For 17 years, graduating seniors in the Isenberg School of Management have been leaving their mark through the annual Senior Gift Campaign, which funds projects that leave a legacy and positively impact future students.

This year, the Class of 2026 continued the tradition by collecting donations from 83 percent of its graduating class—beating last year’s participation rate by 1 percent. The students raised more than $10,000 and unlocked an additional $10,000 gift in challenge funding from Beth Gamel ’78 MS, bringing their senior class gift total to over $20,000.

This year's senior class gift will fund furnishings and design elements in the newly constructed balance room located in the Newman Center on Thatcher Road in Amherst. The balance room is a technology-free relaxation room where students can decompress, unplug, and recharge amid the demands of college life. It’s supported by gifts from the classes of 2026, 2025, and 2024.

“Every year the senior gift contributes to making Isenberg a special place, highlighting how much graduates care about their school and the students that follow them,” says Dean Anne Massey. “The annual gift allows us to do things that we might not otherwise be able to do, including the Isenberg Balance Room which is slated to open this fall.”

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“We want to create a space where students can unplug in such a digital world,” says Emily Reid ’26, social media coordinator for the Isenberg Senior Gift Committee. “It’s hard for students to really get away from their phones, computers, and the stress school can bring.”

The Isenberg Senior Gift Campaign first began with the Class of 2009. While participation in the campaign started small, with less than 10 percent of students donating, it has steadily grown over the last two decades. By 2016, 42 percent of graduating seniors were giving to the campaign.

In recent years, participation has climbed even higher, reaching 80 percent in 2023, 81 percent in 2024, and 82 percent in 2025. The current record for senior class participation remains with the Class of 2019, which achieved an impressive 84 percent participation rate. What makes these milestones even more remarkable is that each graduating class has continued to grow in size, making it more difficult each year to produce participation gains.

Past senior gifts have supported enhancements in the Berthiaume Business Innovation Hub, such as phone and device charging stations, a stock ticker, and a photo booth for professional headshots. They've also funded several scholarships for fellow Isenberg students.

Because the Senior Gift Campaign emphasizes participation over donation size, students can get involved with a minimum gift of $5, which has been helpful in increasing student giving. Students now make up nearly one-third of Isenberg’s donor base each year, with roughly 1,000 students annually supporting either the Senior Gift Campaign or other Isenberg initiatives.

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“I think focusing on participation rather than the amount is important because it makes the campaign feel more inclusive and meaningful,” Reid says. “Not everyone has the same financial situation, so making anyone who donates feel valued is a great way to look at it.”

Seniors who donate also receive a graduation cord and a T-shirt that reads: Driven to Give.

“When students see their friends getting involved by wearing the T-shirt, or they see the stock ticker or the charging stations, they usually want to know how they can get involved, too,” says committee president Julia Elek ’26. “It’s a simple but powerful message of paying it forward.”

The campaign is also about building connections and creating a culture of philanthropy among students before they graduate. 

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“Having a community is really what this Senior Gift Committee is all about,” says Sofia Wenz-Bazan ’28, one of the committee’s event coordinators. “Participation rates, financial goals, all that is good, but really, it’s about making the community stronger and bringing the graduating class together in its final days.”

Wenz-Bazan says students are often drawn to the campaign because they want to feel part of something bigger than themselves.

“The way I see the committee is we’re a gateway to bigger things in Isenberg,” she explains. “We’re the gateway of access to alumni, access to faculty, and access to networking, so I try to tell students that when they’re giving, they’re part of something bigger than just the current class gift at Isenberg.”

That the campaign is largely run by students has also helped contribute to its longstanding success, says committee member Victor Lam ’26.

“It’s not a campaign by the school or advising or the undergraduate success office,” Lam explains. “It means more when it’s coming directly from students.”

Because each student’s financial situation is different, Lam says the committee tries to be thoughtful when asking students to contribute.

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“It’s not about getting money from our students,” he says. “It’s about making sure that students think about Isenberg after they’ve graduated, achieved success, and then pay it forward.”

Victor Lam ’26

There are 20 committee members and two advisors who work throughout the year to determine how to make the campaign a success—organizing events, posting on social media, tabling, and spending time trying to make philanthropy feel more accessible. 

This year, the committee hosted Senior Casino Night and Senior Trivia Night, and they tabled at several other events, including during Driven to Give Week in the fall semester.

“During that week, we got so many people coming up to the table and asking us questions about who we are and what we were doing,” Wenz-Bazan says. “I felt like that was when I was really educating the student population on who we are.”

For Elek, serving as president has highlighted the long-term impact the campaign has on students both present and future.

“As a freshman, I was using all the resources that the previous seniors provided for me through their senior gifts, and I had no idea. Now I’m the one in charge of giving back to the future students. “It really warms my heart that I might get to make a difference for another freshman that’s nervous going into a new college—maybe one like me, who’s coming from out of state. It feels like a full circle moment.”

Julia Elek ’26

Fuel student success by making a gift to the Isenberg Senior Gift Campaign and learn more about the Isenberg Senior Gift Committee.