The 24-hour fundraising event that is Augustana’s 4th annual “A Day of Giving” took place on campus, in cities throughout the state, and even across the country on Apr. 19.
A Day of Giving is a massive endeavor that took this year’s committee around five months to prepare for. Cameron Hall, the college’s Director of Annual Giving, detailed some of what goes into the preparation.
“We put together a A Day of Giving committee,” said Hall. “It’s comprised of people from both our advancement office and our communications and marketing office. We start to think through all of the components that go into A Day of Giving.”
Planning begins at this point for who will organize and run events across the country, who will do the same for the on campus event, and what the goals for the fundraising will be, among other considerations.
Spreading the event outside of just the Augustana campus, around 30 party boxes were sent to alumni, donors, and even a prospective student who wanted to host their own fundraising event for the day. Boxes went in-state to cities like Chicago and Peoria, but also went as far as Denver and Los Angeles. Preparation on campus started long before the event as well, with several smaller events taking place in the weeks leading up to the day.
An event was held to give special thank you’s to employee alumni, as there was an appreciation day where cookies and thank you notes were handed out, and several tastings for Augustana students, faculty and staff to vote on the competitors in the Quad Cities’ Best Doughnut competition.
The actual day included several events with speakers that included alumni, employees and long time donors. The doughnut contest winner was announced, and over the course of the day, every time the website ticked over another 100 donors, the bells were rung across campus, to put a sound to the day approaching its fundraising goals.
The goals themselves were surpassed thoroughly, as the day ended up bringing in over $280,000, with the original goal being $250,000. The majority of the donations go into the Augustana Fund, which is used on the college’s most immediate determined needs.  Contributing to this massive amount of donations was a focused use of social media. Social media kits were sent out to all those involved with Augustana this year, including students, with tools to get the word out about A Day of Giving. Additionally, Facebook live tours were done of the athletics department and Old Main for alumni who couldn’t be at the campus itself to see what the places where they spent so much of their time looks like now.
Young alumni got involved in the goal as well. Hall mentioned how when colleges are ranked, part of what factors into the rankings is the percent of alumni that continue to give. As a result of this, the goal behind A Day of Giving is to ramp it up every year. With this year’s being the largest so far, that goal is on the track to continue being achieved.
A Day of Giving means a lot to Hall, and it’s clear he’s excited about what A Day of Giving does.
“It was amazing to see the entire Augustana community coming together to show their pride for this college,” Hall said.