By: Amanda Valentine | Editor-in-Chief
Salve will host its second annual Day of Giving this Thursday, March 24, an all-day event dedicated to bringing together members of the Salve community to give back to the school that they love.
The crowdfunding campaign at the heart of the event gives all members of the community-—students, alumni, parents, and others—the opportunity to support student organizations, scholarship funds, sports and more through direct donations. Anyone who chooses to donate can choose exactly which cause they would like to support by selecting it from a dropdown menu on the campaign page, found at www.salve.edu/dayofgiving.
“Those funds will go directly to whatever area you have selected on the campaign page,” said Mitchell Marsh, the assistant director of annual giving programs in the Office of University Advancement. “If you’re giving to a club, those will go right into the clubs fundraising account, where they’ll be able to use them to host speakers, to buy supplies, to go on trips, whatever initiative they’re fundraising for… there’s really so many funds to give to and the funds really benefit Salve at the end of the day.”
While the event largely takes place online through the campaign page and virtual outreach, current students will have the opportunity to attend on-campus events throughout the day. Among these is a chance to get a voucher for a free medium beverage from any Starbucks on campus with a $5 donation to any fund—even to their own club or sport. Coffee vouchers will be available for pick up at different locations around campus throughout the day.
SalveTHON and Campus Activities Board are also teaming up to put on a Things for Thursday “Pie Your Professor” event from 12-4 p.m., which will be accompanied by The Whoo(pie) Wagon.
For those who are not students on-campus, there are still challenges to participate in, including an “Power Hour” focused on alumni participation, and an all-day goal of reaching 725 total donations to “unlock” a significant bonus donation from an anonymous donor.
Though a new tradition, the Day of Giving has already proven significantly beneficial to student organizations. Using last year’s Day of Giving funds, Best Buddies were able to get t-shirts for their entire club and Stagefright Theatre Co. was able to welcome several speakers.
Clubs have set new goals for how they hope to use the funds they raise this year. The cheer team hopes to get new uniforms, the ping pong club intends to buy new ping pong tables and equipment, and Pitches with Attitude, the all-women acapella group, wants to bring the club on a trip to Disneyland next year. The class of ’22 is raising funds as part of their Senior Challenge, which, this year, will go to the Salve Student Wellness Fund, a fund supporting the growth of mental health and wellness resources for students on campus.
“The theme this year is ‘One Day, One Salve,’” said Marsh. “It really focuses on bringing the community together for the one special purpose of moving Salve forward. And I think that theme was one of the first things we worked on as a team, and I’m excited to see it coalesce and mean one day here, on the 24th.”
The site, www.salve.edu/dayofgiving is live now for early donations. Follow @salveregina on Instagram to follow along with event updates on the 24th.
