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Day of Giving, the University’s celebrated annual fundraising initiative, was a huge success this year, as evidenced by a collection that more than tripled that of the 2018 drive.
According to UF’s Office of Advancement, $100,565 was raised during a 24-hour period on March 20 and 21. A total of 584 gifts were collected; the goal was 250 donors. This far surpasses $28,698 collected in 2018.
Because of so many generous givers, more students will receive scholarships, programs will continue to flourish, undergraduate research will provide valuable learning opportunities for students, student-athletes will train harder, more students will serve others, and so much more.
The success of this year’s campaign, titled “Oiler Up, Give Back,” was primarily due to creative fundraising efforts that made giving to the University fun, easy, and meaningful for all participants. Some of those included:
• Providing an incentive to the first 250 donors that matched their gift of any amount with $100 to the Findlay Fund, thanks to a generous donor;
• Allowing those who donated during a two-hour time period on March 20 to ring the bell on Cory Street Mall and partake in free pizza;
• Enabling donations to be made through GiveCampus, an online service that works seamlessly and rapidly;
• Promoting the fact that donations could be designated toward any UF area, such as the Mazza Museum Fund or one of UF’s six colleges;
• Offering free graphics in a social media toolkit so that donors could share news about their altruism online; and
• Producing entertaining Day of Giving videos for social media platforms.
UF is grateful to everyone who helped make Day of Giving such an important day for students, especially all donors, and hard-working employees who dedicated many hours to special events and communication activities.