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The 24-Hour Challenge is Rice’s annual giving day where all members of the Rice community — including alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff — are called to give to the causes at Rice they love the most.

This year, Chuck Whitten ’99 and Lori Rudge Whitten ’98 are offering a challenge to their fellow Owls: when 4,700 alumni and students make a gift of any size on April 7, 2022, the Whittens will donate $250,000 to support need-based scholarships through The Rice Investment.

Whether you choose to support student scholarships, residential college life, excellent teaching or urgently needed research, your gift will help secure an additional $250,000 in scholarship funds for today’s students.

Everyone has a unique reason for giving, whether you want to pay it forward, invest in excellence or enhance affordability for all deserving students.

Your gift is an investment in Rice’s people — the hard-working and creative students from all backgrounds who aspire to make a difference, the excellent faculty scholars who are producing urgently needed insights and technologies, and the staff who support Rice’s high-achieving community every day. Thank you in advance for your support!

Gifts from undergraduate alumni, graduate alumni and students will count toward the 4,700 donor goal to earn the $250,000 in need-based scholarships.

All other gifts to Rice from parents, faculty, staff and friends will be counted in the 24-Hour Challenge results.

Once I make my gift on April 7, how can I stay updated and involved?

Be sure to monitor the leaderboards on the 24-Hour Challenge website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to get progress reports throughout the day to share with your Owl network. Tell your friends and family why you support Rice and encourage them to be one of the 4,700 needed donors, too!

Tag our social media accounts and use #1Day1Rice so that we can see your posts. (We might even share them, too.)

Why is my participation important?

Your gift of any size, each year, is part of a tradition of support that has helped Rice remain strong during challenging times. This powerful support generated by the Rice community is essential to advancing education, research and service.

In addition, gifts from undergraduate alumni count toward Rice’s annual alumni giving participation rate, which influences college rankings from publications like U.S. News and World Report. These rankings heavily influence how third parties view Rice and affect the university’s ability to secure grants from corporations and other organizations.

Yes! Make this year’s payment toward your pledge on April 7 to be counted toward the challenge goal.

If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you can still designate your gift to the area of your choice. When you give online on April 7, select the “other” category and type in the name of your fund.

If you and your spouse are both alumni — or proud Owl parents — one gift will automatically count as two participants in the results.