ULM raised more than $2 million from 86 donors in 24 hours on its inaugural Day of Giving. ULM Foundation Advancement Officer Cindy Foust says this day mimics the National Day of Giving held during the fall.
“And so we wanted to do one where we can just really mainly focus and give our donors and alumni an opportunity to sort of cherry pick what they wanted to donate to.”
Donors were given the opportunity to make their gifts in honor of a graduate from ULM, NLU, or NLSC. Two donors made individual $1 million gifts with a total of more than $2,319,442 raised for their favorite colleges and sports. Foust says the generosity was overwhelming.
“Appreciative doesn’t even begin to touch the word we want to use but it certainly paralyzed all of us. We were just so giddy. It was such a big accomplishment.”
The two $1 million gifts were designated to the School of Business and Social Sciences. Donors were allowed to give in honor of graduates past or present and they will be recognized in an upcoming ULM publication. Foust says the monies were designated for different disciplines across campus.
“Athletics had a big total in that number. We had the president’s children’s book initiative from a few years ago. It just kinda spread itself out in terms of what speaks to the donor as they were making their pledges that day.”
Gift partners including Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company, Inc., Lumen, Pinnacle Family Health, and Coach Lou St. Amant made $2 thousand challenge gifts to spur other donors on Day of Giving.
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