kicked off the season of giving early this year on Nov. 1 with the launch of its 2017 Giving Tuesday campaign. In a departure from efforts of past years, the university extended the fundraising initiative through the entire month of November, leading up to Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, on Nov. 28. Giving Tuesday is the unofficial worldwide beginning to a season of philanthropic giving to nonprofits that follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Keeping with her personal tradition, Kent State President Beverly Warren has pledged $25,000 to the Presidential Scholars Program. This program attracts and cultivates academically talented students who want to better society through a high-impact educational experience.
To encourage university inclusiveness in the monthlong giving celebration, Kent State has added a new crowdfunding feature for Giving Tuesday 2017. In addition to being able to make individual donations, students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters can now create individual peer-to-peer fundraising pages for the cause of their choice. For every 15 unique donors who give $25 or more to one of the featured funds, the Foundation has pledged to award a $500 participation boost.
“We’ve seen tremendous interest from our Kent State family over the past few years in our Giving Tuesday campaigns,” said Stephen G. Sokany, vice president for institution advancement at Kent State and executive director of the Foundation. “This year, we decided to provide more ways for people to participate, and for those who love the university to spearhead fundraising initiatives to support the areas that matter most to them. Additionally, the Foundation chose to recognize the efforts of these supporters by adding our participation boosts to their fundraising efforts.”
There are more than 40 featured giving options across the Kent State system during this year’s Giving Tuesday campaign. Donors can double their impact by giving to one or more featured campaigns that have matching gifts in place.
Additional Campaigns
Along with the Foundation’s participation incentive and President Warren’s pledge, the following campaigns have separate matching gift opportunities throughout the month:
Traveling Stanzas at the Wick Poetry Center
- Cathy Hemming, a generous supporter of the Wick Poetry Center, has pledged a one-to-one match up to $37,500. Traveling Stanzas is an award-winning project through the university’s Wick Poetry Center. The project encourages meaningful conversations by integrating poetry into everyday life.
College of Business Administration Study Abroad
- Donations to the Fiedler/Borg Warner Study Abroad fund will be matched up to $10,000. This fund gives undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Business Administration the opportunity to gain valuable global business experience.
College of Education, Health and Human Services’ Visiting Scholars
- An anonymous donor has generously pledged to match all gifts to the Visiting Scholars Program up to $75,000. The Visiting Scholars Program, part of the College of Education, Health and Human Services, enables professors from around the world to come and research alongside faculty at Kent State. This program complements Kent State’s mission to expand its global reach.
College of Architecture and Environmental Design Student Study Travel
- The College of Architecture and Environmental Design Advisory Board has offered to match all funds to the college’s Student Study Travel fund up to $15,000. The advisory board recognizes the importance of global experiences and the inability of some students to afford to participate. This fund provides the opportunity for architecture and environmental design students to engage in workshops around the world.
Flight Training Student Scholarship
- Gifts to the Richard “Dick” Schwabe Endowed Scholarship fund will be matched up to $10,000 from the One Golf Three Alumni Group. This scholarship provides juniors and seniors with a flight technology concentration the opportunity to gain invaluable flight training experience.
Kent State Athletics
- An anonymous donor has pledged to match gifts made to Kent State Athletics up to $10,000. The money raised for Golden Flashes sports will help provide students-athletes with the scholarships, academic resources, training equipment and facility amenities they need to continue their athletic and academic accomplishments.
- This fund has already secured well beyond its $10,000 in matching gift donations, but it is still eligible for foundation participation boosts.
“With all of the different matching options and participation boosts, Giving Tuesday provides Kent State supporters the opportunity to make their gift multiply this month,” Vice President Sokany said. “We’re so grateful for the support of our alumni and friends and look forward to seeing the far-reaching impact that this month of giving will have on the future of Kent State.”
Kent State’s Giving Tuesday began Nov. 1 and will run through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28.