ETSU’s annual Day of Giving is an opportunity for students, faculty, alumni and other members of the ETSU family to donate money to worthy causes on campus.
ETSU’s Day of Giving is coming up fast for the spring semester. This event allows members of the ETSU family to donate their money to on-campus causes that they deem to be important. According to Executive Director of Annual Giving Jon See, there are around 2,000 funds on campus that are accepting donations. For this event, the donors get to decide which fund their money goes to.
Some of the giving options this year include funds for various academic departments, campus sports, scholarships and campus organizations. Three of the funds that are being specifically highlighted this year are Bucky’s Food Pantry, the Buccaneer Student Crisis Fund and the Noland Family First Generation Scholarship.
Bucky’s Food Pantry is well-known for providing food and small home goods to individuals who may be struggling financially. While they are always looking for food donations and volunteers, this event is specifically working to raise money to help them continue their operations.
The Buccaneer Student Crisis Fund was started in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to help students combat some of the financial struggles that could threaten their education. This includes assistance with medical bills, rent and transportation costs. This fund has been able to help hundreds of students and will continue to do so with the money raised during this event.
The Noland Family First Generation Scholarship is a new initiative started by the Noland family to help support the academic goals of first-generation college students who are coming from low-income families. This year marks the tenth year that the Nolands have been with ETSU, so this fund is just as much serving first generation students as it is honoring the Noland family’s commitment to the university.
Participating in these fundraising events helps donors to show their passion for the community that has been built around ETSU. The money raised will allow the university to continue to achieve its vision of “developing a world-class environment to enhance student success and improve the quality of life in the region and beyond.”
The University Advancement Office has worked hard this semester to make giving as easy, fun and accessible as possible.
“The idea is to really capitalize on electronic media, primarily social media, to involve the younger generations to the extent possible and make this giving easy,” said See.
Students can expect to receive emails from University Advancement that will contain a link to the Giving Portal. Donating is then as simple as following the link and selecting the fund that you would like to donate to. Donors will then be able to encourage others to follow suit by creating social media posts about their donations, challenging their peers to donate, matching other donations and posting a Personal Plea through the donation portal to spread the word of the event.
Seniors who choose to attend the Gold Cord ceremony this semester on April 19 will be able to donate there in person and receive gold cords to be worn at commencement in recognition of their donation.
There are lots of fun challenges and games in store for donors once the official Day of Giving begins. This includes scavenger hunts and social media contests where the winner will be able to chose a fund that will receive an additional $1,000 donation.
“We want to remind people that giving can be fun,” said See.
Anyone who is looking to advocate for the event is welcome to use any of the promotional resources found on the event’s ETSU website: https://www.etsu.edu/advancement/giving/dayofgiving.php. The donation portal is live now and will continue to be until the end of the official Day of Giving. This 24-hour event will run from 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 19, to 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20.
To donate early visit www.etsu.edu/give. For more information on this event please follow the links in this article or visit the office of University Advancement’s ETSU page at https://www.etsu.edu/advancement/default.php.
