After a weekend of extreme shopping, Giving Tuesday encourages people around the world to take a minute and donate to a charity, organization or, in IU’s case, a ?university.
“Giving Tuesday is basically a global day of giving,” said Anne Wymore, associate vice president of marketing for IU Foundation. “A global day of giving back.”
The international campaign is run by the United Nations Foundation in conjunction with New York’s 92nd Street YMCA, according to the Giving Tuesday website.
Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012, and this is IU’s third year of participation in the event.
A large social media campaign complete with hashtags occurred this year to promote the day.
The IU Foundation runs the event.
The foundation, founded in 1936, is a nonprofit that dedicates itself to maximizing private sector support for IU and increasing donations, according to the IUF website.
Donors can choose from a wide range of categories to direct their ?donation toward including academic programs, the Wells Scholars Program, the IU Auditorium, IU athletics and WTIU.
“A lot of people choose to give back to academic programs where they have an affiliation,” Wymore said.
Last year, IU raised more than $40,000 on Giving Tuesday.
“These are great results that we hope to build on and, ideally, surpass,” Wymore said.
This year the University’s goal is $50,000, Wymore said. IU has added an incentive to help it reach its goal — at $50,000 a challenge grant to the tune of $10,000 will be unlocked.
The challenge grant will go to fund scholarships for students.
Donors can visit ? givetoiu.iu.edu to donate.
Students can get involved with Giving Tuesday themselves even if they aren’t able to donate, Wymore said.
Wymore said retweeting, sharing, liking or commenting on IU’s Giving Tuesday content with the hashtags #GivingTuesday and #GivetoIU could largely influence the outcome of the day and the amount of funds raised in the campaign.
“Students can be hugely influential on Giving Tuesday and making it a success for IU,” she said. “In fact, the more people we have promoting IU through Giving Tuesday, the greater our collective voice and the greater the benefit will be.”
