The university is hosting the second annual Day of Giving Thursday, Nov. 16, where they are striving to receive 650 individual donations from alumni, current students, family members and faculty within a 24-hour period.

Donors are able to designate where they would like their donation placed, whether it may be a specific department, scholarship, mission trip or if they would like their contribution to support athletics.

Donna Nypaver, associate director of development, works with “the entire Institutional Advancement team to plan and execute the Day of Giving”.

“I have been given the opportunity to see how these donations can change the lives of our students,” Nypaver said.

During the event’s kick-off last year, the goal for the university was to receive 250 individual donations during the fundraising event. After over-doubling their goal by receiving 627 individual donors spanning across 26 different states, the office of Institutional Advancement has adjusted their target number of donations up 400 from last year’s goal.

According to Event Planner Mary L. Fox, the reasons to donate last year and for this year include “beautiful facilities, our outstanding faculty and staff, our amazing students, and our devoted alumni”.

“Last year, the Day of Giving was a very community-filled day where many of the people who care about Waynesburg offered their financial support to our students,” Nypaver said.

According to Victoria Beppler, associate director of alumni relations, last year the university received a “great mix of donors”.

“There is no most common donor. The one common quality of all our donors is they all love Waynesburg University and support our mission,” Nypaver said.

The donors are a diverse group of students, faculty and alumni who are spread across the country, and during 2016 their donations totaled to be $159,228 during the 24-hour Day of Giving.

Fox has been a part of the Institutional Advancement team that “coordinates all aspects of Day of Giving”, and explains how “vital” donors are to Waynesburg.

“You cannot look around this campus without appreciating how our donors, past present and future, effect the opportunities provided to our students,” Fox said.

During last year’s event, donors would commonly interact with the university on social media to announce their donation or their reasoning for their contribution. According to Fox, the event last year was “really social media-driven”.

“Our students really had fun promoting the day on social media. Their energy and enthusiasm really helped,” Fox said.

The university plans on utilizing social media again this year as a tool to interact with donors and announce progress towards their 650-donor goal throughout the day.

“The success of the 2017 Day of Giving is based on the participation of the entire Waynesburg University community,” Nypaver said.

After now hosting the fundraising event for two years and doubling their goal in the first event, the office of Institutional Advancement recognizes the impact of the donations.

“With the support of the Waynesburg University community, we would love to continue this tradition of raising funds that have an immediate impact on our students,” Nypaver said.