“It took just 43 hours for the College of the Holy Cross to raise nearly $2 million,” a recent Washington Post article begins.
The article discusses the increase in crowdsource fundraising campaigns at colleges and universities, shining a spotlight on the particular success of Holy Cross’ recent Give Purple challenge through GiveCampus.com, a crowdfunding website that targets younger alumni where they spend much of their time: online.
The online campaigns especially aim to capitalize on the institution’s active social media networks, the article explains. The Give Purple challenge saw Holy Cross alumni appealing directly to their peers to join them in donating, becoming advocates themselves.
“This was a challenge that was mostly about engagement and donor participation,” Tracy Barlok, the College’s vice president for advancement, was quoted saying. “It built on the foundation that we have in terms of the loyalty, compassion and competitiveness of our alumni population.”
During the College’s 43-hour campaign—a nod to the College’s founding in 1843—6,226 donors participated in the online challenge, 122 of whom were new donors. The article highlights that three-fourths of these new donors graduated in the past decade, and more than 50 percent of all donations came from alumni who graduated after 1990.
Read the full article on The Washington Post’s website.
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This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Evangelia Stefanakos.
