The University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s inaugural Giving Day April 27 was a success, with more than 700 donors making gifts to support the university and its six colleges during the 24-hour philanthropic campaign.
The number of donors surpassed the goal of 500 gifts for the one-day event that encouraged students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends to support the university and its current and future health care heroes with gifts of any size.
While totals are not final, initial calculations show the event, led by the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs and supported by the Office of Communications and Marketing, generated $225,000 for the university, in addition to securing all challenge and matching dollars for each of UTHSC’s colleges, for a total of $579,132.
“It’s a campus victory, it’s a UT System victory, and it’s a national victory for our alumni and friends,” said Love Collins III, vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs at UTHSC. Every college surpassed its goal, Collins said.
Other institutions in the UT System have had similar successful daylong campaigns. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville debuted a giving day, the Big Orange Give, in 2013. Since that time, the University of Tennessee at Martin and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have also held successful giving day events, as have numerous other universities and nonprofit organizations.
Collins said UTHSC decided to stage a giving day campaign about 18 months ago, but the pandemic had put the planning and the event on hold.
“We are extremely grateful and thank all who participated in this amazing national event for UTHSC and for making it such a huge success,” he said.
See more about UTHSC Giving Day at givingday.uthsc.edu.