The giving season has officially begun at Kent State University with a new monthlong campaign that kicked off Nov. 1 and will run until the official nationwide Giving Tuesday on Nov. 28, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
“Kent State has participated in Giving Tuesday for the last four years, and each year it has grown and been more successful than the last,” says Danielle Hupp, associate director of annual giving at Kent State.
This year, the Giving Tuesday team has introduced crowdfunding as an option for faculty, staff, students or friends of the university to advocate for programs they care about. There are more than 40 crowdfunding campaigns available to choose from that impact all Kent State campuses.
“With the addition of crowdfunding, people from all around the campuses were able to create their own goal for their fund, so we wanted the initiative to be open for the whole month to allow them to reach their goal,” Ms. Hupp says.
For every 15 unique donors who donate $25 or more to a fund, the Kent State University Foundation is awarding a $500 Participation Boost to the fund. A unique donor is someone who donates to a fund for the first time; the donor can donate to multiple funds and be a unique donor for each first-time donation.
In addition to the crowdfunding campaigns, six microcampaigns have donors who have pledged to match donations. Those campaigns include the College of Architecture and Environmental Design Student Travel; College of Education, Health and Human Services’ Visiting Scholars; Traveling Stanzas at the Wick Poetry Center; College of Business Administration Study Abroad; Kent State Athletics; and the Flight Training Student Scholarship.
This year’s monthlong giving period helps to involve more faculty and staff, and some are specifically taking advantage of the crowdfunding capabilities. For example, the College of Education, Health and Human Services has eight crowdfunding campaigns and one microcampaign that represent each of the four schools in the college.
“Crowdfunding is actually giving more people the opportunity to get involved,” says Kedron Taylor, associate director of advancement for the College of Education, Health and Human Services. “Individual crowdfunders are able to share the campaigns on their social media pages, and the college’s own social media pages link to the campaigns.”
Faculty and staff are able to sign up for a payroll deduction, which allows a portion of their paycheck to be donated to the campaign of their choice. Different types of funds are open, including scholarship, student experience, building capital, global study away and research.
“We are giving power to the people,” Ms. Hupp says. “We know people are passionate about giving to special departments or organizations at Kent State, and crowdfunding allows them to do just that.”
In 2016, Kent State received a record-breaking $426,000 in donations, and Ms. Hupp says she would like to see more money raised but also much more participation this year, especially from Kent State alumni. Kent State President Beverly Warren has pledged $25,000 to the Presidential Scholars Program, a program that she is very passionate about.
Stay tuned for a special announcement about Giving Tuesday from President Warren on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
For more information about Kent State’s Giving Tuesday campaign and to make a donation, visit www.kent.edu/givingtuesday.