Giving Day

Giving Day is a day-long fundraising drive done almost exclusively online in the fall. The first Giving Day was held on October 24, 2012. All sixteen schools of the University participated, as well as Athletics, the Libraries, and a few centers. Alumni, students, parents, staff, faculty, and friends were encouraged to donate to the school or program of their choice as part of a friendly competition to earn a portion of the $400,000 put up by the Trustees as a match. All donations would go to the annual funds of the various schools and programs, which are current-use funds for operating costs (such as financial aid, lab equipment, etc.).

In 2012, the University raised over $6.8 million through the initiative. Every dollar raised was considered part of the Columbia Campaign, even though it had already surpassed its goal of $5 billion by that time.

In March 2013, it was announced that Giving Day would continue to be an annual tradition for the immediate future, with Giving Day 2013 scheduled for Wednesday, October 23.

Background

The Office of Alumni and Development announced it would pursue Giving Day in September 2012. While a few states and other non-profits had done similar events (e.g. Minnesota has an annual Giving Day benefiting state charities), this was the first attempt by a major U.S. university to do so. All sixteen schools signed up to participate, as well as several programs and centers. The program was run centrally by Annual Fund Programs, a division of the Office of Alumni and Development that focuses on raising money for the schools' various annual funds.

The event went live at midnight on October 24, and was run exclusively online through various social media outlets. There were two live-chats promoted as part of the day: a Deans' Roundtable moderated by Sree Sreenivasan as well as a live-chat with Nobel laureate Eric Kandel.

Prizes

The Trustees established a pool of $400,000 to be used as prize money for various milestones. The money was segmented into three categories:

Total Dollars Raised

$250,000 was set aside for a dollar challenge. Each school would receive a portion of that money based on the amount they raised that day in relation to the overall total. For example, if Columbia College raised 40% of all dollars raised on Giving Day across the University, they would receive a bonus of 40% of $250,000, or $100,000.

Alumni Participation

$120,000 was set aside for alumni participation. Before Giving Day, a total number of living alumni was calculated for each school. The top 5 schools with the highest percent of their alumni who participated in some capacity on Giving Day would receive a prize. This segment was to help smaller schools who might not be able to raise as many dollars as the larger schools, but might be able to get a larger percentage of their alumni to participate.

Hourly Prizes

The remaining $30,000 was set aside for hourly prizes to be given out:

• Most donors within an hour (2)
• Most international donors within an hour
• Donor selected at random within a specific hour (2)
• 1754th person to make a gift on Giving Day

Results

Each participant school and program received donations, varying widely. The overall total for the day was $6,830,391, the most money raised in a single day in Columbia's history (excluding single major gifts such as John Kluge's $400M gift).

Prizes were awarded accordingly:

Total Dollars Raised

School	Dollars Raised	Percent of Total	Matching Bonus
Columbia College	$ 1,282,986	31%	$ 78,173
Athletics	$ 982,763	24%	$ 59,880
Engineering	$ 728,012	18%	$ 44,358
Business	$ 344,859	8%	$ 21,012
Law	$ 287,701	7%	$ 17,530
General Studies	$ 82,473	2%	$ 5,025
Journalism	$ 72,737	2%	$ 4,432
Dental Medicine	$ 50,004	1%	$ 3,047
SIPA	$ 45,572	1%	$ 2,777
GSAS	$ 38,691	1%	$ 2,357
Architecture	$ 35,475	1%	$ 2,161
Nursing	$ 29,069	1%	$ 1,771
Social Work	$ 28,270	1%	$ 1,722
Women Creating Change	$ 25,681	1%	$ 1,565
Arts	$ 24,624	1%	$ 1,500
Physicians & Surgeons	$ 19,954	0%	$ 1,216
Public Health	$ 11,121	0%	$ 678
LDEO	$ 4,740	0%	$ 289
Libraries	$ 3,652	0%	$ 223
Continuing Education	$ 3,630	0%	$ 221
Mind Brain Behavior Initiative	$ 1,045	0%	$ 64

Alumni Participation

NB: this represents percent of alumni who participated. Only the top five schools in this category were awarded prizes.

School	Participation Rank	Participation Bonus
Continuing Education	1	$ 40,000
Journalism	2	$ 30,000
Dental Medicine	3	$ 25,000
Columbia College	4	$ 15,000
Law	5	$ 10,000

Hourly Prizes

Time	Type	School	Bonus
2-3pm	Most International Donors	Business	$ 5,000
4-5pm	Most Donors	Columbia College	$ 5,000
6-7pm	Donor Selected at Random	Engineering	$ 5,000
8-9pm	Most Donors	Athletics	$ 5,000
10-11pm	Donor Selected at Random	Journalism	$ 5,000
N/A	1,754th Donor	Athletics	$ 5,000