By Sarah Pinkerton | Staff Writer, Video by BrenShavia Jordan | Broadcast Reporter
The second annual Baylor Giving Day raised $878,789 on Wednesday and 2,725 donors contributed to different academic units, athletics and student organizations as a part of the Give Light Campaign.
While fundraising occurs throughout the year, this day allowed the university to show off the support that Baylor experiences from alumni and current students.
Last year, Baylor Giving Day raised over $550,000 and had over 2,300 donors involved throughout the day. Sarah Kathryn Hickman, assistant vice president of alumni engagement and annual giving at Baylor, said that this day is a good way to gauge the satisfaction of alumni with their Baylor experience.
“This is one day that we’re trying to get as many people as possible to give and expose them to all of the areas where they can contribute across campus and focus their giving more on areas that are most important to them,” Hickman said. “So current and future students can benefit and have those same types of experiences while they’re here, just as our alums did.”
Both students and alumni were able to sign up to be ambassadors throughout the day. As an ambassador, participants promoted an organization or building of their choice on social media with the hashtag #BaylorGives to encourage individuals to donate to their focus. They were then given their own set link that people could use to send them directly to that area.
“What we want to do is always say, you don’t have to give a million dollars or 50 thousand dollars to make a difference, if we can all collectively do something on one day,” Hickman said. “We’ve got 150,000 alums out there. If we were all to give $5, what kind of collective impact would that have? So it takes every one of us, small and large gifts, to really keep this thing going and make everything sustainable.”
The division of student life promoted the continuation of Baylor tradition by alumni for current and incoming students. Director of Student Activities, Matt Burchett, along with other staff members worked together to highlight student organizations and support other colleagues throughout the university.
“I think what makes Baylor such a special place is we have incredible traditions that transform student’s lives and as those lives are transformed and you remember them as alumni, you can turn around and pay it forward by supporting those same traditions for the current students and the future students,” Burchett said.
