Bradley raised $916,458 from 1,714 donors this week as it took part in the international Giving Tuesday event. This is the third year Bradley has participated in Giving Tuesday, and to date the university has raised over $3 million for scholarships and individual departments across campus.
Jocelyn McDowell, director of constituent relations, said the theme for this year’s event on campus was “#BTheDifference.”
“This year we were focused more on general participation more than we were hammering in for the dollar,” McDowell said. “We wanted to highlight the Bradley community coming together as one.”
To do this, McDowell said campus was invited to stop by the “Hub,” or the main call center for Bradley’s Giving Tuesday event. The Hub was set up in the Peplow Pavillion of the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center.
“It’s where the magic happens,” McDowell said. “As a way to really celebrate the campus community coming together, we invited [visitors]. We had them make [decorative coasters], they had the opportunity to play games, eat food and just partake in the day to see what it was all about … I know the Bradley Fund callers loved seeing people there. It meant a lot to them.”
McDowell said the Hub gave donors, volunteers and community members a place to catch up with each other during one of the busiest times of the year.
“It gave everyone an excuse to get up and take a break,” McDowell said. “There were a lot of [conversations] that wouldn’t normally happen – they were in person rather than over email. Getting those relationships back face-to-face was nice.”
Bradley also hosted Student Giving Week the week of Nov. 13. The week-long event, which was first held in last year, is aimed at educating students on the power of financial gifts, as well as what money goes to when students donate to Bradley.
This year 129 gifts totaling $456.22 were made during Student Giving Week.
“Money donated during [Student Giving Week and Giving Tuesday] goes to our Endowed Scholarship Fund. That’s always our default,” McDowell said. “But donating [to a specific department] is more common. It gives [donors] the ability to make their gift more tangible, more meaningful. They can really see where their dollars are going. Then there are of course some who just want to give to the greater good, so they let the university give it to the area of greatest need.”
