Day of Giving Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Largest Day of Giving Ever
The University of Central Arkansas had the 10th anniversary of its annual Day of Giving on March 7, 2024.
As part of Day of Giving, alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, friends and family members are challenged to donate any amount during the 24-hour campaign to support the university. By raising funds from this event, the university can support a wide range of programs, providing assistance for both students and faculty with academic opportunities, financial assistance and more.
The university’s first Day of Giving took place in 2015. The Day of Giving concept was very new then, and several universities were still experimenting with the idea. During that time, the university needed additional funds for its emergency student fund, which supports tuition and books for students. To raise money for the fund, the university decided to create its own Day of Giving. In 2015, UCA had a student population of over 11,000 students, and the goal of the first Day of Giving was to raise at least one dollar from each student. That year, the event raised more than double its estimated goal. Inspired by the event’s success, UCA made the Day of Giving an annual event.
UCA’s Day of Giving 2017 focused on its Annual Fund, which supports emergency student funds, faculty grants, and other programs. In 2018, the university expanded the event to include 40 funds across its foundation. Each of the 40 funds represents a different aspect of campus life, including student affairs, athletics, community outreach and more. In subsequent years, the event was opened to all funds across UCA’s foundation.
“Day of Giving has allowed my office to supplement the financial needs of the student groups we work with,” said Angela Jackson ’88, ’90, the associate dean and director of the Office of Diversity and Community. “Since year two of our time as a featured fund, we have enlisted the help of students who benefit from our office’s services to create videos to share on social media. We have also held a couple of phone-a-thons, which allowed students to contact potential donors. All the money received as a part of Day of Giving goes back into student programming and small book scholarships. The Day of Giving platform allows us to raise funds for student activities that can’t be funded using the operating budget.”
Jackson continued, “The impact of this important funding benefits the campus community because those donations provide an additional source of funding that can be used for scholarship purposes and outside-the-box research and programming ideas. Most importantly, it gives our alumni an opportunity to give back. People are inspired to give to causes they believe in and will donate more because of that.”
“To me, it goes right back to the students, so every dollar you give here at UCA turns around and goes right back to the students, impacting their collegiate experience in some way,” said Haley Fowler ’06, senior director of Annual Giving. “Whether through a new building, scholarship dollars, or classroom equipment, students get to have that hands-on experience. The impact to me is campus-wide. It impacts everyone with all the different opportunities they will get to learn inside and outside the classroom.”
“Each year, I find this Day of Giving and the celebration to be an especially poignant expression of the dedication and love our students, our faculty and staff, donors, and friends have for our university. And after 10 years, this particular Day of Giving is no exception,” said UCA President Houston Davis.
In this year’s 2024 Day of Giving, 2,369 donors from 41 states and 73 countries worldwide contributed $1,466,334, of which 36% were students. Over the last decade, the event has raised a total of $6,664,420 from 19,008 donations.
“Day of Giving is an incredible success, both today and over the last decade. It’s humbling to see our alumni and friends who give year after year on Day of Giving, but perhaps even more exciting to see when someone is inspired to give for the very first time,” said Fowler. “To me, the event’s greatest success is just educating our community and our alums about the impact of fundraising and what it can do for our campus, what it can do for our departments, our programs, our colleges, and just how impactful a donor’s donation can be. To me, that is the Day of Giving’s greatest success; it’s just allowing our constituents to give back.”