Auburn University alumni, students and community members are encouraged to participate in Tiger Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraiser for more than 20 colleges and departments across campus, beginning at midnight on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
A subset of the "Because this is Auburn" campaign, Tiger Giving Day gives prospective donors the option to choose how much they would like to contribute to any of the 22 projects of their choice on TigerGiving.org.
“The focus on this is somewhat less on dollars and more on participation,” said Jane Parker, Auburn University vice president for development. “Frankly, what’s more important for this is that we have just thousands and thousands and thousands of gifts at all levels, so that everybody can see themselves in this.”
Development offices at each of the University departments and units chose projects that needed significant funding—from $5,000-$50,000—to either jumpstart or remain operational, Parker said.
The College of Education set a $15,000 goal to support its international travel and outreach program, because it applies to all departments within the college, according to Molly McNulty, College of Education development coordinator.
The funds will go toward covering transportation costs for students to travel abroad.
“I think it gives students an opportunity to see beyond Alabama or where they’re from,” McNulty said. “It gives them more of a perspective of global communities and how to teach other students. You know, give them more of a background in diversity, so when they go into their classrooms, they learn more of how to deal with certain issues possibly.”
Caroline Stone, sophomore in public relations, is working toward helping Ralph Brown Draughon Library supply “the write stuff.”
Stone, who works in the library, is directing the creative and social media aspect of the $10,000 project to purchase 20 new whiteboards.
“Students need more whiteboards in the library,” Stone said. “There’s not enough, especially during finals season. Whiteboards are something that are expensive, yes, but easily attainable. What makes it unique is that we are trying to get something that can help everyone at Auburn. Every single student at Auburn can benefit from getting more whiteboards.”
Parker said she’s especially hopeful that students and a large amount of alumni will participate.
One of Tiger Giving Day’s goals is to increase annual alumni participation rate, Parker said. About 11-12 percent of Auburn alumni make a gift to the University, which is low compared to other peer institutions, according to Parker.
“What we are seeing now does not accurately represent the love of Auburn that Auburn alumni feel for this institution, and frankly it puts Auburn University at a disadvantage in some important rankings,” Parker said. “And that matters. This institution is much better than that alumni participation rate indicates.”
Tiger Giving Day is based on the annual Giving Tuesday, which was founded as a national day of giving in 2012 in response to Black Friday commercialism, Parker said.
“We’re going to rely on the Auburn family to help us push out the information about this,” Parker said. “We really want people to take action, because this is something that a small gift will really make a difference in.”
All funds raised for individual projects on Tiger Giving Day will also count toward the overall "Because this is Auburn" campaign fundraising goal of $1 billion. Real-time monitoring of the projects is available at TigerGiving.org.
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