In 1979 the Pail and Shovel Party planted more than 1,000 fake pink flamingos on Bascom Hill in celebration of winning re-election to head the Wisconsin Student Organization, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society website. Today, the University of Wisconsin revisits the decades old prank in a new way with the first annual “Fill the Hill” campaign.

Plastic pink flamingos will cover Bascom Hill from the bottom up to benchmark the amount of gifts given by alumni and friends through the Share the Wonderful campaign currently taking place on campus, Nate Moll, University Communications manager of online communications said.

Share the Wonderful is UW’s annual, collaborative campaign to encourage alumni to donate to the university in support of education and research, according to the campaign’s website.

“Fill the Hill” is a mini-campaign within Share the Wonderful, Moll said.

As state funding for the university continues to decrease and now only supports approximately 18 percent of the university’s budget, there is more need to look toward philanthropy and private support in order to maintain UW’s academic excellence, he said.

“This is an institution that has a high level of academic rigor, but we also know how to have a little fun,” Moll said.

The resources and flexibility afforded to the chancellor and academic deans made “Fill the Hill” possible, Wendy Hathaway, community manager for the Wisconsin Alumni Association said. The campaign was designed to increase awareness among students of how much alumni contribute to the university, so when they graduate they are inclined to give back and allow students of future generations to have the same positive experience they were able to have, she said.

The flamingos are a visual way to represent the generosity of alumni to the university and the impact it has on the strength of UW’s campus, Hathaway said.

“It is a fun spin on the importance of giving,” Hathaway said. “Giving is as much a part of the university tradition as the flamingos are.”

Last year, the Share the Wonderful campaign raised more than $10 million, Moll said. This year the goal is $11 million from more than 10 percent of UW alumni, he said.

Tara Brennan contributed to the reporting of this article.