Fourth Annual Giving Day Is Today

Class Gift cochairs Louis Vitti (Questrom’17) and Victoria Olakojo (Questrom’17). The Class Gift committee is sponsoring a challenge: clubs and organizations can compete for matching funds based on who has the most student donors by the end of Giving Day. Photo by Dan Watkins

Since launching in 2014, BU’s annual Giving Day has raised over $3.6 million from more than 15,000 students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the University. Giving Day is a 24-hour fundraising drive to benefit the BU Annual Fund, which supports the University’s schools and colleges, clubs and organizations, the Community Service Center, athletics, Study Abroad experiences, libraries, campus sustainability initiatives, and other areas.

The fourth annual Giving Day takes place today, Wednesday, April 5. There will be celebrations on the Charles River and Medical Campuses, alumni events across the nation, and a communitywide social media campaign featuring the people, programs, and causes at BU that Terriers love most.

“Giving Day brings our community together for one day, with the goal of giving back to BU in a variety of forms,” says Dan Allenby, the University’s assistant vice president for annual giving. “We now have an event with supporters who span the globe and give to over 400 unique causes on campus.”

Giving Day is an effort to make BU’s global community feel more connected by igniting school spirit around a common cause. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on April 5, Terriers are encouraged to donate to the area of their choice at BU. As in previous years, gifts made to schools, colleges, varsity athletics, and club sports will unlock bonus funds. Additional challenges sponsored by alumni will offer more incentive to give. Dollars raised for particular causes and by various groups (e.g., school vs. school, team vs. team, and alumni vs. students) are tracked, leaderboard-style, on the Giving Day website.

An even bigger impact

Another aspect of Giving Day is a challenge sponsored by the 2017 Class Gift committee, which encourages current students to support their favorite campus activity. The clubs or organizations with the most student donors will win a share of $1,500 in bonus funds.

“I love to support BU on Giving Day specifically because every dollar I give has an even greater impact on the causes I care about,” says Class Gift cochair Louis Vitti (Questrom’17). Last year more than 300 students took advantage of the challenge, and the committee hopes more will participate this year.

The challenge is meant to educate students about the impact a group can have on the community. More than 15 recent graduates contributed a portion of the matching funds as a way to encourage students to join them. Today, students 21 and older will have the chance to network with many of the challenge sponsors during a reception from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the BU Pub. There will be complimentary snacks and a cash bar.

In addition, hour-long challenges will be highlighted throughout the day on BU Alumni Association social media accounts. A full schedule with winners will be updated in real time on the Giving Day website.

On-campus activities

There are several ways to be part of Giving Day, in person and online. On the Charles River Campus, the GSU Link will be Giving Day headquarters from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Activities will include a photo booth and appearances by Rhett. Deejays from the student radio station WTBU will provide the soundtrack for the day, and participating student groups will host information tables. Giving stations will be set up on the Medical Campus, with opportunities to be featured in photos and posts shared over social media.

Social media activity

Participants can use the hashtag #BUGivingDay on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts to join the conversation and to check out what others are saying about Giving Day. You can also follow the day’s activities on the University’s Snapchat account, @bostonu, and participate by using special geofilters on the app based on campus location. Participants can tell the community why they donated by posting videos, photos, or testimonials using the #IGivetoBU hashtag.

Lindsay Roth can be reached at liroth@bu.edu.

Watch a video about this year’s Giving Day above.