MORGANTOWN, W.Va. –The West Virginia University Day of Giving is Wednesday.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Executive Vice President for Development, B. J. Davisson, said for 24 hours, students, alumni, patients, and friends of the institution come together in support of the university.
This is the fifth year for the event, according to Davisson.
“In our first five days of giving, we raised nearly $48 million from 20,000 gifts,” said Davisson. “So that’s a lot of people, kind of voting with their dollars in belief of the mission of the institution,” he said.
Any gift of $5 or more is very important and can be directed to the particular school or initiative that donors prefer to support. Donors also have the option to establish reoccurring gifts.
“These dollars, you know, are utilized every year to support faculty, support student scholarships, support researchers, and to help build buildings,” he said.
The online portal to make donations has a variety of challenges that donors can participate in and post messages or video clips in support of the campaign.
“You know there are lots of folks throughout the day, whether they are working or are retired, who are looking at the website,” said Davisson. “I think it’s really helped us build awareness for how important philanthropy is to the institution,” he said.
Each supporting group has a section on the website where donors can track total donations, the school with the largest donations, and the status of challenges.”
Every particular thing that you think about, if you go to dayofgiving.wvu.edu, it’s clear all the units that are participating,” he said. “The various funds that every school, unit, and entity have is encouraging,” he said.
Last year, donations for the Day of Giving totaled $15,546,192.