UMBC recently held a 24-hour donation marathon called the UMBC Giving Day: Black and Gold Rush to engage the UMBC community and raise money for the university.

The Giving Day fundraiser managed to raise $63,377 from 842 different donors in only 24 hours on Feb. 28. Among the 842 donors, many donated multiple times as there was a combined total of 973 donations for the campaign. The event was marketed as a part of the Grit and Greatness Campaign, the $150 million initiative that launched in June 2017 as part of the 50th anniversary of UMBC.

Most people who donated did not donate anonymously; 94 percent chose to publicly reveal themselves as donors. Of the donations by people who revealed their names, only around a third (256) had the amount be publicly available on the Giving Day website. One hundred and eighty of the donations were by people who donated anonymously.

Of the 973 total donations, most were done by alumni, faculty, and staff. Forty-one percent (405) individual donations were from alumni, and 28 percent (269) were from faculty and staff. Among the rest of the donations, 17 percent were from parents, six percent from friends of UMBC, and five percent from students. Curiously, 18 of the donations, nearly two percent, were from people who did not label themselves as any of the above groups.

Giving Day allowed donors to choose specifically where their money goes which included various department and programs. Among these, the Athletics program had the most, with over $23,821.91 (over 35 percent of the total amount raised) donated by 287 individuals. In comparison, the Stay Black and Gold Emergency Fund, which provides support for students in need of financial aid to stay at UMBC, had $3,309.50 raised by 64 donors. Donors raised $3,309.00 by 44 donors for the Scholars Programs.

Giving Day also had four different community challenges that, when met, would cause additional donations from specific volunteers ranging from alumni and parents to president Freeman Hrabowski and Jenny O’Grady, the editor of UMBC magazine. The challenges involved different milestone goals for the number of donors who were alumni, faculty members, or students, parents, and friends of UMBC. All four donation challenges were met, which raised an additional total of $12,000.

During the fundraiser, 188 people signed up to be social media ambassadors for the campaign, which involved promoting the campaign online. Hrabowski himself took over the UMBC Twitter page to spread the word about Giving Day. In one post, Hrabowski stated, “You have 24 hours to make a difference. Students, parents, alumni, friends, faculty, staff…UMBC couldn’t exist without you. Your support continues to be invaluable to the mission of our university.”

Donations are still needed for the UMBC Suits Your Professional Clothing Drive.

Get an early jump on spring cleaning this weekend, and clean out your closet to help UMBC students!

• Items that will be accepted: dresses, shell tops, button-up shirts and blouses, skirts, blazers, dress pants, belts, ties, skirt suits and suits.
• Items that will NOT be accepted: jewelry, handbags, shoes, and general accessories.
• All items should be: in good condition, clean* and appropriate for interaction with potential employers and professional contacts.

Donations being accepted now through Friday, March 16.

To aid in the collection of these items, Career Center staff will be stationed at 3 spots on campus on Tuesday, March 13th from 8:00 to 9:15 am. You can find us at:
Commons Drive drop-off, Administrative Drive drop-off, and the Fine Arts Circle.

DROP OFF LOCATIONS:

Career Center, Math/Psych 201:
8:30 am – 5 pm (Mon-Fri)

Division of Professional Studies, Sherman Hall
East-4th Floor (reception area near elevators):
9 am – 3:30 pm (Mon-Fri)

Human Resources, Administration Building 532:
9 am – 4 pm (Mon-Fri)

Mosaic Center, The Commons 2B23:
10 am – 7 pm (Mon-Thur), 10 am – 5 pm (Fri)

Residential Life Office, Erickson Hall:
8:30 am – 4:30 pm (Mon-Fri)

The Shriver Center, Public Policy Building 1st Floor:
9 am – 4:30 pm (Mon-Fri)

OR contact the Career Center at 410-455-2216 to request a pickup from your office.

Please note: Clothing will be made available for students to select from on March 29 and 30, 2018 at our UMBC Suits You event, part of Career Month. Clothing donations will be used to benefit UMBC students and will not be considered as gift-in-kind or donation to UMBC. Clothing donations are not tax deductible. Any leftover clothing will be donated to local non-profits.

Student Testimonials:

Trainees should bring at least one PDF document (or digital file) from their course materials to review. Direct instruction will be provided for both creation of an accessible document and remediation of inaccessible content using common authoring tools including Microsoft and Adobe products.  For questions or to RSVP, contact Andrew Drummond, SDS Assistive Technology Specialist at adrumm@umbc.edu or reserve through the myUMBC event site, https://my.umbc.edu/groups/sss/events/58426. Space is limited.