University of California, Irvine completed their first-ever Giving Day on April 12 and raised $1.4 million within 24 hours – exceeding its goal of $1 million – to support students, research and innovative programs across campus.
Giving Day donations poured in from more than 1,800 benefactors in over 30 states and nine countries. A large portion of the gifts came from UCI alumni.
“This was a big day for us,” said Danny Harper, Advancement Director for the Division of Undergraduate Education. “DUE raised $74,000 from 450 donors! We are so grateful for the alumni, parents, faculty and staff who all came together to support UCI.”
With engagement from UCI faculty, staff, alumni and friends, #UCIGivingDay was the second-most trending hashtag on Twitter, with more than 42.5 million impressions. Alumni celebrities Greg Louganis, Tina Berg, Elsa Ramon and Eloy Ortiz Oakley took to Twitter as well to spread the word and ask other UCI alumni to give back to their alma mater.
Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education, Michael Dennin was the second most active account on Twitter for the day, sharing fun videos and constant updates to the fundraising progress.
“As a division, we have been investing time and energy into establishing more of an online presence on social media platforms for our units,” said Michael Dennin. “Because Giving Day was a digital campaign, we were able to leverage social media to make a big splash on campus and to the community. I was excited to use my Twitter skills, and was honored to be recognized as one of the most active people online.”
The DUE’s success during Giving Day could not have happened without all of the support from our Giving Day Ambassadors. Congratulations to our top performing Giving Day Ambassador, Kristie Lin, from the ANTrepreneur Center. She not only was the top DUE Ambassador, she was the top Ambassador in number of gifts for all of Giving Day! Kristie has earned a pizza party with Dean Dennin for herself and the whole ANTrepreneur Center staff.
Even though UCI Giving Day is over, there is still much work to be done. If you want to learn how to help support your favorite DUE program, click here to learn how.