Every Gift Makes an Impact
By Michelle G. McRuiz
Philanthropy. It’s a three-dollar word that conjures images of wealth and prestige. But at its core, philanthropy is simply a desire to promote the welfare of another. From that desire comes action, and that’s where people may hesitate. Questions and doubts surface: How can I afford to give as a student or a new graduate? Would my gift even make an impact? How can I think about providing with so much else going on?
This is where the power of collective giving comes in. Many programs and campaigns at UNM welcome gifts of any size. Here are a few examples.
Rounding up at the Student Union Building (SUB) to support the Lobo Food Pantry during the week leading up to UNM Big Give.
The Lobo Food Pantry opened in 2014 to help students reduce their food insecurity and better focus on their education rather than where their next meal is coming from.
The pantry is free to all UNM students. It offers essential groceries and supplies in a setting that looks and feels like a regular store.
Making a gift of any size during UNM Big Give, the 24-hour campaign that kicks off February 21. Donors can direct their gifts to any school, college, program, or department.
It’s a day when Lobos worldwide can think about the changes they’d like to see at UNM and New Mexico and help make them happen.
The excitement of a one-day campaign is infectious. It can inspire “flash philanthropists” to consider other ways to give back.
Contributing a minimum of $5 to one of several crowdfunding projects listed on ImpactUNM.
At least 100 crowdfunding projects per year are offered. Many of them have fundraising goals of $5,000 or less.
Projects range from scholarships to covering conference travel costs for students to holiday gift cards for UNM students who are also parents.
These avenues of giving emphasize the number of individual gifts rather than the amount of any one donation. And it helps the donor feel like they have made a real difference.
Keeping it small and local
Natalie Barka knows that made-a-difference feeling. A first-generation college student who graduated in 2017, Natalie is now a UNM Young Alumni Board member. She took advantage of the Lobo Food Pantry during her student days and wanted to help other students facing food insecurity. Now, she donates what she can to the program. She prefers to keep it local when deciding where and how she wants to make an impact.
“I like to think about basic needs and values,” Natalie says. “I’m proud that I can provide a little help in my community.”
Getting others involved
Unlike significant estate gifts that stand independently, donations bring students, friends, family, and strangers together to support a good cause. Crowdfunding, UNM Big Give, and just spreading the word can turn many small gifts into something more significant:
In 2023, Big Give raised more than $800,000 from 2,517 donors in 1,1889 minutes.
During the same time frame, the rounding-up program at the SUB collected just over $1,100 from about the same number of students.
Natalie joined the Young Alumni Board scholarship committee in 2020 and began donating small amounts of money. “Then I got others involved,” she says. “My sister, brother-in-law, husband, his sister – all young alums. We got together and started donating, and we’ve now had our first scholarship recipient.”
The impact I would like to make is to know that young people have access to basic needs and are utilizing services, scholarships, and other resources they need because life is hard,” Natalie continues.
Mitzie R. Begay
A collective effort
When Michael “Mick” Leo, MD, a UNM School of Medicine faculty member, set up the Mitzie R. Begay Four Corners Endowed Scholarship Fund in 2019 to honor an influential woman he worked with at Fort Defiance Indian Hospital in Arizona, he understood the power of collective giving. “I wasn’t in a position to endow the Fund individually,” Dr. Leo says, “but I had the energy to contact friends and colleagues from my Indian Health Service days in Fort Defiance. We raised the amount required for endowment within a year of the Fund’s inception.”
Subsequent growth of the Fund benefitted greatly from many donations of $1,000 and under, and these have added up. Four years on, the scholarship has funded multiple recipients, and award amounts will increase each year as the Fund grows. The goal is to support UNM Native American students in health care careers and social work to complete their education and to return to work in Native communities.
“Every year, I send an appeal to potential donors,” Dr. Leo says. “If you reach out and ask, and the cause is somewhat unique, people hopefully will be interested. It’s only through that collective effort that it will happen.”
Dr. Leo is grateful to close friends, family, colleagues, and friends of Fort Defiance Hospital and to UNM Emergency Medicine faculty colleagues for all the support they have provided to the Fund over the past four-and-a-half years.
Dr. Leo says the Fund is a long-term project requiring regular effort. That commitment is at the heart of philanthropy. It goes far beyond Big Give or a one-time donation. Natalie Barka calls it “creating a financial habit to donate.” Dr. Leo compares it to a garden.
“I think it has to be treated like a garden,” he says of the ongoing work. “You keep feeding it, and it continues to grow.”