UCA, with the help of campus organizations and communities, raised a record $1.47 million during its 10th annual Day of Giving on March 7.

A celebration of the fundraising took place March 8 in Buffalo Alumni Hall.

“Today we celebrate the dedication and generosity of all those who have made UCA Day of Giving an incredible success — both today and over the last decade,” Senior Director of Annual Giving Haley Fowler said. “It’s humbling to see our alumni and friends who give year after year on Day of Giving, but perhaps even more exciting to see when someone is inspired to give for the very first time.”

UCA President Houston Davis announced the raised amount. 

“For the moment you’ve been waiting for our 10th Day of Giving — in just 24 hours — has raised an all-time record of $1,466,334,” Davis said.

“This is particularly exciting to me,” Davis said. “It comes from 2,369 donors from 41 states and 73 countries — and that 2,369 donors, that’s a record for Day of Giving as well.”

Davis said in the past decade, UCA has raised $6,664,420 from Day of Giving. Since 2015, the university has received 19,008 gifts for Day of Giving. 

“A heartfelt thank you to all of our students, faculty and staff who’ve worked to make our annual Day of Giving of success and to our Student Government Association and Association of Future Alumni for their continued support and representation — actually, 36% of our gifts this year were from UCA students.”

Mary Bane Lackie, vice president of university advancement, made a few remarks about Day of Giving. 

“I’m so excited for what we were able to pull off with everybody working together. Transforming this university and our culture of giving is about giving everyone the chance to participate,” Lackie said. “Every gift, no matter the size, adds up to a huge impact. More than 90 campus and community ambassadors came together to make the 10th Annual Day of Giving a success. We would not have achieved these results without their help  — without all of your help.” 

Fowler said UCA started Day of Giving to help students in need.

“Back in 2015, not a whole lot of universities did it,” Fowler said. “It was kind of a new and upcoming thing but we needed to raise some money for our emergency student scholarship fund. We had a lot of students that were in need and that fund had just deplenished.”

Fowler said when Day of Giving started, the money only went to one fund for the first three years. 

“Our goal was to raise $1 for every student, so our goal was literally $11,700-something dollars,” she said “We ended up raising over $30,000 and then in 2016, over $36,000.”

Fowler said once the university began to figure out how Day of Giving would work, more funds became available for donors to support.

“Our fourth year, we opened it up to around 40 funds,” she said. “We raised $434,000 that year.”

Fowler said the amount raised rose almost every year. 

• In 2015, $30,755 was raised.

• In 2016, $36,059 was raised.

• In 2017, $41,514 was raised.

• In 2018, $434,526 was raised.

• In 2019, $757,939 was raised.

• In 2020, $1,126,580 was raised.

• In 2021, $717,095 was raised.

• In 2022, $758,130 was raised.

• In 2023, $1,295,497 was raised.

“If every donor gives, even if they give $5, that $5 adds up with everyone else’s dollars,” Fowler said. 

Fowler said Day of Giving would not be possible without the help of campus ambassadors.

“One of the things that makes Day of Giving so successful is our campus ambassadors,” she said. “Our ambassadors are the representatives from all the different areas across campus. So whether that’s their college,  department, groups and student affairs — they are the ones that really helped promote it. They play such a vital role in the success.”