The University of Michigan will invite people worldwide to be victors for Michigan by making donations on the second annual Giving Blueday from midnight to 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 1.
This day of philanthropy is scheduled on Giving Tuesday — a worldwide day dedicated to giving back.
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During last year’s successful inaugural day, 5,437 donors — 2,541 of whom were new donors — gave $3.2 million to U-M. This year, the university hopes to continue to increase support on Giving Blueday with challenges, special events and real-time updates throughout the day.
Visitors to the Giving Blueday website can join a thriving network of philanthropists by supporting whatever they’re passionate about at U-M, like academic programs, student groups, publications and more. From Semester in Detroit and the Center for the Education of Women to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and the College of Pharmacy, donors can realize their philanthropic passions while supporting current and future Wolverines.
Students can act as both fundraisers and donors on Giving Blueday, with more than 100 student organizations planning to raise money for their organizations and causes.
Students will even have opportunities to see their donations increased through universitywide matching funds provided by many generous donors. Donors have given $40,000 to match all individual student gifts, providing extra financial support for students’ interests and passions.
Matches specific to certain schools, colleges and units also are available. Among those that received match money are the Bentley Historical Library’s ” Michigan Daily Digitization Fund that provides support for a project to completely digitize the Michigan Daily archive. Another match will support the Natural History Museum’s A Mammoth Exhibit Fund, established to raise money for a new display of the mammoth fossil recently discovered near Ann Arbor.
The university invites people to participate in the following ways:
• Give — Donate money to any area of the university using the Giving Blueday website.
• Share — Spread the word about Giving Blueday on social media using the hashtag #GivingBlueday, and sign up to be an M-bassador. M-bassadors are U-M alums, faculty, staff, students, parents, donors and other friends of the university who connect over giving back and celebrating the university.
• Thank — Use social media to thank those in the U-M community who made a gift on Giving Blueday.
All donors will be able to participate in universitywide challenges. Twenty-five social media challenges will take place throughout the day. A donor who posts on social media will be randomly selected to receive $1,000 to designate to the U-M area they want to support.
Students will be able to participate in the following challenges:
• Double Your Blue — Individual student gifts up to $500 will be matched until the $40,000 runs out.
• Champions of the Grads Challenge — The student organization that gets the most recent-graduate donors to their organization will receive $3,000. The organization with the second highest number of recent-graduate donors will receive $2,000. Any organization that gets at least 50 recent-graduate donors will be eligible to receive $1,000 to donate to their cause.
• Peer To Peer Challenge — Student organizations that get at least 100 students to give to their U-M cause will be eligible to win a $1,000 prize. Student organizations that get at least 50 students to give to their U-M cause will be eligible to win a $500 prize.
Students can gather at the Diag and Pierpont Commons from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for Giving Blueday events and prizes. Twenty students will be awarded $50 to designate for their favorite causes.
