Giving Days: Keeping Them Fresh and Focused

Kim here ???? to share a few words on the project that's taking up the majority of my time at work: Syracuse Giving Day.

As of today, we’re exactly three weeks out. Gulp. March 27, 2024 marks Syracuse Giving Day 2024. This year, we’re calling it what it is: Syracuse Giving Day. First launched on 10.17.17, we had a lot of fun over the years with the day formerly known as Boost the ’Cuse. What we realized, though, is that outside of internal colleagues and key volunteers, no one really had a clue what Boost the ’Cuse was.?

SO ... this year we're going all in on Syracuse Giving Day: One Day for Orange. ALL things Orange. With three weeks to go, here are three things we’re doing in 2024 to keep the day fresh, focused and—perhaps most importantly—fun! A huge high-five to my colleague Alison Jackson Popp who is project manager for SGD24, and the creative brain behind so much of what we're doing!

Fresh Website. Fresh Content. When we did our first day of giving in 2017, we used GiveCampus as our platform. We like GiveCampus because of the advocate functionality, where everyone receives a unique link to track donors and dollars that come in because of their efforts. We also like that video is front and center, which works really nicely as we plan to do another series of live shows from campus—definitely not SIXTEEN live shows like we did last year—but engaging content intended to inspire gifts. Last year, those shows (hosted by NFL RedZone’s Scott Hanson ’93) really became the focus of the day. Our views were absolutely tremendous, but they didn't always translate into gifts. This year, we’re dialing it back to three ~45-minute live shows at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., plus a celebratory show at 11:44 p.m. ESPN’s Kayla Burton G’19 is hosting. Her energy is CONTAGIOUS, and she’ll shine the spotlight on our students with content that really focuses on how philanthropy drives everything at Syracuse University. Oh, and she’ll be hosting the shows live from the JMA Wireless Dome with an unbelievably cool set and backdrop.?

Focused on Students. As I mentioned above, our host Kayla will shine the spotlight on students. Students are at the core of what we do—current students and those who will follow in their footsteps. We’re planning a big student organization showcase on the Dome’s concourse and a Giving Power Hour during the evening (shout-out to Villanova University for the idea!). The student orgs that inspire the most donors will then go on to be part of a student organization challenge for a chance to raise eve more funds for their projects.

FUN on Campus. Think SPIRIT SQUAD all over campus on March 27. You won’t be able to miss that it’s Syracuse Giving Day. We’ll have activities galore in our student center (including a chance for students to make a gift and, as a thank you, receive a color-changing stadium cup to fill with iced coffee). We'll have bingo cards to fill up, hidden Ottos (our mascot) to find, T-shirt tosses and more to truly capture our "Game Day" vibe.

We’d love for you to check out our site, including a pretty sweet promo video (credit to 5 Tool Productions !). For those of you now several years in to hosting giving days, how are you keeping things fresh? I’d love to hear new ideas! -KI