On Feb. 15, Emporia State embarked on its fourth annual 24-hour virtual Day of Giving event, where nearly $100,000 was raised through donor contributions and matching funds.

“Day of Giving this year was extremely successful,” said Tiffany Wilson, Director of Alumni Relations. “Going into this year, we didn’t know what to expect. This is our fourth annual event overall, but the first time it fell on a weekend, so we weren’t sure if we would see more or less engagement. We were pleasantly surprised to see more.” 

While most donors contributed to the annual Fund for Excellence, business mentorships, physical sciences and athletics during the event, more than 200 funds were available for support.

Wilson emphasized that the biggest push for the event were donations to the Annual Fund for Excellence. The fund provides the University with the most flexibility from a foundation standpoint, as it allows funding to be allocated to areas of greatest need.

“This can benefit students by funding scholarships, activities, programs and more—whatever is determined to be the greatest need for the University and its students,” Wilson said.

Although the event saw a decrease in engagement, with 172 donors compared to 213 last year, the overall funds raised increased by nearly $4,000. This year’s donations significantly exceeded the nearly $62,000 raised in 2022.

“We saw less engagement on our social media channels this year, but it’s hard to tell if that is due to algorithm rules beyond our control, being on a weekend or having too many posts,” Wilson added. “These are all factors we are evaluating to improve for next year.”

Wilson also noted the amount of money that the university allocated to match donor contributions.“We had just shy of $40,000 in matching dollars for this year. These funds were used to match donor gifts dollar-for-dollar until they were exhausted. Some of the $40,000 was earmarked for specific projects.”

Wilson highlighted a specific donor match from Joyce French, who committed $5,000 in matching funds to the School of Business & Technology Faculty Membership Fund. Any gift made to that specific fund was matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. Overall, $12,000 was earmarked for specific funds.

“$4,000 was provided for a triple match during our Founders’ Day luncheon, which left roughly $23,000 to be used for unrestricted matching,” Wilson said.  These matching dollars lasted almost the whole day, meaning every donor who gave on February 15 had their impact doubled.” 

Donors who contributed during the event were entered into drawings for various prizes. The first donor on Feb. 15 received a Gravel City Roasters coffee and an ESU coffee mug.

Other prizes included a bouquet of gift cards for the 162nd donor, athletics swag and experiences, a 40-inch TV donated by Emporia’s Walmart Supercenter, Radius gift cards and more. The grand prize, which all donors were automatically entered to win, was the “ESU Ultimate Prize Pack” featuring ESU swag, an ESU football experience and a framed ESU men’s basketball jersey.

Next year’s Day of Giving event is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2026.