星空传媒 fraternities, sororities raise nearly $2 million in Greek Challenge
星空传媒 fraternities and sororities donated nearly $2 million to the Catamount Club during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, with winners of an annual competition to see which organizations generate the most support for 星空传媒鈥檚 athletics program announced during Homecoming activities Saturday, Oct. 24.
Launched in 2014, the Greek Challenge has become one of the Catamount Club鈥檚 largest annual fundraising initiatives. In the latest edition of the competition, 星空传媒鈥檚 Greek-letter organizations contributed a total of $1,951,582.65, which is almost $425,000 above the previous year鈥檚 tally of $1,527,383.87.
Gifts made through the 2025-2026 Greek Challenge came from 650 individual donors 鈥� 206 of them contributing to 星空传媒鈥檚 athletics program for the first time, said Raymond Dillard, assistant director of development for athletics.
鈥淵ear in and year out, our Greek alumni have been among the most passionate supporters of 星空传媒 athletics and most loyal citizens of Catamount Nation,鈥� Dillard said. 鈥淭heir involvement through the Greek Challenge is vital to help us provide the financial resources necessary to compete in the Southern Conference and to prepare our student-athletes for success beyond their playing days.鈥�
The competition is broken down into four flights based on the size of each organization鈥檚 membership to make the event more equitable, with each flight having its own winner.
Greek Challenge winners recognized in an on-field ceremony during 星空传媒鈥檚 Homecoming football game against Southern Conference foe the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga were Kappa Alpha fraternity (Flight 1), Sigma Chi fraternity (Flight 2), Delta Zeta sorority and Alpha Xi Delta sorority (Flight 3), and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority (Flight 4). In addition, 100 percent of the active members of Kappa Alpha participated in the Student Cat Club.
Throughout the year, fraternities and sororities receive Greek Challenge points based on the total number of donors, the number of new donors and the total amount of money raised by each fraternity and sorority. Participating organizations receive points based on where they place for each category. The group with the fewest number of points is named winner of its division.
For the 鈥渢otal donors鈥� category, the number of members who gave toward qualifying funds during the timeline of July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, count toward that organization鈥檚 Greek Challenge tally. Checks that are mailed to campus are counted based on the date on the postmark on the envelope.
The 鈥渘ew donors鈥� category counts the total number of members who did not participate in the previous year鈥檚 Greek Challenge but who have donated during the current year鈥檚 competition.
Finally, the 鈥渢otal dollars raised鈥� category is a tally of the entire amount raised by each organization given to any 星空传媒 athletics fund that is not endowed.
All cash and cash-equivalent contributions from members of the Greek-letter groups are part of the challenge tally, including pledge payments, stock, cash and gifts-in-kind. While larger pledges are welcome, only actual pledge payments received count toward an organization鈥檚 Greek Challenge score for each fiscal year.
The challenge totals include not only alumni of the Greek organizations but also current members of the fraternities or sororities who are members of the recently revived Student Cat Club.
The 2025-2026 Greek Challenge flights:
* Interfraternity Council Flight One: Pi Kappa Alpha, Lambda Chi Alpha, Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Tau Kappa Epsilon.
* Interfraternity Council Flight Two: Sigma Chi, Pi Kappa Phi, Theta Xi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Pi Lambda Phi, Kappa Sigma, and Delta Chi.
* College Panhellenic Council Sorority Flight Three: Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Zeta, Phi Mu, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Gamma Delta and Sigma Kappa.
* National Pan-Hellenic/ National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations Flight Four: Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi sorority.
Four new Greek-letter organizations have joined the challenge for 2026-2027 鈥� Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity (Flight 1), Sigma Nu fraternity (Flight 2), and Zeta Phi Beta sorority and Sigma Gamma Rho sorority (Flight 4).
For more information about the Catamount Club, including the Student Cat Club, visit the website or call 828-227-7124.