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 various prizes put up as challenge matches. 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 2013, $7,827,636 was raised from almost 10,000 gifts.

History

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 first Giving Day went live at midnight on October 24, 2012, 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.

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

Prize Structure

Each year, an amount of high-level donations are collected before Giving Day for use as the various prizes throughout the day. In 2012, the Trustees established a pool of $400,000, and in 2013, high-level donors from across the University put in a combined $332,500. The money is segmented into three challenege categories:

Total Dollars Raised

Each school receives a portion of the prize 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

Before Giving Day, a total number of living alumni is calculated for each school. The top 5 schools with the highest percent of their alumni who participated in some capacity on Giving Day receive a prize. This segment is designed 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

After the previous challenges are set, the remaining money is set aside for hourly prizes to be given out. Some prior challenges have included:

• Most donors within an hour
• Most international donors within an hour
• Donor selected at random within a specific hour
• 1754th person to make a gift on Giving Day
• 23rd original #ColumbiaGivingDay tweet

Results

Total Dollars Raised

School	2012 Dollars Raised	2012 Matching Bonus	2013 Dollars Raised	2013 Matching Bonus
Columbia College	$ 1,282,986	$ 78,173	$ 2,474,475	$ 75,398
Athletics	$ 982,763	$ 59,880	$ 1,817,651	$ 55,384
Engineering	$ 728,012	$ 44,358	$ 732,631	$ 22,323
Business	$ 344,859	$ 21,012	$ 525,587	$ 16,015
Law	$ 287,701	$ 17,530	$ 355,782	$ 10,841
General Studies	$ 82,473	$ 5,025	$ 143,054	$ 4,359
Journalism	$ 72,737	$ 4,432	$ 164,966	$ 5,027
Dental Medicine	$ 50,004	$ 3,047	$ 119,053	$ 3,628
SIPA	$ 45,572	$ 2,777	$ 86,891	$ 2,648
GSAS	$ 38,691	$ 2,357	$ 44,908	$ 1,368
Architecture	$ 35,475	$ 2,161	$ 35,515	$ 1,082
Nursing	$ 29,069	$ 1,771	$ 44,718	$ 1,363
Social Work	$ 28,270	$ 1,722	$ 24,470	$ 746
Women Creating Change	$ 25,681	$ 1,565	$ 25,665	$ 782
Arts	$ 24,624	$ 1,500	$ 29,084	$ 886
Physicians & Surgeons	$ 19,954	$ 1,216	$ 314,211	$ 9,574
Public Health	$ 11,121	$ 678	$ 17,696	$ 539
LDEO	$ 4,740	$ 289	$ 7,180	$ 219
Libraries	$ 3,652	$ 223	$ 5,431	$ 165
Continuing Education	$ 3,630	$ 221	$ 11,633	$ 354
Mind Brain Behavior Initiative	$ 1,045	$ 64	$ 14,010	$ 427
Barnard College	N/A	N/A	$ 239,991	$ 7,313
Earth Institute	N/A	N/A	$ 1,490	$ 45
Global Centers	N/A	N/A	$ 505	$ 15

Alumni Participation

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

Rank	2012 School	2012 Bonus	2013 School	2013 Bonus
1	Continuing Education	$ 40,000	Continuing Education	$ 25,000
2	Journalism	$ 30,000	Dental Medicine	$ 20,000
3	Dental Medicine	$ 25,000	Columbia College	$ 15,000
4	Columbia College	$ 15,000	Barnard College	$ 10,000
5	Law	$ 10,000	Journalism	$ 5,000

2013 Hourly Prizes

Time	Type	School	Bonus
9:00	Most International Gifts	Business	$ 5,000
11:00	23rd Original #ColumbiaGivingDay tweet	Libraries	$ 2,000
14:00	Random student donor selected	General Studies	$ 2,000
16:00	Most Donors	Athletics	$ 5,000
17:00	Random donor selected	Athletics	$ 2,000
18:00	Random parent or friend selected	General Studies	$ 2,000
19:00	Most student donors	Athletics	$ 5,000
20:00	Most young alumni donors	Columbia College	$ 5,000
21:00	Random donor selected	Barnard College	$ 2,000
22:00	Most international gifts	Athletics	$ 5,000
23:00	Random donor selected	Journalism	$ 2,000

2012 Hourly Prizes

Time	Type	School	Bonus
14:00	Most International Donors	Business	$ 5,000
16:00	Most Donors	Columbia College	$ 5,000
18:00	Donor Selected at Random	Engineering	$ 5,000
20:00	Most Donors	Athletics	$ 5,000
22:00	Donor Selected at Random	Journalism	$ 5,000
N/A	1,754th Donor	Athletics	$ 5,000