Entering its second decade as a traditional fundraising organization for the University of Tennessee at Martin, the 11th annual Captain’s Challenge set records this year in dollars raised and total number of donors.
Held April 2, this year’s Captain’s Challenge saw $579,291 in giving from 1,665 donors. The previous records were more than $470,000 gifted in 2022 and 1,441 donors in 2024.
Matt Borden, the UT Martin director of annual giving, said the event progressed at a rapid rate.
“It was absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “We ended up with approximately $200,000 throughout the silent day. We were optimistic and a little worried that so many early donors (Tuesday) would affect the next day, but that was not the case.”
Borden said Tuesday is referred to as “VIP day,” where previous Captain’s Challenge donors are encouraged to make early gifts and take advantage of the matching funds available. More than 20 unique matches were available in this year’s Captain’s Challenge to enhance the amount gifted by donors.
The College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences had the highest single-designation gift amount at $108,000, followed by the Office of Intercollegiate Athletics at $97,301 and Campus-Wide Initiatives at $94,707. Several sports also had their own separate gifting designation and were among the 500 specific allocations for gifting. Those separate gifts were not counted among the Office of Intercollegiate Athletics total.
The College of Humanities and Fine Arts set its goal at $25,000 and received $64,100, more than 256% of its goal, the highest percentage over goal in this year’s Challenge.
The Challenge’s Advocate Group, which had 51 advocates, provided a huge impact to the Captain’s Challenge.
“Through their peer-to-peer fundraising, they collectively raised $33,000, which was very impressive,” Borden said.
Gifts through the Captain’s Challenge came from 38 states – as far away as the Pacific Coast states of Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington – as well as from the United Kingdom and Australia.
A complete list of Captain’s Challenge designations and more information can be found at challenge.utm.edu. For more information about giving to UT Martin, visit alumni.utm.edu/give or contact Borden at mborden5@utm.edu or 731-881-3611.
