GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida-Georgia.

Arkansas-Kentucky.

Ole Miss-Mississippi State.

Well-known athletic rivalries across the Southeastern Conference have now inspired a new competition — this time on the philanthropic playing field. The SEC Challenge is a competitive fund-raising campaign among SEC universities seeking to increase support from young alumni while having some fun tying into athletics-based rivalries.

The SEC Challenge represents a collaborative effort between staff and volunteers at universities throughout the SEC to enhance alumni giving rates. A Web site will provide monthly updates on the status of the competition.

The competition is between undergraduate alumni who graduated since 1996 (GOLD alumni — Graduates of the Last Decade) and the winner will be determined by the percentage of alumni who make charitable donations to their alma maters. The competition does not consider the total amount of money raised from this group.

“The passion and rivalry of the SEC is unparalleled,” said Devin Mathias, director of The Florida Fund at the University of Florida, this year’s host institution for the competition. “This challenge provides an opportunity for our institutions to educate alumni on the importance of private support, while having a good time with the competitive spirit which already exists.”

The inaugural SEC competition runs July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006. Participating institutions in other conferences are already poised for a rematch. Similar programs have been successful for several years in the Big Ten and ACC conferences and a Big East Challenge is set to kickoff July 1 as well.

The stakes are high for the competition, although bragging rights are truly all that the winning institution can claim. Susan Neyman, University of Arkansas director of annual giving, said: “Alumni are often 7 to 10 years past graduation before they begin to consider giving back to their alma mater. It is important to get them thinking about private gift support — at any level — much sooner after graduation when they have a fresher recollection of all of the benefits they receive from their education.”

David Jones, director of annual and special giving at the University of Georgia, added, “When you consider the value of increased participation from this crucial group of alumni - how can any of us lose? This is the future of philanthropic support for our universities.”

This year’s SEC Challenge includes nine of the 12 universities in the athletic conference: University of Arkansas, Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee.

To learn more, visit www.sec-challenge.org or http://gold.uark.edu.