network.

McCauley said that legacy has inspired her and so many other students with whom she has spoken.

“It’s a powerful thing to be able to give back to your community — one that’s provided you with so much,” she said. “Being able to help students see that vision for future years is important.”