Director of Student and Young Alumni Programs Harmonie Farrow said the competition's goal is to see which school can bring in the most gifts from exactly 1,500 young alumni by Sept. 28. 

Participation is open to alumni who graduated between 2002 and 2012, Farrow said.

Three years ago, SMU launched a “Fry the Frogs” campaign without any participation from TCU. Recently, TCU launched the “Pound the Ponies” campaign in response, Farrow said. The campaign is a competition between the two schools to see who can collect donations from 1,500 young alums first.

The winner of the challenge will be determined by the number of donations, not the total amount raised. SMU won the competition last year. 

“Even though we only had 934 young alumni make donations last year, we raised significantly more money than SMU, bringing in $117,939 in just three weeks,” Farrow said.

Currently, the university is 242 donors ahead of where it was last year at this time, Farrow said.

Chancellor Victor Boschini said the program was a great way to maintain contact with young alumni.

“Young alums are the hardest group to get reconnected," Boschini said. "They have the desire to be connected, but they are at stage in their life where they are busy with their jobs and families."

Recent alumnus Spencer Brown said anything that involves the TCU and SMU rivalry is important.

“Why not make a few donations and come together as young alumni?” Brown said. “I want TCU to beat SMU in any competition because they are our rival school.”

The contest ends Sept. 28, and young alumni can make donations here.