Throughout Lipscomb’s second annual Day of Giving on Thursday, 3,520 students, alumni, and parents from all 50 states and several countries gave a total of $826,900.
This quickly surpassed the goal the university had set of 2,020 donators, which unlocked a $100,000 match from an anonymous donor “for the students.”
Even though the donors were mainly parents and alumni, some students thought the expectation to give was on them.
“I feel like the Day of Giving would be more effective if it was a message to the parents — that the school knows is paying fully for tuition,” said sophomore LilliAnn Sutherlin. “If you ask the students as a whole you will be asking people who do not have a full-time job and some of them are struggling to pay tuition. To ask students to give money is to ask an infant to pay the bills. However, parents who are paying full tuition for their child are likely to have a job that allows them to have money to give with the incentive to make their child’s campus a better place with their donations.”
At the headquarters of the event, Stephanie Carroll, the Assistant Vice President for Annual Giving and leader of the Day of Giving, did clarify the role students had in the drive.
“The biggest thing that students can be doing is writing thank you notes,” said Carroll. “We want every donor to receive a personal thank you note from a student. These donors give so that it will have an impact on the students’ lives.”
For example, to bring attention to the fundraiser, giveaways were held via Instagram to those that posted about the Day of Giving and followed and tagged the Alumni account. Prizes included a parking spot in Dr. Lowry’s parking lot (for two weeks), a seventh-generation iPad, and a signed Garrison Mathews jersey.
Other students would have just liked to have seen students go out and serve instead of having the university participate in another fundraiser.
“I believe it would be more beneficial to have more of a physical presence instead of a monetary presence,” said senior Juan Oliva. “Doing good isn’t about giving gifts, it’s about actually getting down in the dirt and molding your community and molding the future for those that come next.”
Oliva believes that all of the muddiness surrounding the Day of Giving could have been avoided if the school had communicated better about what exactly the event was going to entail.
“Transparency is always key,” Oliva said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s institutional, person to person, or any of the above.”
“Some money will be given to athletics for a student-athlete development center,” said Carroll. “Money will be given to different academic programs, and we are hoping to raise a significant amount of money for student scholarships. We are hoping the impact of the money raised today will allow for programs to be able to improve and do new and exciting things.”