As part of an international day dedicated to charitable donations, the Emporia State Foundation debuted a new crowdfunding platform, giveGOLD, and raised over $5,000.
“#GivingTuesday was the ideal day to roll out the new platform and to help some of our student organizations meet their fundraising goals,” said Jennifer Denton, vice president of the ESU Foundation.
The program is intended to give students, faculty and staff the chance to raise money for special projects, according to an ESU Facebook post.
#GivingTuesday takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and uses the power of social media to start change in communities and encourages the donation of time, money and resources, according to givingtuesday.org.
“Our Associate Director for Annual Giving, Shelly Thackston, spearheaded this effort and worked with each of the student organizations to set up their crowdfunding pages,” Denton said. “She will continue to coordinate future opportunities for use of the giveGOLD platform.”
This year, nine student organizations were featured by the crowdfunding campaign to help raise money for competitions, projects and conferences.
There were 76 total donations during the event, according to Denton.
“After the $1,000 in matching funds and $500 in challenge gifts were applied, the giveGOLD #GivingTuesday event provided $5,224.55 for student priorities,” Denton said.
The three organizations that raised the most money between 5 and 8 p.m. Tuesday received an additional donation to their projects, as part of the challenge gift competition.
ESU Kansas Association of Nursing Students took first place in the challenge gifts and won an additional $250, according to Denton.
The Photo Club took second, and three organizations, Alpha Kappa Delta, The Hult Prize and The Student Foundation tied for third , according to Denton.
EKANS was the student organization that raised the most money before the challenge gift was applied, according to Denton.
The Student Foundation raised the second most, which was applied to their emergency scholarship fund. The scholarship was created to help students who experience unexpected circumstances that affect their ability to pay for education, according to the Foundation website.
