Small gifts, big impact: How Giving Day supports employees in need
Last year's Giving Day attracted 176 new donors – a number organizers hope to top in 2025.
Nicole Roldan, Community Relations Coordinator, Government and Community Relations
Small acts of giving have the power to make a difference. With that spirit in mind, the university is encouraging the campus community to come together and make an impact on Giving Day, which begins at noon on Thursday.
For U of A faculty and staff, that impact is already deeply felt: Many have experienced firsthand the generosity of their colleagues through the Employee Emergency Fund.
"It is really about employees helping employees," said Nicole Roldan, a community relations coordinator who helps oversee the program.
The fund provides financial assistance to faculty and staff facing unexpected hardships, such as sudden illness, family crises or natural disasters.
"It is completely funded by donations from other employees," Roldan said.
Shana McClelland, Director, Training and Program Improvement, Office of Research, Innovation & Impact
This year, employees can support the fund on Giving Day by making a direct donation or setting up a payroll deduction. The EEF committee is matching gifts up to a total of $350.
For employee Shana McClelland, financial support from EEF came during an unexpected family crisis in 2022. Support from the fund allowed her to be with her father, who was facing life-threatening surgery. Today she is the director of research training for the Office of Research, Innovation and Impact.
"I was able to concentrate on what I needed to instead of panicking over how I was going to afford extra costs," McClelland said. "To know there were people who cared and who were interested in helping me through an insanely terrible time made me realize how much more of that we need for our students, staff and faculty. There are those unanticipated times that can make or break a family."
She says it has been her pleasure to give back to EEF and she reminds others that if every one of the university's thousands of employees donated $10, "imagine the size of a fund – those little drops in the bucket mean more than you can ever imagine."
Jesse Geborkoff, Network Administrator, University Information Technology Services
Jesse Geborkoff, a University Information Technology Services network administrator who also received support from EEF, agrees.
"Even if it's just a little bit here and there, it goes a long way and helps somebody out when they're in a rough spot. It happens to all of us at some point in our lives."
That shared generosity is at the heart of Giving Day, an annual 24-hour fundraising initiative during which donors can make gifts to any University of Arizona Foundation fund.
This year marks the fifth Giving Day and the second to be connected to the $3 billion Fuel Wonder fundraising campaign, which launched its public phase in November 2023.
"Giving Day is all about supporting what you love at the University of Arizona. Gifts of all sizes make an impact on our students," said Krista Voth, executive director of alumni engagement at the University of Arizona Foundation. "It's also a great opportunity to support your fellow faculty and staff by donating to the Employee Emergency Fund. Please join me, alumni and Wildcats all over the world in making a gift on Feb. 13 and 14."
Krista Voth, Executive Director of Alumni Engagement, University of Arizona Foundation
Gifts can support scholarship programs like Arizona Assurance and the Arizona Undergraduate College Fund, centers and programs like New Start or the Alfie Norville Gem and Mineral Museum, or any college priority.
How to give
From noon on Thursday until noon on Friday, faculty and staff can make a gift online at givingday.arizona.edu. Visitors to the site can also look for matching gift challenges, which allow their dollars to be multiplied for even greater benefit.
Voth said she hopes to increase the number of first-time donors up from the 176 new donors in 2024.
Other ways to help
Employees can help spread the word by signing up to become Giving Day ambassadors. After registering, ambassadors will get a unique URL to share messages about Giving Day with their network and track how many gifts they've helped bring in.
"We know from our own experience, and data we have from other universities holding similar campaigns, that people are much more likely to give when they hear about an opportunity from someone they know," Voth said. "The networking is key."
The foundation has created a Giving Day hub with promotional resources including graphics, email signatures and Zoom backgrounds for employees to use. A NetID is required to access the tool kit. The foundation is asking people who post on social media about Giving Day to use #BearDownGiveBack to appear on the Giving Day tagboard.
Watch a video from Arizona Alumni highlighting the impact of last year's Giving Day and encouraging the campus community to participate this year.