Spring is fast approaching, and the Day of Giving committee is preparing for their third year of the one-day-only, campus-wide event on March 22.

The Day of Giving is a 24 hour fundraising challenge organized by a group of students. It is a big way non-profit organizations can make money.

According to Samm Stutzman, one of the students on the planning committee, only 75 percent of the money students pay in tuition costs goes towards their experiences: the rest comes from donations.

“I never realized how much the funds contribute to everything,” Stutzman said.

Last year, there were five social media fundraising challenges and one grand prize challenge, and Greek Life and the college of business were the only two organizations that won in all areas. They got to keep the money they raised, and they have done a lot with it.

Dustin Hargis, the assistant director of student life, said Greek Life used the funds they won last year to send a few students to a national conference in Indianapolis during the second weekend of February.

“The Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values brings together around 3,700 Greek students from across the country, and they work on developing their leadership skills, learning how to manage their community and campus, and discuss pressing and relevant topics such as sexual assault and racism,” Hargis said. “They learn how to develop tools to engage with these community and campus issues. Those are really moving and inspiring experiences that will build our community.”

Looking into this year, Hargis does not know what to expect, “but it is really exciting.” Whatever money Greek Life raises through donations, they get to keep and utilize. That money is going right back into building Greek Life.

The college of business won the five thousand dollar grand prize for completing the all-day challenge, in addition to the other smaller challenge winnings and donations they received. That money was used to renovate the COBE Cafe with high-top, data integrated tables and a new espresso machine, and redesign the entire lobby to be a more business-like and sophisticated congregation spot.

As the Dean of the College of Business, Elad Granot said the primary focus of everything the college does is to benefit its students.

“What we loved about the Day of Giving is it’s specifically designed to help our students and that’s why we’re here. We were incredibly motivated last year, we did not ignore our competitive nature as business students and faculty. Once a challenge is issued we are more than willing to participate in the spirit of the competition with the understanding that no matter who wins, the students win in the end,” Granot said.

Even though the structure of the challenges and the donation process has changed, Granot and Hargis are looking forward to seeing what the students and community members can do to engage and to give back.

The Day of Giving’s student team conducts research and plans different strategies and events for the Day of Giving with a faculty advisor supervising their work.

As a completely student run day, it is a PR and marketing challenge that students participate in through social media.
“This year we invited Vinyl Marketing to help us shoot videos,” Stutzman said. “They will also be on campus the day of, getting shots of campus and students.”

Stutzman said the goal of this day is to get 400 donors. They are looking for alumni to donate, but students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome to give back as well.

The challenges will remain social media based, but they will change this year.

Donors will specifically place their money with a certain organization or group on campus so everyone has an “equal opportunity to receive funds, instead of just one or two groups.”

There will also be T-shirts again, and the planning committee will be looking for student volunteers to help pass them out and to run the various booths on campus throughout the day. Sign ups for volunteering will be available in the student center.

“We are looking for student philanthropy. It’s going to be a great day, so come out and raise money for your school,” Stutzman said.